Persona Doll Training is a registered charity based in the United Kingdom and managed
by a committee of four Trustees. Our team of experienced trainers have run training sessions
since March 2002 for practitioners, lecturers, students and advisers in Britain and in Australia,
New Zealand, Germany, Hungary and Iceland.

Over the years we have developed practical and supportive training materials.
For example, together with Team Video we have produced two DVD/videos and support books
which graphically illustrate the power of the Dolls. ‘Persona Dolls in Action’ for Foundation Stage practitioners and ‘Persona Dolls with Older Children’and 'Citizenship For All:Respect Rights Responsibilities' for teachers and learning support staff working with children at Keystages
one and two. In all of them, children are featured in a variety of settings actively participating
and enjoying Persona Doll storytelling sessions. We also have a range of culturally authentic
and appropriately dressed cloth Dolls made in London by an experienced and dedicated team
led by Liliane Reeves (For more information about the Dolls please click on Resources page)

The innovative Persona Doll approach encourages children to develop empathy and challenge discrimination and unfairness. It helps counter the prejudices and misinformation they pick up
even if they have no personal contact with Black and mixed parentage families, with lesbian,
gay, Traveller, or refugee families or with families in which adults or children are disabled.
And they absorb these negative attitudes whether they live in small villages with mainly
White adults and children, in middle class leafy suburbs or in run-down inner city areas.
(For more information please click on The Persona Doll Approach page)

A Morning with a Difference
took place in London
on the 3rd of November 2009.

Early Years & Primary Co-ordinators, practitioners and teachers from a number of London Boroughs came together to discover for themselves how the anti-discriminatory, user friendly Persona Doll approach can help combat prejudice, exclusion and racist bullying. Vicky Hutchin, in her role as chair welcomed participants and talked about how the Dolls and their stories can inform and empower practitioners and teachers to implement the statutory and non-statutory equality requirements that are embedded in, for example, the Race Relations Act, Every Child Matters, the EYFS, SEAD, SEAL, Narrowing the Gap, Every Child a Talker, Listening to Children, Citizenship and Social Cohesion.

Click here to find out more

Equality in practice:
research with a difference
to make a difference

This research project was set up to consider the following questions:

• How far have Persona Dolls and their stories influenced anti-discriminatory and culturally appropriate practice at the foundation and keystages one and two?

• How far has the Persona Doll training programme empowered and enabled teachers, learning support staff, lecturers and local authority teams to comply with anti-discriminatory legislation like the Race Relations Act and the equality requirements laid down in the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and in the Primary National Curriculum?

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Case studies triggered by the research

The first case study: Transforming training
Bradford Early Years, Childcare and Play Service incorporated the lessons learned from the questionnaire they sent to practitioners. Trainers on other courses should also find them useful.

The second case study: A confidence-building model
Pairing practitioners is a relatively new approach offering a practical and effective way to provide support and develop much needed confidence.

The third case study: Time to Reflect
Jane Lane suggests that racist attitudes damage the children who hold them as well as those on the receiving end. This case study includes a brief look at the role of Ofsted Inspectors in relation to the new duty on schools to promote community cohesion.

The fourth case-study: Persona Dolls at Abbey Green
Staff have been for many years used Persona Dolls to develop children’s empathy, their understanding of fairness and their willingness to actively respond to unfairness. This work is linked with SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) and includes practical exercises.

The fifth case-study: Persona Dolls at Aboyne Lodge
Children in this school engage with Persona Dolls from the time they join the Nursery class till they complete year 3. The head believes that the caring atmosphere in the school is in part due to the Dolls and that they have empowered staff to discuss a range of issues with the children and to tackle discrimination confidently.

click here to find out more