• CASE STUDIES:
to inspire and motivate

Transforming and training

A confidence - building model

Time to reflect

Persona Dolls at Abbey Green

Persona Dolls at Aboyne Lodge

EQUALITY IN PRACTICE:

General Research Approach
The multi-method project gathered data in England from foundation stage and keystage 1
and 2 educators, college and university lecturers and local authority teams who have
attended Persona Doll Training courses, organised or facilitated the training, bought the
Dolls and the other resources.
The survey approach was adopted as it was considered to be the most cost and time
effective.
Staffing included a Project Leader and a Research Officer.

Research tools
Clear unambiguous questions for the questionnaire and interviews.
Piloted questionnaires sent to Local Authorities and schools.
The questions covered the following areas:
* Training
* Working with the Dolls
* Anti-discriminatory requirements of the Primary National Curriculum, the
   Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage and equality legislation.

Persona Dolls offer one way to promote equality. The questionnaire and the interviews
enabled people to include the other strategies they use to develop/ensure anti discriminatory
practice is implemented. Local authority teams were asked whatother anti-discriminatory
training they organised. Their responses included:
awareness around cultural issues
how to implement the requirements of the Race Relations Amendment Act
dealing with and reporting racist incidents
supporting children learning English as an additional language
disability awareness
special educational needs – co-ordinator training
working with asylum seekers
race equality issues - training for governors.

The findings
An analysis of the data revealed that 88% of people who completed the questionnaire and/
or were interviewed were working with children at the Foundation Stage, 10% at key stage
one and 2% at key stage two.

Educators and local authority personnel were asked at interview and through the
questionnaire if they had received training on how to use Persona Dolls and if there were
aspects of the training they had found particularly helpful, to describe them. 98% reported
that they had received training and felt they had benefitted from it. Working with the Dolls
was considered to be the most valuable part of the training followed by the video extracts,
role-play and the awareness raising exercises.
This comment was typical:
People found the training a practical and helpful way to address antidiscriminatory and culturally appropriate practice. Most people enjoyed developing a persona and a story for their Doll.
I think everyone found the training fun, non-threatening and were keen to welcome a Doll into their
setting/school and get started.

Many reported that they went back to their settings/schools and trained their colleagues
often with the help of Persona Doll Training’s DVDs and support books.

In answer to the question on whether there were any parts of the training that were not
helpful, 8% of the practitioners reported that they found having to role-play embarrassing
but these were the only negative comments. However, frustration was expressed by some
local authority trainers. They complained that even though countering social inequality was
the focus of the day, when participants were asked to choose an equality issue and weave a
Persona Doll story around it, many chose PSHCE type scenarios like the feelings of
exclusion an older child might experience when a new baby is born. The trainers had hoped
the scenarios would have dealt with social inequality issues.

Confidence and support
When being interviewed local authority team members were asked if they provided support
to participants after training and, if they did, to describe it. From an analysis of the data
valuable support is being provided by some local authority teams, others try to arrange
regular get-togethers for mutual support and a few offer no support at all.
An Early Years consultant in the South East pointed out that advisory staff are not always
given the time. She thought this was a shame as people were very keen when they came on
the initial training but not all felt confident enough to work with the Dolls to counter
inequality and exclusion. Educators’ responses at interview and on the questionnaire
confirmed this. Those educators who received ongoing followup support say that it
boosted their confidence and provided them with the skills and knowledge they needed.
Those who didn’t get this support, 38%, felt ill-equipped to work confidently with the Dolls.

Many of the local authority teams who completed the questionnaire are trying to adopt a
more strategic approach to ensure that practitioners who attend the training are supported
afterwards to boost their confidence and encourage them to use the Dolls to promote
equality and inclusion. They want to avoid the kind of follow up visit where they find
practitioners using the Dolls to reinforce behaviour like, good sitting or tidying up. A Kent
trainer believes that support is as important as the training, especially with younger
practitioners who lack self-confidence. She successfully runs in-house sessions with the
Dolls in which she models poor delivery and asks participants to rate on a tick sheet aspects
such as voice, body language, vocabulary, tone. She repeats the process with good delivery
and they rate the same tick sheet. She finds this goes down well.

A team in the North West runs a four session in-house programme consisting of:
* Group discussion around the identification of perceived barriers and potential solutions to them.
* Cultural Mentors model quality interactions with children using the Dolls.
* The practitioners within the setting are observed and supported to deliver an inclusive activity.
* Reflective discussion on the activity – what went well and how it could be improved.

A headteacher of a nursery school outlined the training policy in her borough:
All staff in three of the nursery schools in a London borough, including ours, attended a training day
and because we had invested that time we also purchased three Dolls. Ever since then as we take
on new staff we’ve tried to get them trained up as soon as possible. We’ve probably got a couple
of members of staff at the moment who haven’t received training but we have also got people here who have been using the Dolls for four or five years and so we try to offer a bit of internal training as well as asking one member of staff to model a session for another.

Some of the teams feel that the support they provide is not good enough but are unsure
how to improve it. Advisers unsuccessfully try to develop support networks:
We used to hold a Persona Doll forum every term that provided an opportunity for people who had been on the training to come and discuss any issues. Unfortunately this was very poorly attended and we stopped doing them. Following up on training and the most effective ways to support practitioners afterwards is a theme we discuss a lot as a team. I’m not at all convinced we do it very well at the moment. Practitioners are very keen after the training but some people need more support to make the best use of the Dolls. We have a follow-up meeting called, Persona Dolls Revisited. It isn’t well attended. It’s something we feel needs improving.

On-going informal support and supervision sessions at settings/schools suggests a way forward.
A practitioner expressed her appreciation of the support their setting received from their Early Years mentor who visited over a number of weeks following training:
Apart from letting us watch her telling a story, she observed each of us and gave suggestions on how we could improve our story-telling technique and develop discussions with the children. This support was particularly helpful because it was offered over time.

Raising issues
Educators feel that the Dolls are a valuable learning tool for exploring issues and helping children
to unlearn any negative messages they may have already learned:
Having a Doll makes it easier to discuss issues. If I were just to sit down and do circle time then I think I would find it quite difficult. If I have a Doll as a prop and can say, “Jeremy feels like this today” it makes it much easier. I can’t think of another way of doing it without mentioning actual children’s names and making them feel bad. I think these Dolls play a huge part in triggering and sustaining discussions.

Educators and local authority teams were asked via the questionnaire and at interview to say which
of the following issues they raised through the Dolls and to name the three they found the most difficult
or challenging to deal with:
Racism, Disability, Cultural similarities and differences, Sexism, Special needs, Immigration, Homophobia, Class, Life-style e.g. Gypsies/Travellers, Ageism Refugees, Other (please specify)

Islamophobia was specified as an ‘other’ by a number of people. It should have been one of the issues that respondents were asked about on the questionnaire and when being interviewed – apologies for this serious oversight.

An analysis of the data revealed that cultural similarities and differences were talked about
most frequently followed by racism, life-style, sexism, disability, special needs and refugees.
Those least likely to be addressed were homophobia, immigration, ageism and class - not surprising considering that 88% of respondents were working with children at the foundation stage.
During her interview an adviser was asked why she had identified racism, homophobia and class
as issues that were harder to discuss than others.

She replied:
Racism because this is what people still find hard to talk about. Homophobia because this is an area that has caused difficulties in the past - we do have a lot of children with same sex parents, but we don’t really talk about it in the training. I’m not really sure if it’s our brief and I don’t think we ever really talk about class. I think with homophobia there are not many stories that I would feel comfortable with - we might tell a story about a child with two mummies or two daddies.

The head of a centre commented:
There are some issues that are difficult to address anyway, not just through the Dolls - like racist issues, you just have to be very sensitive how you address them. But the Dolls do help because of the range - all colours and ethnicities.

A college lecturer replied on the questionnaire:
Many students in this predominately white area are afraid of addressing racism. They adopt ‘the best not to mention it’ approach!


Legislation, the Primary National Curriculum and the Dolls
One of the questions on the questionnaire referred to the fact that the Curriculum Guidance
for the Foundation Stage requires that every child should feel included, respected and valued.
Educators were asked if they were using the Dolls to help them meet this requirement and to describe
a session.
This response was from a college lecturer:
When looking at curriculum issues the Dolls are used to address all areas of difference – we then have a platform to investigate how we can apply antidiscriminatory practice to the key areas. This is particularly important in the current climate of Islamophobia. For example, I encourage the students to debate topical equality issues such as the burqa - using a Doll with an Islamic background whose mum wears a burqa, Through the Dolls we also confront stereotypes, discuss issues like being Black and British, celebrate languages other than English and address issues around disability by having a Doll who uses a wheelchair.

The following comments are from educators working with children at the foundation stage and keystage * By using the Doll we explored dual heritage and one of the children proudly explained that he
was English and Turkish.
* Empathy for a child who is different, in our case a child with special needs.
She is accepted perfectly for who she is within her own class and is considered to be very special. However, it is other children in the school who have not grown up with her who are causing some problems. Even the little girl’s cousin is having to deal with comments and questions. So we are working with a Doll in other classes too.

Another question asked if a Persona Doll story session had helped a previously reluctant
child to join actively in discussions:
The child was able to talk about epilepsy in detail. The Persona Doll was embarrassed when she had a fit in the classroom. It enabled him to be the ‘expert’ on his own medical condition.

When the Persona Doll was introduced the learning support assistant talked about how he was feeling a little sad and lonely because he didn’t know anyone yet. A child who tends to keep herself to herself, came up and gave the Doll a hug and said she would be his friend and show him around.

The following question referred to the fact that the Every Child Matters outcomes, (be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution), are less likely to be achieved if children are experiencing or are afraid of verbal and physical abuse, exclusion, name-calling and teasing.
Educators were asked to describe a session in which children could appreciate that abusing,
name-calling, excluding and teasing each other was hurtful.
We use the Dolls a lot to discuss friendship issues, bullying and low self-esteem.
Our Persona Doll, Kaiya, uses a wheelchair and was told she couldn’t dance at the disco. We used lots of Para-Olympic pictures and talked about strong role models like Tanny Grey Thompson, about feelings and what it feels like to be left out.

One of the boys had experienced hurtful comments because he has long hair. One of our Dolls, Taya, has very short hair and is a girl. We used her to initiate a discussion about short and long hair and boys and girls. It was very successful! We all ended up agreeing that you should be able to have what length hair you want and wear what you want.

A question on the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) pointed out that educators are required to promote good ‘race’ relations between the children and asked whether Persona Dolls were helping
to do this and to give an example. Educators seemed to find this more challenging. This is how two teachers and a lecturer responded:
Until recently we were a monocultural setting, 100% Muslim, but now we are getting asylum seekers from parts of Africa, some of whom are Rastafarians. One of the Asian children, born and bred in Britain, called a little African girl a racist name. We addressed this using a Doll but changed the scenario so as not to pinpoint either child.

In a mostly white school we have a massive mission to talk at length about cultures which differ from our children’s and to stress similarities and a realisation that there is no ’normal’!
Using the Dolls we meet a much wider range of people than we could possibly invite in and we have wide-ranging discussions. Couldn’t do it without the Dolls.

Students use the Dolls to explore how it is possible to promote ‘race’ relations in positive ways,
such as addressing racial taunts and comments through the Doll’s stories. I help them develop
an understanding of the positive contribution that ‘people of colour’ have made to British life.

The final question focused on whether the process of creating and telling Persona Doll stories
had helped educators to build their own knowledge, understanding, confidence and ability to encourage children to unlearn any prejudices and stereotypical thinking they may have picked up.
This is what a nursery nurse said:
I have learnt that to promote inclusive practices it is important to have and use positive resources
and images, staff who are good role-models, consistency when promoting and challenging the language, attitudes and behaviour of adults and children.

The following responses were from two nursery school teachers:
I’ve been encouraged to think deeply about the consequences of my actions and attitudes.
How making the curriculum more culturally appropriate can help considerably as well as ensuring that fair and just information and resources are available to avoid stereotyping and discrimination. It’s important to consider the effects on a child if the clothes their mum wears are not available to dress up in: what message does that give?

The Dolls have broadened the children’s horizons and mine.

A primary school teacher had this to say:
From working with the Dolls I am now more skilled in asking questions, more aware of my own attitudes and practices and more able to listen to children and respect their opinions. Having gained in confidence, I am not knocked sideways if I make a mistake or I’m not sure how to answer a child’s question during a Persona Doll story-telling session.


The lows
During the interviews people were asked to identify the lows they experienced when using the Dolls.
A large number mentioned reluctance of colleagues as a problem. These comments from a nursery nurse working in a nursery school, a primary school teacher and two advisers are typical:
Frustration that members of staff are not using the Dolls more. Some are not comfortable,
they find them a bit strange and are embarrassed to be seen talking to a Doll! Some heads and managers don’t understand their value and so refuse to buy the Dolls. Encouraging more of them to attend training might besomething we will now do.

Turnover of staff is a definite low. I visited a setting with three members of staff - two of them were using the Dolls really confidently and one just couldn’t or wouldn’t. When I visited again sometime later, those two people had left, one of whom was the manager and the Dolls were never used again.

I suppose the lows are around how much they are used - sometimes I think we have done so much training that everyone would be using them and then I notice that they are all still in the staff room. Some staff never will. But I also feel that we do have strong practitioners who do, so that compensates. Our system falls down because once people have attended the training, we don’t know whether they are continuing to use the Dolls in the way they were trained to do. We sometimes go into settings and are pleasantly surprised to see that people are using them to talk about equality issues but we don’t necessarily get to hear about all the good practice going on. If we could go into settings/schools and do much more modelling, anti-discriminatory practice would be embedded more, but we just don’t have time. It is also about creating the persona - you have to do quite a lot of work as a staff to choose a persona and think about the purpose of it and that’s quite hard for somebody to go and do, and also whether they get the time to do it with the whole
staff is an issue.


The highs
During the interviews people were also asked to identify the highs they experienced. Two nursery school teachers and the head of a children’s centre identify theirs:
I think Persona Dolls are great - I had a little boy with glasses who hated wearing them, but once he realised that Khalid, our Doll was wearing them he was OK. The Doll became almost another child
in the nursery and we had such positive feedback. Children do comment on the colour of his skin, especially if we are talking about this and one child said, “His skin is the same colour as mine”.

Watching the children’s faces – they are completely there. Also the amount of language, especially shy ones use and the way children empathise with the Dolls and are able to say, “that happened to me.”

I remember once I just had two children with me and the Doll. We were playing outside though it was quite a cold day. One of the children went inside, found a cardigan, came back and put it on the Doll - clearly demonstrating her empathy and concern.

Four primary school teachers describe their highs:
When you have used the Dolls once or twice and hear the things children say, you want to keep using them. I also think the Dolls offer a special way of talking through issues with children. Circle time without the Dolls could be fairly nebulous whereas having one sitting there ‘telling’ the children what happened to her yesterday, provides a focus for the session. We probably wouldn’t have the discussions that we have or they would be hard to initiate if we didn’t have the Dolls. It’s that kind of effect that encourages people to go on using them.

The children who I had last year and are now in Year 4 with a male teacher keep asking me if the Dolls could visit, but their teacher does not want to use them. I had to cover his class last week and I took in the Dolls. I was slightly concerned because there were two new boys in the class, quite boyish boys and I thought they might turn their noses up at them and laugh. But on the contrary - they were very taken with them and one asked if he could hold a Doll. Maybe it was the enthusiasm of the other children but it shows the appeal of the Dolls even with older children.

The fact that parents have been so positive. I wrote an article in our school magazine that aroused
a lot of interest. We have chatted informally about the Dolls and the children have told their parents
all about them.

I really welcome the fact that the Dolls can be so easily integrated into the work we do around SEAL.

For two trainers and a lecturer the highs are:
Practitioners who successfully develop skills in using the Dolls get a huge boost to their own self-confidence and a real sense of achievement. They are pleasantly surprised and delighted by the whole-hearted response of the children.

During sessions we have been surprised and delighted at the way adults empathise and respond to the Dolls, especially those who have had the advantage of previous anti-discriminatory training. As the Persona Doll approach is innovative, practitioners usually show a lot of interest and many report positive effects in terms of their personal development and self-knowledge.

The Dolls help student’s to develop empathy, understanding what being a refugee or an asylum seeker entails. Persona Doll work should be part of all degrees/PGCE and childcare courses – then we might see some changes!!


To sum up
Local authority teams consider that Persona Doll training enables them to provide participants
with a non-threatening and enjoyable way to approach antidiscriminatory education.
A practical and promising approach favoured by some teams is to provide setting/school based training instead of bringing people together in unfamiliar central venues. Not having to pay cover especially helps those settings/schools that have small training budgets and enables more people to be trained.
Another effective time and money-saving approach involves training and supporting a cluster
of settings/schools.

Educators remark on children’s empathetic, spontaneous and whole-hearted
engagement with the Dolls and are generally able, willing and happy to work with them to promote PSHCE especially if they are given training and support to boost their confidence and provide
them with the skills and knowledge they need. Having to deal with anti-discriminatory issues is more
of a challenge but those who are successfully using the Dolls for this purpose seem well-satisfied
with the results.They say that without the Dolls they would not know how to introduce the regular
discussions they have around discriminatory issues. They are impressed by the children’s enthusiasm and engagement and the active way they support the Dolls, offering them advice and talking about their own experiences.

An invitation

There are many teachers, learning support staff and lecturers actively challenging discrimination,
through Persona Dolls. Much of what is being done is not known about and I passionately believe that commitment and hard work, challenges and successes need to be acknowledged and celebrated. Hearing what others are doing to move equality and inclusion from the back to the front burner
is so inspiring.

However, our research project raises crucial questions:

Why despite equality legislation and all the statutory and non-statutory requirements, is anti-discriminatory education the exception not the rule?

Why is it not generally recognised that educators have a responsibility to help children unlearn any prejudices, stereotypical thinking, misconceptions and discriminatory behaviour they may have picked up?

We invite people in local authority teams, early years settings, schools, colleges and universities to use our website to share their successes, challenges, experiences and ideas. By supporting, guiding, motivating and learning from each other, we can help to bring about change.

For example:

What needs to be done to ensure that anti-discriminatory education is more widely implemented?

What needs to be done to ensure that people gain the necessary knowledge, confidence, understanding, motivation and skills?

What needs to be done to interest and attract people to attend Persona Doll training sessions?

What needs to be done to provide effective support after the training?

Featuring your creative, practical ideas on our website will hopefully inspire others to work with the Dolls to promote social justice. James Baldwin was right when he said: “Not everything that is faced can be
changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Seize this opportunity and start the ball rolling by emailing your views, experiences, innovations
and challenges to: personadoll@tiscali.co.uk
or post them to: Persona Doll Training, 51 Granville Road, London N12 0JH.

Case studies to inspire and motivate

We SHOULD because we CAN make
a difference to training & practice

The first case study: Transforming and training.
The Equalities Officer, Deborah Scaife, describes how the Bradford Early Years, Childcare and Play Service evaluated the Persona Doll training they were providing and the practical steps they took to put the lessons learned into practice.

Following on the Persona Doll training that the local authority delivered during the year, a questionnaire was sent to the people who had attended the training. The purpose was to look at the impact
of the training, how practitioners were using the Dolls and to offer any necessary support and further training to people new to the Dolls or those who were already using them. If further training needs
were identified, or if people decided that a network of Persona Dolls users would be useful,
these ideas would be explored. The questionnaire was sent to approximately a hundred
people of whom around 40% responded:

1. When did you attend a Persona Doll training session?

2. Have you bought a Doll or adapted a different doll to use as a Persona Doll in your setting?

3. Have you used the Doll in your setting? If Yes - please answer the following questions.
    (If no go straight to question 12.)

4. Please describe the Doll used:

5. Who has used the Doll, was it a person who attended the training or others in your setting?

6. Please describe in what situations the Doll has been used:

7. How have the children reacted to the Doll?

8. How often has the Doll been used?

9. Are other people in your setting aware of the Dolls and how to use them?

10. Would you or other colleagues find it useful to meet or talk about the Dolls with others
       who use the Dolls in different settings?

11. Would you or other colleagues be interested in attending further training or refresher courses?
       If yes – what would you like the training to cover?

12. If you haven’t used a Persona Doll in your setting, could you please try to say why you haven't used
       a Persona Doll in your setting:
13. Are there any other comments you would like to make regarding the Dolls and/or the training?

Only about half of the respondents had bought and were using the Dolls, which seemed quite low considering they had undertaken the training.

They all reported that the training had been good or excellent - one person said, “It was one of the most well-presented and enlightening of the courses I have attended”

However, there were certain barriers preventing people from using the Dolls. One of the major issues was a lack of confidence. During the training session, they had had the opportunity to practise,
but then back in their settings they floundered. They felt that if they had opportunities to practise using
the Dolls alongside colleagues it would have increased their confidence.

Many didn’t use the Dolls to promote equality and inclusion but only to address issues like biting behaviour or a new baby in the family. In addition some people, (childminders in particular), said they could not afford to buy the Dolls. One practitioner reported, “Our previous manager was not supportive
in buying a Doll”.

There was little interest in developing a network or in attending a refresher training course - only three respondents said they would like to be involved in a network andonly nine wanted to take part in a refresher training course.

The outcome
Within the Early Years, Childcare and Play service a small working group was formed to address some
of the issues the questionnaire identified, to look at moving forward and enabling practitioners
to make better use of the training they had undertaken. For example, should they try once again running
a training session for the neweducators and those who have expressed interest?
Should they promote and market the course again? Could they support settings with the purchase
of Dolls or offer more flexibility about extended loans of Dolls? Isn’t it expensive offering training
if the Dolls are not then used?

A small group of people within the service attended a ‘train the trainer’ session delivered by the service’s Persona Doll Trainer. As a result a pool of Early Years staff can now offer additional support to practitioners around the use of the Dolls.

The idea of short, two hour workshop type sessions was developed which were then offered to settings where at least one person had completed the full day’s Persona Dolls course.The workshop was offered to whole settings, (orgroups of whole settings), to enable a wide number of staff in a particular setting to be familiar with the purpose and practice of using the Dolls. The emphasis was placed on practise and using the Dolls for ‘easy’ issues, before using them for more ‘difficult’ ones. These workshops have been advertised across the district and have proved very popular, with very positive feedback. It has enabled whole settings to have a common understanding and be more willing to give support to colleagues who may have lacked confidence in using the Dolls. The workshop model has continued alongside offering the one day course in using the Dolls.

To address the issue of cost, the service bought a large supply of Persona Dolls and other resources. These are taken to the training courses and offered to participants at a considerable discount to encourage them to buy and use the Dolls. Having a supply of Dolls there on the day to buy has proved
irresistible with the majority buying and using the Dolls after training.

Deborah Scaife says that she intends doing another follow up survey to find out how the new approach is increasing the better use of the Dolls, but indications so far seem to indicate that the use of Persona Dolls is already being embedded in the work of their Early Years settings.

Bradford Early Years, Childcare and Play services are committed to ensuring and promoting fairness, equal rights and diversity.Their aim is to create a service that:
• Acknowledges, promotes and celebrates the diversity that exists in our district and wider society today
• Attracts and employs people who reflect the diverse communities we serve
• Strives to ensure that all children and their families have equal opportunities, equal access and are    treated with equal concern
• Challenges positively all discrimination in terms of: culture, race, colour, religion, language, gender,    health, ability, disability, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, family structure and any    other factor which cannot be justified.

This means that they are committed to:
• Raising awareness of fairness, equality and inclusion at all levels and promoting high quality practice    in all areas of early years, play and childcare activity
• Continually reviewing and developing our recruitment procedures to enable us to develop
    a diverse workforce
• Ensuring that our employees, service users, customers, partners and colleagues including children
   and families are treated with equal concern and feel valued, respected and empowered
• Ensuring that all areas of our activity are free from all forms of discrimination, prejudice
    and stereotyping
• Promoting the value of a diverse society
• Meeting obligations of the various Acts of Parliament relating to equality and inclusion.

The second case study: A confidence building model
Charlotte Tagart from WEDG (World Education Development Group) has been working with Persona Dolls for five years, initially with KS1 teachers in Kent schools and more recently with practitioners in nurseries and pre-schools. Here she outlines the training model that she and two Early Years SENCOs(Special Education Needs Co-ordinators) are developing to build self confidence and meet the needs of practitioners in local nurseries and preschools. This training approach was introduced relatively recently and so there’s limited evidence to support it at present however, if it can help boost confidence it is certainly worth exploring

Thanet in East Kent is a socially and economically deprived urban area with a predominantly White population in a relatively isolated corner of southeast England.
To help practitioners address issues of equality and diversity the two SENCOs on behalf of the local authority bought Persona Dolls to give to the eight nurseries and preschools. In return they were required to send two people to a half day training session and to ensure they then attend ongoing feedback meetings.

Not having sufficient support and confidence is the frequently heard cry of those practitioners who are worried about working with the Dolls. What makes this training model so appealing is the pairing of practitioners from the same setting right from the start and throughout the session. After the training
the expectation is that they will continue working and supporting each other - boosting each other’s confidence and motivation. For this to happen, managers need to ensure that the pairs have
as much opportunity as possible to work closely together and to try and prevent staffing and other factors from getting in the way.

The training was designed to help practitioners understand what the Dolls are all about. Diversity and inclusion issues were included throughout the session and practitioners very quickly saw the value of the Dolls and how day to day occurrences and specific projects could include them. Early in the training each pair chose a Doll and were asked to make up half a dozen facts for her/his persona. They then took it in turn to introduce their Doll to the rest of the group. One of the pair with the Doll on her/his lap read out what the two of them had prepared while the other sat with the rest of the participants who were pretending to be children and encouraged them by her/his comments or questions to participate especially if they ‘dried up.’ Because the pairs had been feeding off each other’s ideas throughout the session, they began planning how they were going to use their Doll. Once back in their setting it was essential that the pair work together - one of them sitting with the children and supporting the other who was presenting the Doll ‘telling’ her/his story.
Charlotte says that:
It worked very effectively and you could see the main talker visibly relaxingonce a two way dialogue was underway with the audience. It also illustrates through ‘doing it’ one of the fundamental purposes of using a Doll; to get conversation going with the children.

The first feedback meeting took place on an afternoon six weeks later. Everyone was keen to share their experiences both good and bad. Any problems or difficulties were discussed by the group and solutions suggested.

One pair had been asked by their manager to ‘do Diwali’. They planned a week’s programme with the help of a Hindu parent helper and included their Indian Persona Doll.
Charlotte commented:
As I listened to the pair of them enthusiastically describing what had taken place, I realised that not only their self confidence, but their creative thinking, professionalism and sheer enjoyment of their job had shot up. What a fantastic unspoken message for those lucky children.

Another pair did not know how to respond when the children dismissed the Persona Doll by saying
‘it’s just a doll’. This triggered much discussion amongst the practitioners and comparisons were made with other make believe toys and pretend play. The point was made that the Dolls are not toys. When they are introduced as special visitors most children quickly respond to them as members of the group.

The practitioners in one of the settings felt that they had not worked very successfully with their Doll. However, as they talked it emerged that this was largely due to the fact that they had been unable to work supportively together due to staffing levels and the layout of the nursery. It was suggested that
the Doll might have lost its initial impact because instead of visiting as the other Dolls did, it became part
of the everyday life of the nursery.
Some practitioners were not as comfortable as others with
the approach. Adopting a new way
of working is easier for some people
than for others. They may need extra
support and time to make the necessary
adjustment. The second part of the meeting included looking at a whole year in the nursery and seeing where
and how the Persona Doll could be included in the planning. This was done to ensure that the Doll became a regular part of practitioner practice and a familiar visitor for the children. Charlotte stressed that it was important that practitioners didn’t get into the habit of just bringing out the Doll when a problem had arisen and an issue needed to be addressed.
The Dolls need to be associated with positive experiences in children’s minds.

Using a Persona Doll is a learning journey for the practitioner as well as the children.
It is by its very nature unpredictable – children can come out with remarks and comments that may surprise the adult and be difficult to respond to on the spur of the moment. Paired practitioners have
a colleague to share concerns with as they arise and to be able to bounce ideas around for possible solutions. The SENCOs are able to give ongoing support to the individual settings on using their Doll. Charlotte says that their initial training programme has to date, been their most successful way
of introducing Persona Dolls.

The third case study: Time to Reflect
Jane Lane, is the author of ‘Young children and racial justice: taking action for racial equality in the early years – understanding the past, thinking about the present, planning for the future’. In this article which originally appeared in Nursery World on the 14th of August 2008, Lane focussed on children at the Foundation Stage, but much of what she writes also applies to those at Key Stages one and two. She stresses that children are not born with racist attitudes. They learn them and we can help them unlearn them. She explains why we all need to understand that racist attitudes damage the children whohold them as well as those on
the receiving end.

Racism, like sexism, is deeply embedded in our society - so deep that we may not recognise it or believe that it is there or ever reflect on it, let alone think it has anything to do with us and our work with children.

In rural and suburban areas particularly, where few black and other minority ethnic people live, it is easy to deny its existence because it is only revealed when the situation changes. For example, a headteacher in England on a BBC radio programme said that there had been no racism in his school until Matthew, who is black, arrived. Of course Matthew did not create the racism – he merely exposed it.

Evidence from research over the past 50 years shows that racism can affect children from an early age. It shows that they learn their attitudes, including their racia attitudes, to those who are different from themselves by the time they are three, long before they go to school. But they are not born with them, they learn them. Research also shows that, unless positive and specific action is taken with young children to counter the racism in society many, even though we may not notice it, are likely to be learning to be racially prejudiced. This is particularly true of white children but some black children may be learning this too, even between some black groups. Black children may also be carrying the burden of learning that they are the objects of racism. These facts are uncomfortable because it shows that young children are not the innocents that most of us
would wish them to be.

Children reflect their own environments – including influences from the people they meet (and don’t meet), what they hear (and don’t hear), what they see (and don’t see), what they do (and don’t do), the play and other resources around them, the media and advertisements. The powerful influences in society sometimes even outweigh the positive attitudes of their own families so children may say and do things that their parents would never say or do. We all come to our work situations with our own personal backgrounds, our education, our experiences and the way we live our lives. All these impinge on our attitudes and our behaviour. Sharing experiences and talking together about issues around racism is more helpful and constructive than blaming others, or one another.

Racism consists of all those practices and procedures that, both in the past and the present, disadvantage and discriminate against people because of their skin colour, ethnicity, culture, religion, nationality or language.

The EYFS Statutory Framework talks about ‘anti-discriminatory practice’, ‘helping to overcome barriers for children where these already exist’, ‘all children irrespective of ethnicity, culture or religion’… having ‘the opportunity to experience a challenging and enjoyable programme of learning and development’ and duties regarding ‘antidiscriminatory legislation’ – all examples of what needs to be addressed to counter aspects of racism.

The Practice Guidance identifies numerous issues, including ‘positive images that challenge children’s thinking’, ‘resources reflecting the diversity of children and adults within and beyond the setting’, avoiding ‘negative stereotypes’, supporting children in ‘developing positive relationships by challenging negative comments and actions towards either peers or adults’, being ‘alert to injustices’, supporting ‘children and adults to unlearn discriminatory attitudes’, talking ‘with young children about valuing all skin colour differences’, giving ‘children information which challenges cultural, racial stereotypes’. All these examples, where not put into practice, may contribute to institutional racism.

Some of these concepts may seem daunting. But it is only when we understand what racism is that we can, in turn, understand how it affects the lives of nearly all of us. We may not have recognised that some of our practices, procedures, attitudes or behaviour may contribute to racism. Understanding it makes it easier to take on our responsibilities to counter it. For example, our admissions and employment policies may not advertise vacancies sufficiently widely or our stereotypes may see black boys as problematic and so not ensure that they are included in all aspect of the curriculum. And any assumptions and judgements about children and their families may disadvantage and discriminate against them.

We need to consider everything that we do in order to ensure that we are treating all children equally
and giving every child, wherever we live, an opportunity to learn to equally value and respect
those who are different from them. Value and respect does not necessarily mean agreeing with others
or living in the way others live their lives or even liking others. It is an acceptance of others as equally valued members of our society.

We know how discrimination hurts and damages children but we also need to recognise that the children who are learning to be prejudiced are also damaged. Their attitudes may limit their understanding of the wider world, deny them the benefits that come from friendships with people from other backgrounds and lead them to discriminate against others, in their future workplaces and communities.

All of us make judgements about others but, we need to be sure that our attitudes do not allow prejudice and discrimination to be unwittingly perpetuated. Can we get rid of all the ‘baggage’ that so often accompanies our discussions of racism?

Can we make opportunities to talk openly and honestly about it, within a no-blame culture?

Can we ensure that all children feel they belong and are all treated and valued equally?

Persona Dolls can help us identify discrimination and encourage children to stand up for themselvesand others when facing prejudice and discrimination. And there are many parts of the Early Years Foundation Stage that should point us in the right direction.

Links to the EYFS Guidance include:
UC 1.2 Inclusive Practice: PR 2.1 Respecting Each Other:
PR 2.2 Parents as Partners: EE 3.2 Supporting Every Child
L&D 4.3 Creativity and Critical Thinking

This case study ends with a brief look at the role of Ofsted inspectors in relation to the new duty on schools to promote community cohesion. Judging from the findings of the Persona Doll research project, the Dolls can play a key role in helping schools achieve, ‘outstanding’ in relation to the new duty. Ros Garside associate editor of Race Equality Teaching explains the implications:

The new duty on promoting community cohesion in schools has been a key part of the inspection process since September 2008. If a school is judged to be unsatisfactory in this area, it runs the risk of having its leadership and management being judged by Ofsted as inadequate and therefore could be put on Special Measures or given Notice to Improve.

Garside points out that a new section in the Self Evaluation form (SEF) requires schools to comment on their policies and actions in this area of their work and to judge their current effectiveness in relation to the new duty. She suggests that the Ofsted inspection criteria reproduced below provides a good starting point for discussion of community cohesion within leadership teams and governing bodies. Schools can decide their ‘best fit’ in relation to the criteria and what actions they need to take to promote and develop their practice. They then need to produce a Community Cohesion policy or to revise their Race Equality policy to include community cohesion. From the analysis of current effectiveness and the policy, an action plan will flow, if not already in place.

Garside says that as with the duty to promote race equality, the requirements include personalised learning so that pupils from all groups can succeed, tracking pupils’ progress by ethnicity and gender and responding to any issues which arise as well as ensuring understanding and positive interaction within the school and other local, national and international communities.

The fourth case study: Persona Dolls at Abbey Green
Ruth Moran is an experienced senior teacher at Abbey Green Nursery School and Children’s Centre. She also trains and encourages staff insettings and schools throughout the country to adopt the Persona Doll approach. In this case study she describes the crucial role that Persona Dolls play in developing children’s empathy, their acceptance of difference, their understanding of fairness and their willingness to actively respond to unfairness. She links this work with SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning).

Ruth and the staff have been working with Persona Dolls for about 7 years and in that time have built up a representative range which means that they can choose the most appropriate one when telling stories. They keep a journal for each Doll in which they record their personas and then add subsequent stories as well as the children’s responses.

Time-consuming but well worth the effort.

They regularly tell the children Persona Doll stories to raise equality issues and help them unlearn prejudices and stereotypical thinking they may have absorbed. They say that bonding with the Dolls has made story-telling much easier and they think has influenced children’s close identification with and interest in each of the Dolls and their stories. Their notice board carries information for parents about the Dolls, regular newsletters show how the Dolls are being used to counter prejudice and encourage respect and inclusion. When they celebrate festivals, parents enjoy listening to the stories woven around the Dolls.

The Dolls also help them implement the EYFS framework particularly:
A unique child - 1.2 inclusive practice; Positive relations - 2.1 respecting each other & 2.2 parents as partners; Learning and Development - 4.3 creativity and critical thinking.

They have seven Dolls that they use regularly to develop our children’s ability to empathise, to value cultural differences, to understand that teasing is hurtful and to stand up for themselves and others when they see or experience unfairness. Children quickly become friends with the Dolls, refer to them by name and respond to them as if they are their peers. They listen with empathy to their stories and become actively engaged in solving any problems that the Dolls share with them.

Working with the Dolls

How Polly has been used.
When Polly was being introduced the member of staff explained that she was afraid of the dark. A little boy proposed buying her a night light but another child suggested, “A torch because the night light might run out”.The children were already bonding with her! On her second visit Polly informed the children that her dad had bought her a night-light.

To help the children develop their awareness of a range of cultures and beliefs Polly visited with another Doll, Shabaz. The majority of the children are from Muslim families and they know that Shabaz
and her family are Muslim and that Polly and her family are Christian, “like Miss Wardley”. They talked about the similarities and differences between Christmas and Eid. When Polly re-visited after Christmas she challenged gender stereotypes regarding the toys she had received as presents: a train set and remote control car which she loved and a Barbie Doll which she hated “because it doesn’t do anything”.

Polly is not always presented as ‘Miss Perfect’ - sometimes she’s the ‘bad guy’. When her cousin came to her house she wouldn’t allow him to play with her Dolls house because he was a boy and she pushed him away. Some children identified with this situation and a discussion followed about what girls and boys can and cannot play with. The mixed reactions reminded us that we need to constantly challenge gender stereotypes.

Polly has also been introduced to our younger children - the 2 to 3 year olds. They are told about a few aspects of her persona such as her age,
the food that she likes/dislikes and what she likes to do. The sessions are only 10 minutes at the most and include copying Polly doing physical activities like hopping, jumping etc. Polly’s favourite songs are sung such as “Miss Polly had a Dolly”. The younger children brush their teeth after dinner so Polly has talked about going to the dentist and sweets being bad for her teeth but fruit vegetables being good.
                                                                                                                                       Polly on the loo. One of the little
                                                                                                                                       boys is being toilet trained
                                                                                                                                       and will only come and try for
                                                                                                                                       a wee if Polly comes too!!

She has introduced vocabulary ‘happy’ ‘sad and‘scared’ to enable younger children to put to words
to their feelings. Polly ‘told’ the children a story about when her mum took her on a rowing boat
on the pond in the park. She didn’t sit down, fell in and was all wet and dirty from the smelly water.
The children understood that Polly’s mum was cross and some said, “My mum shouts at me”.
They suggested that "Polly cried and was sad". When this same story was told in more detail to a group of 3-5 year olds one of the girls decided to draw what happened and asked a member of staff to write
the story next to her pictures to make a book entitled, “The day Polly fell into a pond”.


How Mei Ling has been used.
We introduced Mei Ling to talk about Chinese New Year. She showed the children some Chinese artefacts and brought Chinese music to listen and dance to. The children made fans and red envelopes and also prepared noodles and stir-fried vegetables. Parents were invited to a whole school celebration.

One of the stories Mei Ling told was about her dad’s car. When they woke up in the morning they saw that someone had thrown a brick through the car window and there was broken glass in the car.
The children talked about him feeling ‘cross’ ‘angry’ ‘upset’ ‘sad’.
They also asked who might have done it and why? One of the children said, “The dad needs to tell the police”. This led to a discussion about people being different.

How Chandeep has been used.
He was introduced to give information about Sikhism and how he celebrates Diwali.The children made Diva pots and rangoli patterns and prepared special food again for a whole school celebration.
As bonfire night was coming up firework safety was discussed. On Chandeep’s fifth visit he told a story
about not being able to catch his breath when running at school and that he had to go to the doctor’s. One child asked, “What did the doctor do?” The member of staff showed them a spacer and inhaler
and explained how Chandeep had to use it because of his asthma. She showed them how the medicine puffed out of the inhaler and to the count of three, they all breathed in with Chandeep Having a real spacer and inhaler to show to the children helped them remember Chandeep’s whole persona and especially this story.
He has also been used to challenge
the stereotype that boys can’t play with Dolls


How Shabaz has been used.
We introduced Shabaz as a fatter Doll that loves sweets. This led to a discussion about healthy
and un-healthy food. We also used him to talk about celebrating Eid and reinforced the importance
of firework safety - he got burnt picking up a fireworkthat was still hot. We often use Shabaz to encourage the children to emphasize with and help Saalih a boy at our centre who is severally autistic. Shabaz talks about his friend at nursery called Shareen who needs a lot of help with simple things like putting on her coat. Shabaz ‘told’ the children how Shareen likes lining the cars up and gets annoyed ifsomeone moves one out of the line. The children responded “like Saalih”. When Shabaz visits he ‘talks’ about Shareen to find out what kind of things the children have done to help Saalih and to develop their
understanding and ability to empathise. Shabaz has ‘told’ the children about being excluded from play at his nursery and called names because he is overweight. The children understood that this was ‘unkind’ and said, “He should tell a teacher”.

We have also introduced Shabaz to the 2/3 year olds. He is very popular. He encouraged the children to talk about their favourite foods and what they like to play. When the children saw the member of staff who’d introduced Shabaz they asked, “Where’s your boy?” “Where’s Shabaz?”



How Rukhsana has been used.
We told the children that Rukhsana celebrates Eid but is afraid of fireworks because they’re too noisy.
She also helped the children write a list of things to remember to be good friends with others.

Rukhsana ’told’ a story about a policeman helping her when she got lost in a big shop in Bradford. This was because one of the children was terrified of anyone in a uniform. The children discussed how she felt and talked about their own fears: “dogs” “monsters” and “crocodiles” were common ones!! Ubaid said, “You should always tell your mum and dad where you are going!”

Rukhsana needed to wear glasses and was worried that the other children at her nursery would call her names - a discussion on name-calling followed. The next time Rukhsana came she had her glasses on and the children told her she looked nice and gave her a hug.



How Ruby has been used.
Ruby is a Black South African Doll that we use to discuss skin colour. She loves her black skin
and so do the children at her nursery. We introduced her because: Some of the Asian children did not want to hold hands with the only African child attending our nursery school. An Asian child told her mum that she wanted lighter skin.

Bethany was naming and pointing to facial features
on herself and Ruby

How Haroon has been used.
Haroon is a wheelchair user with incredibly strong arms. He uses them to play basketball and to move around in his chair as long as there are no steps. Haroon showed a photo of a car parking space
for disabled users. The children later recognised it on an environmental walk and knew what it meant.

He also ‘told’ a story about going to Morrison’s with his mum. She wasn’t able to park close to the doors as someone who did not have a special disabled badge was parked in the space. The children knew this wasn’t fair and some even gave the names of members of their families who parked there.

Linking Persona Dolls with SEAL
Work sheets linking the Dolls to the SEAL curriculum areas are stored in our Persona Doll cupboard where the Dolls and their journals each have their own space. This means that we can easily access
both the Dolls and the bank of practical work sheets. At group time we use the SEAL photo resource file
and the Dolls to explore feelings, to talk about them and to introduce key vocabulary to the children.
We tell stories for example, about Polly not sharing her toys with her cousin and use two of the SEAL
photographs depicting conflicting emotions. The children are encouraged to talk about what they think
is happening in the pictures, how the person feels and if they ever feel that way. When Polly’s mum shouted at her a SEAL photo was shown of two adults shouting at each other. All the children said that their mum or dad had shouted at them. Some said that their dads hit their mums! One child said that when he’s naughty his dad puts him in the cellar! Children need to talk about these issues and linking the Dolls and SEAL materials gives them the vocabulary and space to do so.

We made our own set of emotions photographs by asking the children to make happy, sad, angry, surprised faces. They photographed each other and made up stories about why someone looked/might look surprised, angry etc.

We use the following worksheets together with the Dolls and the photographs. We select a Doll and enter her/his name in the designated place on the sheet. Comments made by the children are added after the session and copies go into their records of achievement. As parents share these records regularly with their childrenthey are aware of the issues that have been discussed. The worksheets have helped some members of staff to feel more confident about using the Dolls.


Setting Goals
Go round the circle encouraging the children to participate by saying:

I am good at …………

I like ............

Pass a Persona Doll around the circle.
(Doll’s name) ………… would like to learn something new today. This is her learning goal.

She wants to learn to draw a house. She isn’t very good at drawing a square yet.

Can you help her learn to do it? What should she do?
(Children can show her on the whiteboard)

Is there anything you would like her to be able to do better?

Bring the Persona Doll back to the group with her goal achieved - drawing of a house.

Discuss what other children may have achieved.

Follow up activity:
What could you do when you were a baby? What can you do now?

Make a display of baby/toddler photographs together with photos of an activity/goal now achieved.

Take photos of individual children looking happy/sad/angry/worried etc to use as discussion points.

Include staff photos.


Exploring feelings
1. Choose a range of cards with different facial expressions and spread them on the ground for the group to look at and talk about. The children choose a face that might fit a short scenario such as:

a. This person feels loved and cared for.

b. This person has lost their favourite thing.

c. This person has just been given an ice cream

d. This person has no one to play with.

e. This person has just got into trouble

Children are then asked:
How can you tell?
How would you feel?
What makes you happy/sad/lonely/angry/scared?

2. Pass a Persona Doll around the circle.
The adult chooses one of the feelings and tells children (Doll’s name) ______
feels sad/angry/happy/worried/excited/hurt when ……

Children suggest possible reasons why.

What could s/he do to feel better?

3. Pass a Persona Doll around the circle.
(The Doll’s name) ………… has come to see us today because s/he wants to tell you
that s/he is feeling a bit lonely because:

Friend has gone on holiday/to a big school

Mum and dad have gone to Hajj and s/he is staying at Grandma’s

S/he has lost her/his favourite teddy

Her/his cat has run away

What might make him/her feel better?

The children are then asked:
Have you ever felt lonely?

What did you do?

4. Pass a Persona Doll around the circle.
Key words: on purpose; by accident; sad; happy; angry; upset
(Doll’s name) ………… likes her nursery so much that she was very excited to get there.

As she walked through the door she was in such a hurry that she pushed her way past a boy and knocked him over. He began to cry but ………… didn’t notice and carried on pushing people out of the way.

The children are then asked:
What do you think ………… should have done?

What does she need to learn that you already know?

Did she do it on purpose or by accident?

What difference does it make?

Later on ………… saw a hat that she wanted to wear but Anna, another child, was wearing it. ………… snatched it off her head.

Show four SEAL photo’s to see if the children can identify from the different expressions how Anna
may be feeling and ask them:
How do you think Anna felt?

What might her face look like – can you show me?

What might Anna say to …………?

What should ………… have done?

What does ………… need to learn that you already know?

When …………snatched her hat, Anna stamped her foot and shouted, that’s my hat, I had it first”
and snatched it back:

Was that the best thing to do?

Has that ever happened to you?

What would you have done?

How do you think …………felt?

Again refer to SEAL photo’s to discuss and acknowledge ideas.


Being Excluded
Use a boy Doll to explore gender issues.
Key vocabulary: unkind ; mean; unfair; name-calling; left out; included; excluded.

A girl not letting ………… play with the Dolls house

A girl at his nursery wouldn’t let ………… bath the Dolls. Some children came along and started
laughing at him.

A group of girls were dancing to the music and wouldn’t let ………… join in. They started laughing.

Why do you think they were laughing?

How do you think he felt?

Has this ever happened to you?

What do you think he should have done?

Is it true that boys can’t bath Dolls?

What would you do if this ever happened to you?


Say NO to bullying
Use a girl Doll to explore a gender issues.

Hamza was playing in the building area at his nursery when (name of girl Doll)
………. wanted to join in, but Hamza said, “You can’t play! You’re a girl and girls are
not allowed in here”.

………… was unhappy and had tears in her eyes as she walked away.

Sometime later Haroon wanted to play but Hamza said: “You can’t play! You’re in a
wheelchair and can’t reach high up”.
Haroon went away shocked and upset that Hamza had spoken to him like that.

Later, Shabaz came along and tried to join in and Hamza said, “You can’t play here
your too fat and only thin people can play here”.
Shabaz was sad and really angry too.

Why was Hamza so rude to him?

How do you think ………… felt?

How do you think Harron felt?

How do you think Shabaz felt?

What should they do?

What would you do if this happened to you?

Is it true that girls can’t play in the brick area?

Is it true that wheelchair users can’t play in the brick area?

Is it true that only thin children can play in the brick area?

What could the teacher do to make Hamza stop being unkind?

The group could suggest the areas in the nursery that every child can play in.

Use SEAL’S bullying photographs to explore and discuss feelings.

The fifth casestudy: Persona Dolls at Aboyne Lodge

The school aims to develop confidence and self esteem in our pupils.
We want our children to be curious and caring about the world around them, inspired to learn, courteous and tolerant in their relationships with each other and with adults.
We recognise that a child learns to value others by being valued themselves, regardless of race, gender, creed or culture.
We aim beyond sound literacy and numeracy skills for our pupils.
In partnership with parents, we recognise that a positive and enthusiastic attitude to learning, good social skills, and personal
qualities of honesty and self-discipline provide a sound basis for future success and happiness.

The headteacher, Linda Crawley, describes how working with the Dolls developed in the school
and how, in turn, the Persona Doll approach has influenced other areas of work. The staff place great emphasis on the personal, social and emotional development of the children and as part
of their holistic approach to this work, they use Persona Dolls.

When I took over the school about five years ago, it was a good school and one of our development priorities was to do something about PSHCE, ethos and behaviour. My leadership team was debating how to do this and someone mentioned Persona Dolls and we thought this might be it. Because we were a Beacon School we had extra money for collaborating with other schools and were able to organise a day conference on Persona Dolls at a hotel that offered good food. We bought a full set
of Dolls to represent a range of cultures and additional needs.

Back at school, we decided to give a Doll to every class and that the children would make up the personas. We very quickly discovered that you just can’t do that with years 4, 5 and 6 because there was definite resistance and cynicism: well it’s just a doll and the staff did not feel it would work with this age group. We tried it for about half a term and then decided to do what we have done successfully with everything else, to introduce them from the bottom up at the foundation stage where there is still magic and the children would not think of them as dolls, but as friends. And that’s what’s happened.

The children really do believe in them. I remember a Year 1 class who’d just moved from Reception.
The teacher was using the Doll to ‘talk’ about her camping holiday. All the children went off to write about their holidays and the Doll was left on theteacher’s chair. She noticed that one little boy went over and was whispering to it so she asked him what he was saying. He replied that he was just asking her what colour the tent was!

The Dolls are kept in the teachers’ cupboards and brought out when teachers feel they need to use them at circle time. They are not used by everyone, or all the time, but they are used consistently to cover a whole lot of issues. At the end of the year the children move classes with their Doll. As new things happen or new problems arise, they are discussed and written down and kept with the Doll in a big book bag so that the next class teacher knows what’s happened: knows the Dolls name,brothers and sisters and what has happened during the year: all the details are there. Just as there is a hand over for the children, there is also a handover for the Doll.

The children all do Philosophy which provides another opportunity to discuss issuesin a theoretical way. Previous discussions around the Dolls help because they enable the children to empathise and think about other people’s points of view. I think that because of our buddy system and because of the Dolls, the atmosphere in the school is quite different - there are no two ways about it: you just walk into the school and the children are so lovely and kind to each other. I know that heads sing the praises of their own schools, but everyone has remarked on it. We hardly ever have any problems in the playground: I’m not saying we don’t have arguments, because we do, but we have trained up peer mediators to help children sort out their own problems.

A lot of this development stemmed from looking at how the Dolls worked and how we could extend the understandings that were being developed. We have introduced SEAL (part of the primary strategy - Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) which is an absolutely superb programme and the Dolls are used with it.

The Dolls have helped me as a head to encourage staff develop positive attitudes to difference and to tackle discrimination confidently. I think the teachers here would say that they feel less worried.