‘We are not allowed in’: Racial and religious discrimination as access barriers to early childhood education and care

This presentation explores racially discriminatory practices preventing ECEC enrolment for refugee families living in Queensland, Australia. High quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) is essential, but refugee families are less likely to participate than other families (Krakouer et al. 2017). Research into ECEC access for refugees has emerged relatively recently in Australia (Signorelli et al. 2017), but the literature has largely remained silent about racism (Sims 2014). Constructivist grounded theory (CGT) provided an appropriate methodological framework for conducting social justice research (Charmaz, Thornberg, and Keane 2018), and Yosso’s (2005) adaptation of critical race theory (CRT) in education overlaid a powerful lens to examine and challenge the way racism impacts structures and practices in ECEC. Critiques using CRT in early childhood are rare. This study, conducted within a critical/interpretive paradigm, sampled qualitative data through interviews and focus groups with 55 participants, consisting of 29 parents and 26 early childhood practitioners (ECPs) from seven community-based agencies. All literate participants provided written consent, but parents from strong oral traditions with limited literacy in English and first language/s required interpretation and oral permission recorded, as pre-approved by the UNE Ethics Committee. Findings demonstrated that refugees were refused entry, denied language rights, placed on waiting lists indefinitely, provided false eligibility criteria, expelled to accommodate non-refugees, and forbidden entry on religious grounds. This research demonstrates the importance of exposing racial discrimination because it has major negative implications for the healthy development, socialisation and adjustment of children across the lifespan (Priest, King, et al. 2016).