Explain How We Work On Our Own Attitudes Values And Behaviour

Our own attitudes, values and behaviour could impact on our work with children and young people as we are not neutral beings and even on a sub-conscious level me may be intimating information that impacts negatively on some children or young people. We need to be clear on our own attitudes, values and behaviour and identify how we can work on our own mindset if need be.

For instance the language we use can have loaded meanings, in the way we choose to describe things or people. For instance referring to people as ‘just’ the cleaner etc implies some level of inferiority and would have negative impacts on children whose families are part of the cleaning profession. Often the word black often has negative implications such as a bad day being a black day, whilst white can have links to ideas about purity, together or alone such language can reinforce some stereotypes regarding skin colour, however inadvertent it may be.
For instance referring to firemen only or to dinner ladies only, can reinforce historical gender roles. Using gender neutral language can help in this respect, i.e. saying fire-fighter and not firemen.

Language can also show your own attitudes, values etc with regard to disability, in that constantly referring to someone as the handicapped child, limits their existence, in your mind, as only being handicapped and ignores all other facets of that child’s personality and being. This impacts negatively on the child in question and all other children who will be or may be influenced by that attitude and take it on