The Aswan Learning Centre runs half-day and day workshops to enable early years professionals to gain an awareness and understanding on the importance of promoting race equality in education. The workshops provide strategies to help raise achievement, prevent disaffection and promote 'inclusive' education for ethnic minority children, particularly those of African-Caribbean descent who are more likely to be excluded from mainstream school.
Contact the Aswan Learning Centre, Second Floor, Day Lewis House, 324-340 Bensham Lane, Croydon, Surrey CR7 7EQ (020 8239 1141, fax 020 8239 7196, e-mail aswan@netlineuk.net).
The Council for Awards in Children's Care and Education (CACHE) Level 3 Diploma in Child Care and Education includes a unit on:
* Anti-discriminatory/anti-bias practice.
CACHE also offers a professional development unit within its advanced diploma in childcare and education (ADCE):
* Anti-discriminatory practice.
Contact CACHE, 8 Chequer Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 3XZ (01727 738308, fax 01727 867609, e-mail info@cache.org.uk,website www.cache.org.uk).
Children in Scotland has workshops on:
* Anti-discriminatory practice in working with young people, in Edinburgh on 5 February and Glasgow on 23 April.
* Valuing diversity in early years, in Edinburgh on 30 May. This is a training day in anti-discriminatory practice for those working with young children.
Contact Alison Rowan, Children in Scotland, Princes House, 5 Shandwick Place, Edinburgh EH2 4RG (0131 222 2405, website www.childreninscotland.org.uk).
The Institute of Education has a course on:
* Creating a mainstream classroom that supports all ethnic minority pupils, on 14 February and 14 March.
Contact the CPD/INSET Office, Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H OAL (020 7612 6589, fax 020 7612 6600, e-mail d.huit@ioe.ac.uk,website www.ioe.ac.uk).
Kinderquest Support Services has a course on:
* Acknowledging cultures, in West Sussex on 25 March. This course will consider activities for children aged two to eight, and will also include ways to celebrate different festivals.
Contact Kelly Nightingale, Kinderquest Support Services, 9-10 Sheep Street, Wellingborough, Northants NN8 1BL (01933 446819, fax 01933 442320).
The Montessori Centre International has a seminar on:
* Supporting diversity in early years and persona dolls: implementing equal opportunities in the nursery, on 16 March. Participants are urged to take along their nursery's equal opportunities policy. The seminar will look at the cultural needs of the child in an early years setting and how they can be met in the context of an equal opportunities policy.
Contact the Montessori Centre International, 18 Balderton Street, London W1K 6TG (020 7493 0165, fax 020 7629 7808, e-mail mci@montessori.ac.uk,website www.montessori.ac.uk).
The National Early Years Network runs a selection of workshops on promoting equality for early years practitioners. Subjects include:
* Anti-discriminatory practice: An introduction to race, gender and disability issues.
* Equality of opportunity, with reference to gender.
* Equality of opportunity, with reference to race.
* Challenging racism: taking a strategic approach.
* Disabled children and inclusive practice.
* Special educational needs: Workshops on Code of Practice, specific disability groups and policymaking.
Contact the National Early Years Network, 77 Holloway Road, London N7 8JZ (020 7607 9573, fax 020 7700 1105, e-mail neyn.org@virgin.net).
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) runs two courses dealing with race issues:
* Working with the strengths of black families. This course aims to begin to acknowledge the need to work with the strengths of black families and develop appropriate skills.
* Prejudicial blocks to good practice. This course demonstrates how to provide an equal and relevant service to children irrespective of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, culture or religion.
Contact Gillian Weston, Training Administrator, NSPCC Child Protection Training Centre, 3 Gilmour Close, Beaumont Leys, Leicester LE4 1EZ (0116 234 7200, fax 0116 234 0464, e-mail gweston@nspcc.org.uk,website www.nspcc.org.uk).
The Pre-School Learning Alliance has courses on:
* Promoting equal opportunities. This course introduces pre-school workers to equal opportunities issues.
* Equal opportunities - policy into practice. This course looks at good equal opportunities practice in early years settings.
For details of your local training centre contact the Pre-School Learning Alliance, 69 Kings Cross Road, London WC1X 9LL (020 7833 0991, fax 020 7837 4942, e-mail pla@pre-school.org.uk, website www.pre-school.org.uk).
The Riverside Early Years Training Centre has a course on:
* Anti-discriminatory practice in early years, on 6 March. It aims to raise awareness of equality issues and to develop strategies for anti-discriminatory practice.
Contact the Riverside Early Years Training Centre, Minton Lane, North Shields, Tyne and Wear NE29 6DQ (0191 200 5200, fax 0191 200 5300, website www.northtyneside.gov.uk/lifelong-learn/riverside).
The Working Group Against Racism in Children's Resources (WGARCR) undertakes two types of training, one concerned with promoting positive images in children's resources in the early years, the other providing training for advocates supporting pupils excluded from school (see Exclusion, in the Good practice section).
Early years training covers the following half- and full-day courses:
* Celebrating festivals in an anti-racist framework.
* Presenting positive images in posters and displays.
* Promoting children's first languages in order to nurture their identity.
Contact WGARCR, Lady Margaret Hall Settlement, 460 Wandsworth Road, London SW8 3LX (020 7627 4594, website http://freespace.virgin.net/wgarc.r).