Children’s centres and integration

Prince of Wales talks to children during a visit to Haggerston Girls School in Hackney, east London, 2003. Empics entertainment/ Press Association. All rights reserved.International terrorism along religious lines poses questions about the integration
of minority groups in the developed world. Indeed, some of the attacks are
carried out by home grown terrorists. Most recently, two suicide bombers in the
Brussels airport attack were Belgian citizens. This article suggests that one
way of decreasing the possibility of homegrown terrorism is by facilitating a better
integration of minorities. I believe this could be achieved by public services.
In the United Kingdom, children’s centres provide an excellent example.

Let me explain how. The scholarship on ethnic relations and prejudice has
long verified the positive effects of contact among majority and minority
groups. Expanding on Allport’s (1958) classical
study, The Nature of Prejudice,
they show that contact between the members of majority and minority groups
decrease the level of prejudice and hostility between groups. Allport underlines
that the effective contact is an equal status interaction sanctioned by social
institutions, such as by law or norms. It facilitates a realisation of common
interests and humanity between the members of different groups. Studies from
various developed countries inform policymakers to focus on intergroup contact
stimulating measures.

Children’s centres in the United Kingdom are a perfect institution to
stimulate contact between different groups and therefore help the integration
of minorities. For unfamiliar readers, children’s centres provide a free service
for children under five and their families, including support from various professionals
and play activities.

After regularly attending three
children’s centres in Oxford for 14 months, I am convinced that that they are
perfect venues for intergroup contact. The nature of contact that I have
witnessed there met all the criteria recommended by Allport. First, parents and
children from different ethnic and religious backgrounds are involved in an
equal status interaction. Second, this has the institutional support of the
council. Third, new parents communicate with each other in a way that helps to
create a realisation of the common humanity between people of different
backgrounds, because they all face the similar challenges of parenthood. All
these facilitate positive contact among parents and children. It helps not only
to raise a generation that will make the most of diversity but also enables the
integration of minorities and reduces prejudice. Children’s centres can help wipe
out the social roots of ethno-religious hostility to create a peaceful future.    

I am ending this humble suggestion
with a sad note that most of the children’s centres in Oxford will be closed in
September 2016. I am of the opinion if we want to build a peaceful future, more
centres should be opened, particularly in ethnically and religiously diverse
places, not only in the United Kingdom but also all around the world. This is
only an indirect benefit of these centres, but someone with better knowledge in
child development could explain their more obvious benefits.