Open lecture: Challenging Racism from the Start: Early Childhood Education as a Site of Change.
The lecture “Challenging Racism from the Start: Early Childhood Education as a Site of Change” examines the critical role of early childhood education (ECE) in addressing and transforming racial inequalities from the earliest stages of development.
Drawing on recent empirical and theoretical research, the lecture highlights how racial bias can emerge in early childhood settings and how it is embedded both structurally—through curricula, policies, and institutional practices—and interactionally, through everyday classroom dynamics and educator expectations. Although there is growing evidence that racial bias emerges early and affects children’s educational experiences, there remains a need for integrated, practice-oriented approaches that connect anti-racist pedagogy with social-emotional learning and whole-school strategies in early childhood education. Emphasizing the transformative potential of education, the lecture situates ECE within the broader framework of global priorities such as United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities).
Through the lens of anti-racist and transformative pedagogies, participants explore the role of educators in fostering inclusive, equitable, and agency-supportive learning environments. The lecture also addresses existing gaps in teacher preparation and highlights the need for professional development that equips educators with the knowledge, skills, and critical awareness required to challenge racism and support all children’s sense of belonging and voice.
About associate professor Vasiliki Pliogkou
Lecture is presented by Associate Professor Vasiliki Pliogkou from University of Western Macedonia
Vassiliki received her BA in Pedagogy at the University of Patras. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Ghent in Belgium. She has two MA, the first one on the subject of "Comparative Education and Human Rights" from the University of Athens and the Institute of Education of the University of London and the second in "Bilingual Special Education" from the University of Western Macedonia. She received her PhD in Science Education from the Department of Primary Education in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
She had been for many years (1997 to present) academic staff and a member on research programs at the Democritus University of Thrace, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Ioannina, while she has a continuous cooperation with the Hellenic Open University, the University of Athens, the School of Pedagogical and Technological Education in Thessaloniki and the Frederick University of Cyprus. During the spring semester of 2025, she was a visiting professor at the Department of Early Childhood Education and Care, Faculty of Teacher Education and International Studies, Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway, through the ERASMUS+ Faculty Mobility Program.
She is a reviewer in over 25 Greek and International Journals. She has more than 180 presentations in Greek and International conferences and relative publications in collective volumes, Greek and International Journals and proceedings, which focus on human rights education, childhood and children’s rights, citizenship, family-school connection, gender and educational implementations using different pedagogical tools in various formal and non-formal educational environments.
From 1998 till now, she has organised or co-organised events, such as conferences, seminars, educational activities which have been mainly addressed to students at the Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, educators, preschool and primary school children and their families. Since 2011, she is the president of OMEP (World Organization for Early Childhood Education) in Central Macedonia. She has been awarded the first prize of the International Committee of OMEP for 2016 in Education for Sustainable Development under the UNESCO Global Action Programme, at the University of Ewha Womans in Seoul (S. Korea).
