Early childhood settings and schools are becoming increasingly diverse due to children from different ethnic, cultural, religious, linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds accessing childcare provision. This is a result of global movement of families with young children to move from war zone areas to safety and sometimes for better job prospects. Early childhood settings and practitioners are responsible for meeting the unique and individual needs of all children. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness of diversity and develop knowledge and understanding, acknowledge and respect differences across various racial, ethnic and religious groups in the society. They must be provided with opportunities to share knowledge between practitioners and families.

This article will illustrate two models discussed in the book – Promoting diversity and inclusion in early years settings – the wheel of inclusion and the model of awareness of diversity. This will enable practitioners to provide better experiences for all children, thereby providing the best opportunities to develop.

The practitioners supporting the children must be aware of the individual needs of children and acknowledge them. It is important for these needs to be met and identify all the needs of the children, considering the visible and invisible diversity rather than homogenising the child’s needs under the visible category. Diversity is visible due to the obvious physical characteristics such as facial features, skin colour that may be different to the majority population. Bias and prejudice can be avoided by being open and engaging in dialogue to be able to relate to invisible diversity.

Considering the wide range of backgrounds of visible and invisible diversity it is important to be aware of both visible and invisible forms of diversity. Some people are visibly different to the majority population by their external appearance and characteristics. Based on the differences, these children are easily labelled, and therefore stereotyped and prejudiced and their needs may not be met. However, some children who may appear to be like other children, such as skin colour and facial features, may be believed to have similar needs, but there may be invisible diversity where some of the categories may not be obvious and that might also mask the individual needs of the child. Invisible forms of diversity include attributes or characteristics related to cultural diversity, religious beliefs, poor socio-economic backgrounds and educational levels that may not be explicit initially to the practitioner and may lead to stereotyping. The adults supporting the child must collaborate with the families to know more about the child and be aware of visible and invisible diversity rather than homogenising under the child’s needs. Bias and prejudice can be avoided by being open and engaging in dialogue to be able to relate to invisible diversity.

The needs of children may be overlooked due to ‘invisibility’ from limited information on children’s background, ability and skills, inadequately prepared and trained practitioners; and thus impacting on teachers’ perceptions of diversity.

Wheel of Inclusion – strengths-based model

Inclusion as a concept has been evolving in the last few decades - emphasising weaknesses influenced by the labels. Perceptions relating to inclusion in early childhood contexts have changed, especially concerning those from diverse backgrounds.  The wheel of inclusion helps to illustrate this concept. The wheel must be on the move constantly ensuring everyone in the community – i.e. children and their families, teachers, administrators, policy makers, researchers – is included. In order for the wheel to be moving constantly and ensuring inclusion of everyone, the focus must be on strengths rather than weaknesses.

It is important for the wheel of inclusion to move forward consistently. The symbolic wheel consisting of spokes holding the wheel together are the major influences. The spokes represent the attitudes of people towards inclusion, commitment, knowledge and understanding relating to the needs of the child, resources available, as well as training and skills to teach children from a wide range of backgrounds.

It is important to focus on strengths and build on them to overcome the weaknesses. But there is a tendency to highlight the weaknesses of an individual and overlook the strengths. For example, when a child is looked at through the lens of the medical model of disability, a child with a disability is unable to perform routine activities on a daily basis and needs support. The strengths of the child might be overlooked. This child may also have strengths that may not have been tapped.

Who drives the wheel of inclusion? A wide range of people are involved (active or passive) in the process of inclusion and thus would be responsible for ensuring the wheel of inclusion is moving forward. Some of them are active at the grassroots level in early childhood settings while others at different levels such as politicians and policy makers are indirectly responsible by developing policies and legislation influencing inclusion. The wheel of inclusion might gain momentum with involvement of stakeholders at different levels, resulting in positive and effective inclusion.  It will be crucial to ensure everyone has a key role in moving the wheel of inclusion forward by including children, parents, practitioners/teachers and support professionals and administrators at all levels. The commitment and positive attitudes of people involved at different levels towards inclusion will drive the wheel forward. Further, consistent updating of knowledge and understanding and regular training and skills relevant to the changing face of diversity is needed.   

Lack of the right attitude and commitment might result in tokenistic inclusion. This will impact on the wheel, causing it to lose its momentum short term or even long term. This will lead to a breakdown of the momentum in the process of inclusion, impacting on the child’s holistic development.

Model of Awareness of Diversity

The Model of Awareness of Diversity will enable teachers, practitioners and professionals working with children and their families from diverse contexts and backgrounds in raising awareness about diversity. This model was developed by adapting the model of Johari Window, which focuses on emphasising and acknowledging the heterogeneous nature of diversity and identifying the differences in the individuals. This model will also help to identify and confront one’s own stereotypes and prejudices.

The model contains four quadrants. You can see these in the image below, but to emphasise:  

Known by others and Known by self on the left side top box - open and free (stereotypes and prejudices) – what we do know is open and flexible to adapt to new information. Visible diversity – what is politically correct, attitudes to diverse population.

In the top right box, Unknown by self but Known by others – refers to the Blind Spot – you are prejudiced and do not necessarily believe you are prejudiced, for example towards religious diversity, ethnic minorities, EAL, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller families. This is perceived by others – especially the members of diverse communities.

Known by self and Unknown by others in the bottom left box shows a façade or mask (so hidden) – you are prejudiced, but do not like to admit to your prejudices because they are not acceptable in society. Attitudes towards specific diverse groups – Gypsy, Roma and traveller families, ethnic minority groups, specific religions.

Finally, Unknown by self and Unknown to others in the right-side bottom square is where you do not know that you hold some stereotypes because it is unconscious. Invisible diversity – ingrained by society, lack of awareness. This is perceived by others – especially the members of diverse communities.

This model can be used by individuals or organisations to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding of diversity prevalent in society and may also enable them to identify their own stereotypes and prejudices. It can inform training, discussions and workshops in unlearning, relearning and raised awareness of diversity among practitioners and teachers in early childhood settings.

Adapted Johari Window model to develop an understanding of challenges to relate to the perspectives of diversity. Figure I.3: Model of awareness of diversity Adapted from Luft, J., Ingham, H. (1955) ‘The Johari window, a graphic model of interpersonal awareness.’ Proceedings of the Western Training Laboratory in Group Development. Los Angeles: University of California, Los Angeles.

Children are the foundation of every community. In the current context, all early childhood settings have a huge responsibility to provide best care and education to all children to support their holistic development irrespective of their diverse backgrounds and unique needs. Good inclusive practice in early childhood settings will enable young children to perform to the best of their potential.  The wheel of inclusion and the model of awareness of diversity will enable settings to identify challenges and the barriers to good practice, resulting in inclusion and holistic development of children, positive communication and links with families, and development of the community.  

You can listen to Chandrika talking about the Wheel of Inclusion and the Model of Awareness of Diversity in one of our podcast episodes.