Cultural and Diversity Contexts

Cultural and diversity contexts in early childhood centre on the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and immigrant or refugee families navigating early childhood systems shaped by dominant Anglo-Australian norms. Applying the portfolio's two focus family types within this context, a single-parent First Nations family may navigate both the impacts of intergenerational trauma and the demands of accessing culturally safe services, while a blended immigrant family may be integrating step-family relationships alongside resettlement, language acquisition, and unfamiliar service systems.

This context is fundamental to early childhood education because cultural ecological perspectives and Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital reveal how mismatches between a family's home culture and institutional norms can disadvantage children before formal schooling. Grace et al. (2022) argue that services must actively build cultural safety, especially given Australia's history of forced removal of First Nations children.

Diversity in this case is very important, as is change. By 2026, over 95% of First Nations children were involved in the Year Before Full-Time Schooling program, which was the completion of a Closing the Gap target (PS News, 2026); however, the Northern Territory still falls far behind in comparison with other states (AIHW, 2025). Migrants play an important role in the life of Australia; more children attending ECEC programs have different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

Mainstream ECEC environments can pose risks to First Nations children who lack connections to Country, language, and culture, which negatively impacts their identity and engagement, but well-developed cultural programs can positively impact developmental outcomes (AIHW, 2025). Intergenerational traumas of single First Nations parents might increase child protection attention, making it more challenging to engage with services. For immigrant and refugee children, learning English is balanced by the preservation of their native language, and for blended immigrant families, different cultural practices are required from step-parents. Lack of understanding of these issues by the service will result in poor attendance rates and lack of cooperation.

This happens in the face of shifting attitudes in the country. While the number of Australians who feel that cultural diversity has improved society declined from 85% in 2020 to 75% in 2025, the cases of discrimination have risen from 13% to 18% (ABS, 2026). The concern that immigration figures are “too high” rose from 24% in 2022 to 51% in 2025 (O'Donnell, Falkiner & Szachna, 2026); however, this is because of concerns about accommodation costs and not due to the rejection of multiculturalism, as 83% feel that it has benefited Australia. This is important for ECEC.

Target 3 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and its goal of achieving 95% attendance at preschool in First Nations children by 2025, which the Productivity Commission found achieved in 2026, is enabled through the Connected Beginnings program worth $81.8 million targeting 50 sites in the country and, as of January 2026, offering 100 subsidised Child Care Subsidy hours per fortnight to First Nations children without restriction on parents' employment activities (Department of Education, 2026). National multicultural and settlement service frameworks provide for language and orientation support for immigrant and refugee families, although there are inequities for such families residing in regional and remote areas. Victoria's Multicultural Education and Settlement programs have funding for bilingual educators at the preschool level as a means to link federal settlement service frameworks with early childhood practice at the state level. This policy impacts the practice in ECEC settings in that there is a need to partner with Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations for cultural mentoring as well as translating of information.

According to Grace et al. (2022), there is a need for services to develop cultural safety, which is one of the key concerns that has been taken care of in the strategies below. Below are the five strategies based on resilience theory for developing family resilience through their application in cultural and diversity contexts:

These groups work with the ECEC service through cultural mentoring, translations, and community activities.

These resources support educators to move cultural safety from an annual event into everyday practice.

The listed resources will allow children to recognise themselves and show empathy towards their peers who belong to a different culture and a different family.