Cultural and Diversity Contexts

Understanding the Context 

Australia is one of the world's most culturally diverse countries, and First Nations families are served regularly by early childhood services along with immigrant and refugee families from a wide diversity of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This context for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families means they experience the continued effects of colonisation, intergenerational impacts of previous government policies, and robust and resilient kinship and cultural relationships. Contexts may refer to language barriers, the trauma and stress of the pre-migration experience, the stress of resettlement, and balancing home culture and language with a new school system for refugee and immigrant families. In Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural theory, development is a process that is part of culture, and language, tools, and community practice, in turn, are central to development; thus, culturally responsive practice is interdisciplinary and integral to sound pedagogy, not an add-on. The early learning context in Australia has become more diverse over time, as have the national priorities of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and the multicultural population. In Australian contexts, recent scholarship reveals that First Nations perspectives are consistently called for in curriculum documents like the EYLF, but this is not happening in everyday practice, which demands careful, critical thinking, rather than just surface-level inclusion (Acker & Nyland, 2025).

Impact on Children and Families

In Bronfenbrenner's (1979) macrosystem, families' values and attitudes within the society influence the way they are welcomed by services and the community. Enrolment in quality, culturally appropriate early learning is correlated with being developmentally on track at school entry for First Nations children (AIHW, 2025c), but may be lower than rates for non-Indigenous children and is related to the lack of culturally safe services and the historical mistrust of institutions. Disruption to education, exposure to trauma, and learning English as an additional language may impact refugee/immigrant children's communication, social confidence and emotional regulation. Vygotsky's (1978) idea of the zone of proximal development emphasizes culturally and linguistically responsive scaffolding, as learning takes place through the language and cultural tools already available to the child. Both groups may be marginalised in services that are rooted in and reflect dominant Anglo-Australian values, highlighting the need for practice that is inclusive and strengths-based. To make matters worse, a large Australian cohort study revealed that both premigration adversity and postmigration stressors of settlement had an association with poor psychosocial health in refugee children, suggesting that there is a need for support to reach beyond the point of migration (Guo et al., 2023). Likewise, this is an ongoing process of engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge holders, not a one-off consultation, that has been found to support the development of culturally responsive educator practice (Kickett-Tucker et al., 2025).

Community and Professional Partnerships

• SNAICC -National Voice for our Children -the peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
• Community Controlled: Connected Beginnings -integrated early years and community-controlled service partnership.
• FHS- trauma-informed support for refugee families (Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture).
• Settlement Services International (SSI) -settlement, casework and community support for migrant and refugee families.
• AMES Australia is an English language and settlement service for newly arrived families.

These materials provide a reflection of their own culture and language to First Nations and refugee and/or immigrant children and provide an opportunity for all children to develop empathy, curiosity and respect for cultural differences as a strength and a way of life.

Resources for Educators and Children

Videos, Shows and Podcasts

Critical Reflection

Cultural inclusion can be empty, symbolic, an Acknowledgement of Country without action (Acker & Nyland, 2025), rather than ongoing practice. However, the needs of refugee families do not stop after they have been housed and translated, and psychosocial needs are experienced well beyond the resettlement phase (Guo et al., 2023).