Beyond Anti-Bias Education: Changing Conceptions of Diversity and Equity in European Early Childhood Education

Overview & Synopsis

The articles draws on history-of-the-present research on Belgian childcare, on experiences within the European DECET network (Diversity in Early Childhood Education and Training) and on post-structuralist theory. A historical hindsight is helpful to understand how different discourses on diversity and equity in early childhood education have been constructed: from the ideology of homogeneity over multicultural education to the anti-bias curricula of the 1990s. It is argued that, in spite of its obvious merits, some of the theoretical concepts underpinning the issue of diversity in early childhood education may be questioned. Post-structural theory, but also recent societal changes (such as individualisation, de-traditionalisation and neo-liberalism) present new challenges to research, policy and practice of diversity and social inclusion in early childhood education.