Children grow up in an increasingly diverse world, shaped by differences in culture, language, gender, and abilities. Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings—and particularly educators—play a crucial role in fostering appreciation for diversity, challenging prejudices, and promoting social competence. This study validates a newly developed tool designed to assess teachers’ educational practices toward diversity in Swiss and German ECE classrooms. Grounded in the Anti-Bias Approach and its four core goals, the instrument comprised four dimensions—Acceptability, Appreciation, Prejudice Awareness, and Anti-Discrimination—across key domains of educational practice, including learning environment arrangement, teacher–child interaction, collaboration with parents, and teamwork.

A cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted with 247 early childhood professionals from day-care centers and playgroups in Switzerland and Germany, who completed an online questionnaire. Reliability of the subscales was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, and factorial validity was examined with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results indicated strong psychometric properties and a well-fitting factor structure, χ²(76) = 109.24, p = .007, χ²/df = 1.44, TLI = .942, CFI = .963, RMSEA = .042, SRMR = .047. The Teamwork scale demonstrated excellent fit when tested independently but introduced misfit in the full model; it was therefore excluded, though it remains interpretable as a standalone measure. Data collection in the French-speaking region (Romandie) and the Italian-speaking region (Tessin) of Switzerland will be conducted in the near future.

Additionally, potential differences across Switzerland’s three language regions (German, French and Italian) will be presented to examine how cultural and linguistic contexts shape diversity-sensitive practices. The study aims to provide insights into the instrument’s usefulness for assessing such practices and to guide the design of regionally tailored professional learning initiatives.

Among other things, the childcare system is called upon to lay the foundations for institutional educational success, minimise social inequalities and ensure the comprehensive participation of all children, taking diversity into account (Bätge et al. 2021). There is a considerable need for professionalisation with regard to diversity-reflective competencies (Zehbe 2021; Garbade 2023; Kerle 2023; Zehbe/Kaul 2024) in ECEC institutions. There is also a lack of tools for translating existing knowledge into educational practice (Garbade 2021).

Generalisations, scandalisation and stereotyping (Kuhn 2021) can be countered through the guided use of diversity-reflective play materials (e.g. Garbade/Cloos 2025). These findings are addressed by the research and practice-oriented project "Diversity-Reflective Play Materials. App-Supported Training in ECEC Institutions" (DiSiKit), a consortium of the Universities of Hildesheim and Kassel, the Institute for Information Management Bremen GmbH and the PARITÄTISCHER Wohlfahrtsverband Hamburg e.V., with a strategy that combines expert advice, app-supported process support and training elements and implements them in ten ECEC institutions. This is accompanied by research.

The results will be incorporated into the further development of practical training. This focuses on case- and material-based learning and links it profitably with digitalisation. The project combines findings from qualitative guided interviews with managers, group discussions with professionals (Bogner et al. 2014), participant observations (Breidenstein et al. 2020) and document analyses (Schulz et al. 2020) will be linked according to the principles of comparison and triangulation with constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz 2014). The presentation will introduce the project and provide more in-depth insights.

Although equal participation in inclusive early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a right for all children, children with disabilities continue to be excluded and show lower levels of participation compared to their peers. Integrating the perspectives of parents and early childhood educators presents a promising, but relatively unexplored approach. This study (1) compares the participation of children with and without disabilities, (2) identifies common environmental barriers, and (3) analyses strategies that parents and educators use to support participation.

Parents and educators of 72 children with and without disabilities from 14 ECEC institutions in Germany completed a questionnaire on children’s participation and environment. Groups were compared on item- and summary-level. Strategies were analyzed by mapping parents’ and educators’ responses to a model on inclusive early childhood education.

While overall participation did not differ between the two groups, children with disabilities were less involved in social activities. Educators generally rated children’s involvement lower and more often expressed a desire for change than parents. Peer relationships and cognitive activity demands represent the greatest environmental barriers for children with disabilities. Common strategies include adapting activities to children’s individual interests and needs, promoting peer interactions, and family involvement.

Our results show that participation is a multidimensional construct that is influenced by both personal and environmental factors. Parents and educators provide unique insights into young children’s daily experiences. Supporting peer interactions could foster the social participation of children with diverse abilities in inclusive ECEC environments to achieve greater participation for all.

In order to conduct research that can lead to evidence-based practice and socially relevant recommendations, it is essential to include the perspectives of those directly affected. However, conducting such participatory research with young children and vulnerable groups poses specific methodological and ethical challenges. However, overcoming these hurdles is a prerequisite for truly capturing and considering the voices of these target groups.

How can we take children’s developmental stage into account when collecting standardized data or conducting interviews? How can we ensure that young children truly understand what is being asked of them and what will happen with the information they provide? How can we carefully weigh the risks and benefits of participation for vulnerable target groups?

This contribution presents innovative and empirically tested methods that have proven effective in capturing the voices of these target groups. Drawin on concrete examples, it demonstrates how participatory approaches can enrich both the validity of research findings and their societal impact. Overcoming these hurdles is a prerequisite for truly capturing and considering the voices of these target groups.