Inclusion and play-based learning: Visual narratives on the Australian early childhood organisation’s websites imagery
Background: Over the past few decades, Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) has undergone significant reform driven by policies promoting inclusion and play-based learning. These principles are central to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), which expects services to provide equitable play experiences for children with diverse intellectual, physical, social, and emotional needs. Increasingly, organisations communicate these commitments through website imagery. However, limited research has examined how inclusion and diversity are visually represented in digital platforms.
Aim: Through the visual analysis of website imagery, this study examines how inclusion and play-based learning are visually represented in the websites of major Australian ECEC organisations, drawing on the EYLF V2.0, Reggio Emilia principles, and visual semiotics theory.
Method/approach: A qualitative visual analysis was conducted on 59 photographs from six Australian ECEC provider websites. Images depicting children engaged in play-based learning were purposively selected and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. As the study used publicly available data, ethical approval was not required.
Results/findings: The findings show that inclusion is predominantly represented through shared participation, equitable access to resources, and aesthetically designed environments, positioning children as capable learners. The learning environment is frequently positioned as a “third teacher”, while images also reinforce organisational branding and values. However, representation is uneven. Cultural inclusion and diversity are minimally visible, and visible features of disabilities are absent.
Conclusion: Organisational websites function as marketing tools and influential public texts that communicate a provider’s pedagogical values, inclusion commitments, and philosophical identity. This study has significant implications for the implementation of digital communication by ECE service providers and for the updated EYLF.
Implications for children and families: You and your child are more likely to feel welcome and included when early learning services reflect diverse cultures, abilities, and family identities in their environments and communications.
Implications for practitioners: You can strengthen inclusive practice by making diversity visible in your centre’s images, including cultural and family representations, embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in everyday play, and showing support for children with disabilities.
Keywords: inclusion, play-based learning, Reggio Emilia approach, visual analysis, early childhood education
This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: