For information and reference only – not to be submitted as your own work. This is a model extract to show structure, depth and referencing; the setting, children and policies below are fictional.

If you are working on the CHEV011 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion development plan, this sample shows how an anti-bias development plan can be built: an honest evaluation first, three strategies second, and a personal role analysis last. The step-by-step planning advice is in our blog on how to write an anti-bias development plan in ECEC. For wider support with Irish early years coursework, see our early childhood education assignment help page.

What this sample covers

The real brief asks for a 2,500-word essay (or narrated presentation) on anti-bias goals 1 and 3. This extract is shorter. It includes a condensed introduction, the evaluation of both goals in a fictional service with a promoted / not yet promoted table, the three-strategy table, and part of the role analysis (language, participation, communications and relationships). In the full essay, the evaluation carries 600 words and the strategies 800.

Introduction (extract)

Anti-bias education starts from a simple claim: children notice difference from a very young age, and what adults do with that noticing shapes who they become. Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2019) set out four core goals: identity, diversity, justice and activism. This plan focuses on Goal 1 (identity) and Goal 3 (justice). Goal 1 asks educators to nurture “each child’s construction of knowledgeable, confident, individual personal and social identities”, and Goal 3 asks them to foster “each child’s capacity to critically identify bias” and to nurture empathy “for the hurt bias causes” (Derman-Sparks and Edwards, 2019).

The setting is Willowbrook Community Early Years, a fictional sessional and full-day service with 36 children aged two and a half to five in two rooms. Around a third of families speak a home language other than English, and two children are from the Traveller community (both figures are illustrative). The evaluation draws on the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Charter and Guidelines for Early Childhood Care and Education (Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA), 2016), Aistear (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), 2009) and Síolta (Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE), 2006).

Evaluation: how Goals 1 and 3 are promoted in the service (extract)

Goal 1: identity

Identity work at Willowbrook is strongest where it is rooted in daily routines. Each child has a family photo book in the book corner, welcome signs sit in the languages of the enrolled families, and key persons ask parents to share naming stories and home celebrations at induction. This fits the Aistear aim that children “feel a sense of group belonging, with links to their family and community recognised and built upon” (NCCA, 2009), and Síolta Standard 3, Parents and Families (CECDE, 2006).

The gaps are just as visible. The dolls and small-world figures show a narrow range of skin tones and family types, and the Traveller children’s culture appears nowhere in the room. The home-language welcome signs are displayed but never used in conversation, so they are decoration, not practice. The Charter’s emphasis on valuing every child’s identity is only partly met by displays like these (DCYA, 2016).

Goal 3: justice

Goal 3 is where the service is weakest. Staff respond quickly when a child says “you can’t play, you’re brown” or “boys don’t do dress-up”, but the response is usually “that’s not kind” and the moment passes. There is no shared way of explaining why a remark is unfair, and no stories or small-group talk that name unfairness and invite children to think about it. This falls short of the Aistear equality and diversity principle, which asks adults to help children learn to recognise and challenge injustice (NCCA, 2009).

The service’s written policies explain much of this. The inclusion policy, which the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 require services to hold under Schedule 5 (Government of Ireland, 2016), is a one-page statement about welcoming all families. It names the nine grounds protected by the Equal Status Acts (Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), n.d.) but contains no procedure for handling a biased remark, and no review date. Regulation 14 requires policies to be reviewed annually (Government of Ireland, 2016); the policy has been unchanged for three years (illustrative). A policy that is filed but never used cannot shape practice.

Three strategies to promote Goals 1 and 3 (extract)

Each strategy below comes directly from a gap in the table above. The table shows how each links to legislation, standards and theory.

Strategy 1 is the quickest to deliver but only addresses Goal 1 if the materials are used, so the audit must lead to practice, such as staff reading the books aloud. Strategy 2 carries the most risk because staff may fear saying the wrong thing, which is why the plan includes a staff meeting before any child session. Strategy 3 gives the other two a stable base, since without a written procedure practice drifts back to “that’s not kind”.

Your role in an anti-bias culture (extract)

Language

The words an educator uses signal what is normal. Saying “mum and dad” when a child has two mums, or “Traveller children” as if they were a separate group, tells children that some families are the exception. My own practice goal is to replace “normal” with “usual” or “different from yours”, to learn ten key words in each home language, and to name bias directly: “That isn’t fair, because everyone can play dress-up.” This is the kind of respectful, inclusive language the Charter promotes (DCYA, 2016).

Participation, communications and relationships

Children’s participation means asking them what they notice and think, not only informing them. UNCRC Article 12 gives the child the right to express views “in all matters affecting the child” (United Nations, 1989), and Síolta Standard 1 links rights to choice and initiative (CECDE, 2006). In practice this means a short circle-time question such as “Who did not get a turn today?” and recording the answers.

With families, written communication needs to be accessible: translated notices, a verbal option for parents with literacy needs, and an invitation, not an instruction, to share home traditions. Relationships carry all of this. A child who trusts their key person will tell them when something hurt, which is the moment Goal 3 depends on. In the full essay, this section would also include a short reflective example, with a reflective model cited, and end with one personal development target.

Want a plan like this built around your own placement service and policies? You can submit your assignment brief for a quote, and our experts will talk through structure and referencing with you.

Further help

For wider coursework support, see our pages on childcare assignment help and QQI assignment help. These are guidance and model-answer services: you stay responsible for your own submission and your college’s AI-use rules, including the Level 1 “AI for Support” limits in your brief.

About the expert

Dr. Niamh Kavanagh has spent over 12 years supporting students on Irish Early Childhood Education programmes. Her profile lists child development, play-based learning, inclusive education, observation reports, reflective practice and curriculum planning, aligned with QQI learning outcomes, Aistear and Síolta.

References

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979) The ecology of human development: experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE) (2006) Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education: handbook. Dublin: CECDE.

Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) (2016) Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Charter and Guidelines for Early Childhood Care and Education. Dublin: Government of Ireland. Available at: https://www.gov.ie/ga/an-roinn-leana%C3%AD-m%C3%ADchumais-agus-comhionannais/foilseachain/diversity-equality-and-inclusion-charter-and-guidelines-for-early-childhood-care-and-education/ (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Derman-Sparks, L. and Edwards, J.O. (2019) ‘Understanding anti-bias education: bringing the four core goals to every facet of your curriculum’, Young Children, 74(5). Available at: https://www.naeyc.org/node/3210 (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Government of Ireland (2016) Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016, S.I. No. 221 of 2016. Available at: https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2016/si/221/made/en/print (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) (n.d.) Equal Status Acts. Available at: https://www.ihrec.ie/guides-and-tools/human-rights-and-equality-in-the-provision-of-good-and-services/what-does-the-law-say/equal-status-acts/ (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) (2009) Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework. Dublin: NCCA.

United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Edited by M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner and E. Souberman. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.