In today’s increasingly interconnected world, cultural diversity is part of everyone’s daily life. Schools and classrooms across Australia and the world usually reflect a great mix of identities, languages, beliefs, and heritages. However, while this diversity is all around us, understanding it in meaningful and measurable ways remains a challenge for educators and school leaders. In response to these challenges, Cultural Infusion has developed Diversity Atlas for Schools, which offers a new way for schools to discover, understand and celebrate the cultural diversity of their school and track changes over time. Who is Cultural Infusion? Since 2002, Cultural Infusion has been Australia’s leading cultural education provider, reaching over 375,000 students annually. Through live experiences, award-winning resources, and curriculum-aligned tools co-designed with culturally diverse facilitators, we equip students and teachers with intercultural understanding. What is Diversity Atlas? Diversity Atlas is a world-leading cultural diversity data analytics platform that offers a sophisticated yet accessible way to measure and map cultural identity across communities. A product of more than 7 years of scientific and community research and development, Diversity Atlas is trusted by leading global and local organisations, including Carers Victoria, Amazon Web Services, Melbourne City Mission and more. Now, the platform is being adapted specifically for the education sector. Diversity Atlas for Schools enables educators, students and school leaders to explore the rich cultural diversity of their communities through a guided discovery process. The insights gained help build bridges of understanding, spark meaningful conversations, and facilitate inclusive school practices. Why Diversity Matters in Schools Living in the contemporary technological world where everyone with a smart phone and service provider can be connected to each other regardless of geographical distances and cultural backgrounds, intercultural understanding is no longer optional, but an essential skill. Educational research highlights the importance of cultural diversity in promoting inclusive learning environments and supporting student achievement. Schools with culturally responsive practices are often better positioned to foster social cohesion, reduce bias, and encourage student engagement. A study from the University of Michigan showed that classroom experiences of diversity are positively related to the learning outcomes of students. Universities such as UCLA have also recognised the importance of diversity and inclusivity in the teaching environment and the benefits it brings to students’ learning and development. In addition, understanding diversity is aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.7, which calls for inclusive and equitable education and the promotion of global citizenship. In Australia, teaching standards outlined by AITSL include the need to respond to students’ diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, diversity alone means nothing when it is only observed without being understood or acted on. A research study we conducted with our Australia-wide school network on Australia curriculum revealed that our country lacks an effective teacher education program on intercultural understanding. With little resources available nationally, teachers are inadequately prepared to teach this vital ability to students. Schools that successfully embrace diversity benefit in countless ways. In classrooms, diverse student populations bring broader perspectives into the classroom, enhance problem-solving and creativity, and help build empathy and intercultural understanding. So, how can the Diversity Atlas platform help schools embrace diversity? First, it gives schools concrete, visual data on their cultural composition, which can help teachers understand who their students really are, so teaching methods and resources can be adjusted to leverage the diversity, transforming cultural diversity into a learning asset. Second, Diversity Atlas promotes an understanding that people are multidimensional and cannot be reduced to one or two identity attributes, that no two humans share the same identity, and that as soon as more than one person is considered, there’s diversity. Diversity Atlas data is anonymised and de-identified, meaning the platform may identify: a Swahili speaker, a person born in Kuwait, a Shia Muslim, a girl, a person with Fijian ancestry and strong affinity to French culture, but there’s no way of knowing if they are the same person or many different people. This shifts the emphasis from individual to group identity and creates space for less charged conversations about human identity. More importantly, Diversity Atlas does not categorise people by race, as this is an unscientific and problematic category, but does allow people to identify culturally with a race label, including black and white, as these labels remain significant to many people. The demographic data gathered can be used for inclusive lesson planning, professional development, parent engagement, and assist educators in meeting the outlined teaching standards. In classroom settings, the tool provides a valuable opportunity for students and staff to explore their group identity and compare their own backgrounds and individual identities, encouraging healthy conversations and empathy along the way. Diversity Atlas can also be used as a powerful antiracism tool because it allows people to identify their precise cultural attributes rather than forcing them into racial categories. Diversity Atlas’s visually engaging dashboard provides easy-to-understand and easy-to-share data for users, so students and teachers can talk about differences and similarities freely and openly, and start creating a more informed, curious, harmonious and respectful environment in schools. Furthermore, Diversity Atlas is a convenient tool that can be used to assess, benchmark and track inclusion efforts periodically, which helps schools make measurable improvements. It provides a safe and anonymous channel for students and staff to discuss diversity and inclusion, which promotes intercultural understanding. How It Works Diversity Atlas for Schools is highly sophisticated but easy to use, engaging, and adaptable to each school’s needs. Here is the 5-step process to a more informed and genuinely inclusive school environment with Diversity Atlas: 1. Design & Configure The school tailors the survey experience using Diversity Atlas’ question libraries. The survey is safe, anonymous and voluntary. Sensitive questions come with “prefer not to answer” options. The Diversity Atlas datasets contain more than 45,000 identity attributes, including every known language, religion, denomination and more, which means every participant ought to be able to find their precise attributes in the user-friendly self-id experience. This ensures the data collected is comprehensive and reflects the full spectrum of cultural identity. If a participant is unable to find their identity attribute, we invite them to contact the team and we will add it instantly to the database. We call this proprietorial database, more than 10 years in the making, the Global Database of Humanity. 2. Communicate The school introduces and explains the initiative to staff, students, and parents with clear messaging and rationales to gain enthusiastic consent to participate and the greatest response rate. Many people are understandably mistrustful of sharing personal data. It needs to be explained in the clearest terms that the data is de-identified (so not even Diversity Atlas administrators know which attributes belong to which person) and anonymised, while Diversity Atlas abides by the strictest data privacy and security protocols. Diversity Atlas is a positive classroom experience, allowing a class to see how culturally rich they are – far more than they typically would have realised. The data reveal is more exciting than a class photo because of the depth of information it gives. 3. Map Your School Students and staff go through an interactive and educational diversity mapping experience with the platform. This is not just a survey, but also an opportunity for reflection. Because the survey asks for ancestry going back three generations, students often need to ask family members for help and this alone is often a positive learning experience. 4. Reveal, Report & Benchmark Diversity Atlas provides visualisations, reports, and data-supported insights that participants can share, compare and discuss. School leaders can use the results to drive meaningful change. The result is likely to spark excitement and curiosity. 5. Student & Staff Learning Educators can access the complementary curriculum-aligned learning resources and use them to translate the Diversity Atlas insights into everyday learning. A Platform You Can Trust Knowing that privacy and security is a primary concern for all our users, Diversity Atlas for Schools is built with the following features at its core: These features ensure that schools can use the platform with confidence, knowing that participants’ privacy is secure, respected and handled responsibly. Diversity Atlas for Schools in 2025 Now, interested schools can be part of a world-first initiative that uses diversity data-analytics to build intercultural understanding and inclusion in education. Cultural Infusion is inviting innovative Australian schools to join the early 2025 Pilot Program in term 2 for Diversity Atlas for Schools. This is a unique opportunity for schools that value cultural diversity to bring diversity to life in the classroom through data, conversation, and connection. You may also enquire with our team to explore using the new platform in term 3 onwards and experience the possibilities brought by Diversity Atlas for Schools. Participating schools will have access to exciting new resources, including lesson plans that complement the Diversity Atlas for Schools platform and provide new data insights. They can also enjoy free access to additional cultural education resources on Cultural Infusion’s Learning Lands, comprising international award-winning apps, games and activities. To recognise the school’s commitment to diversity, they will also receive an exclusive Diversity Atlas “Mapped and Measured” badge. The provisional program schedule is as below: APPLY FOR EARLY PILOT PROGRAM ENQUIRE TO EXPLORE USING DIVERSITY ATLAS AT YOUR SCHOOL Term 2 2025 Term 3 2025 onwards Limited spots Australia-wide Available Australia-wide Expressions of Interest and Enquiries are NOW OPEN for Schools Your school can be a part of the project and take an essential step towards a better future for all the students by helping to pioneer a new standard in intercultural education. There are two options available to schools in 2025 If you are interested in finding out more, BOOK A FREE DEMO today with our team to experience the platform live and see how it fits your school’s needs! Don’t miss this opportunity to lead the way in inclusive education – enhance your school’s strategies with data-driven insights to support student wellbeing and build intercultural understanding.