The aim of this paper is to examine pre-school principals' perceptions of inclusive practices and the barriers to inclusion for culturally and linguistically diverse children and families in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Drawing on interviews with 21 pre-school principals in a Swedish metropolitan area with high cultural and linguistic diversity, this study employs Nancy Fraser's three-dimensional social justice framework to analyse how exclusion operates through failures of redistribution, recognition, and representation. The findings indicate that while principals perceive inclusion as embedded in transformative practices within the pre-school context, they identify various exclusion mechanisms beyond ECEC's institutional role to address. These barriers operate through precarious economic and housing conditions, digital infrastructure and linguistic constraints, coordination gaps and sustained spatial segregation. The study contributes to understanding exclusion in ECEC and highlights that achieving inclusion requires multi-level policy coordination and systemic transformation rather than pre-school-level interventions alone.