Diversity is a key issue in education not only because of ongoing inequalities in student learning outcomes but also because of the importance of supporting each individual to reach his/her potential to contribute to national economic prosperity, individual well-being and social cohesion. Through an ethnographical approach, this research investigates how the Learning by Design pedagogy, developed by Kalantzis & Cope, addresses diversity in two Year 8 (students aged 14 years) classrooms in Australia. Student and teacher perspectives emphasize the importance of incorporating students' lifeworlds and their individual attributes in learning designs, of scaffolding learning, creating student agency, including challenge and intellectual quality, and providing a metalanguage for students to participate in their learning. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)