Parental involvement in Multicultural Preschool Settings - A challenge for Educators

Abstract

Abstract Background The importance of establishing well-functioning parent-teacher relationships are clear objectives in the Swedish National Curriculum for Preschools, (Lpfö 98, Lpo 94 & Lgr 11 chapter 1-2). Parental involvement in preschool activities is seen as important for several reasons. Facilitating healthy child development, learning and socialisation are some of these reasons. During the past twenty years Sweden has become a multicultural society. Today, people from more than 170 countries live in Sweden, and about 18% of the population are first or second generation immigrants. Swedish preschools have become increasingly multicultural. The author´s experiences from working in multicultural schools and as a parent from another culture, coupled with knowledge from existing research on parental involvement in preschools, have been that for a variety of reasons it is difficult to involve certain groups of immigrant parents in preschool activities. Aims The purpose of this study was twofold: The first objective was to shed more light on how parents and teachers in a specific multicultural preschool looked upon the importance of parental involvement in the preschool, what opportunities parents might have to be active, and which factors that might prevent active participation. The second goal was to try to improve conditions and increase parental involvement in this same preschool through a number of organised activities. Theoretical perspectives Bourdieu’s “Theory of practice” and Bronfenbrenner’s “Ecology of Human Development” model were used as theoretical perspectives in the study. Methods To answer research questions linked to the first purpose of the study, seven parents, three teachers and a school manager were interviewed about their views on parental involvement. The parents had come to Sweden from countries such as Chile, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey. The methods used in the second part of the study could best be describes as “experiments by nature and design”, were parents, children, and staff members were encouraged to participate in various activities aimed at strengthening their relationships, and increase parental involvement in the preschool. Results Interviews with parents and pedagogues indicates that both groups would welcome more parental involvement in activities and relations in the preschool, but that language and communication problems, different conceptions of childhood, or cultural differences in ways of looking at upbringing of children are creating obstacles. In addition, the family situation of many of the parents, such as long working hours, or lack of informal social network support were also brought up as complicating factors. The results from the second part of the study are showing, however, that the steps needed in terms of creating activities in the preschool which stimulate parental involvement, do not require great resources in terms of time and money, and could easily be integrated into the daily activities in the preschool.