MULTILINGUAL EDUCATION IN SWEDISH PRESCHOOLS

Abstract

Aim: This thesis studies to create an understanding of how preschool teachers are supporting multilingual children to develop their languages in Swedish preschools. The Swedish Preschool Curriculum states that children with another first language than Swedish should be given the opportunity to develop in all their languages. This thesis studies the teacher’s experience of teaching multilingual children in both Swedish and their mother tongue. Theory: Socio-cultural theory provided a framework to exam how teachers can use the social context to support children in their language development. Method: The data collection has been carried out in virtual focus group interview on Zoom. The research question was divided into six different interview questions, for the participants to discuss. Results: The results show that preschools teachers are aware of what is stated in the Swedish preschool curriculum. They have methods to support multilingual children, but to meet the children at their level of language can be difficult. Results also show that, it is difficult to support multilingual children with all different languages they have. Swedish preschool teachers who participated in the focus group interview mentioned how they do everything they can to support children's mother tongue as well as their Swedish.