Partnerships in multicultural ECEC settings in Norway: Perspectives from parents and professionals

The study investigates parents’ and employees’ perspectives on collaboration, as well as their views on multicultural and multilingual education in culturally and linguistically diverse kindergartens in Norway. The research questions are:

1. How do parents with an immigrant background and employees working in ethnically and culturally diverse kindergartens view collaboration?
2. What are their perceptions of multicultural and multilingual education?

The results show a positive attitude towards collaboration among both parents and kindergarten employees, but also reveal a potential for a deeper common understanding of children’s behaviour and potential. In addition, the findings indicate that both groups value educational practices that promote cultural diversity, but that there are disagreements concerning multilingual education, especially when it comes to how kindergarten can best support children’s language development.

The study is based on data from interviews with parents and data from online surveys for kindergarten employees. Parents were mainly asked about their experiences of collaboration between home and kindergarten, while employees answered questions related to their views on collaboration and multilingual education.

Norheim, H., Moser, T., & Broekhuizen, M. (2022). Partnerships in multicultural ECEC settings in Norway: Perspectives from parents and professionals. Nordisk barnehageforskning, 19(1), 40–60.