Managing the unmanageable: curriculum challenges and teacher strategies in multicultural preschools in Sweden

The study investigates the dilemmas faced by staff in multiethnic kindergartens in Sweden when they attempt to balance various curriculum requirements. On the one hand, the curriculum requires an openness, tolerance and appreciation of cultural, ethnic and social differences, and respect for the children’s unique background. At the same time, it emphasises universal human rights and fundamental Swedish values. The researchers investigate how kindergarten employees create meaning from these often contradictory and sometimes conflicting objectives. The two research questions are: 1) How do kindergarten teachers describe the challenges they face in their daily work when trying to follow curriculum provisions? 2) What type of strategies do they use to address these challenges?

The interviews reveal that there are several recurring situations in kindergartens where cultural and religious differences lead to dilemmas and potential friction between children, employees and parents. The results show that the kindergarten curriculum provides little guidance, which the researchers claim reflects Swedish politicians’ inability and unwillingness to give an answer to what a multicultural Sweden is and should be. Instead, kindergarten teachers must develop their own strategies for managing children’s and parents’ expectations and requirements by, among other things, using the children as cultural intermediaries. The researchers believe that the kindergarten employees use strategies that make it easier to avoid ‘difficult’ situations, and that they therefore indirectly and unintendedly place the challenges on the children’s shoulders.

The researchers conducted 14 focus group interviews with a total of 41 kindergarten employees from two kindergartens in two multiethnic and multicultural districts of Stockholm. The respondents in the sample were of a heterogeneous composition, none of whom were born in Sweden and all were multilingual with varying Swedish language skills. Each employee was interviewed twice every five months from the first to the last interview. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and translated into English.

Stier, J. & Sandström, M. (2018). “Managing the unmanageable: curriculum challenges and teacher strategies in multicultural preschools in Sweden”. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 48(3):1404-1634.