Conceptualizing diversity in ECEC policy: implications for the role of diverse preschool in Sweden

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to examine contemporary conceptualizations of cultural and linguistic diversity in the Swedish policy for early childhood education and care (ECEC). The analysis draws on in-depth interviews with high-level policy actors and the analysis of documentary material. Using the concepts of interculturality and hybridity as theoretical tools, the study explores understandings of diversity at preschool and connects these with the role of preschool in culturally and linguistically diverse settings. The findings suggest that the concept of diversity is (a) embedded in dynamic notions of culture, (b) articulated within discourses of democratic citizenship, and, (c) its enactment is promoted in time and space where negotiation and dialogue emerge. Within the context of increased population diversity, there is consensus over the core functions of the Swedish language in preschool, while discourses of multilingualism are characterised by positive yet complex and sometimes diversified constructions. These are reflected in the multiple roles assigned to preschool based on preparing, preventing, and promoting educational and welfare values to children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education and care
• diversity
• Sweden
• interculturality
• multilingualism‌

Introduction

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) has received, over the years, growing attention and significance in Sweden and in European and international policy agendas. The OECD has paid attention to various aspects of ECEC organization, contribution, and quality (2021; 2022), and a recent European Union Council Recommendation High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care (2019) highlights ECEC as the ‘foundation’ of education systems with broader economic benefits in early investment. Emphasis is given to the preschools’ crucial roles in fostering social cohesion in heterogeneous societies and educational equity for disadvantaged children, including migrant groups (Council of the EU 2019). Within an increasingly diverse social, cultural and linguistic context, ECEC is therefore a sector assigned with multiple functions by national and international organizations and is viewed as a field of social investment.

Despite the consensus in policy-related discourses on the essential roles of ECEC settings to provide quality, accessible and inclusive services to children from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, and tackle inequality, this is not always the case (see Bove and Sharmahd 2020). The goals of ECEC, similarly to the wider goals of education, have often been subsumed under the tendency of ‘educationalizing social problems’ through reforms that aim to bring social progress. This progress is defined along the lines of democratic equality and participation, social efficiency and preparation for the labour market, and social mobility (Labaree 2008). The balance of these three varies and changes, giving ECEC different missions depending on the political priorities of different national and temporal contexts.

European welfare states have developed whole systems of care and education with policy aims addressing broader educational, social, civic, economic and political demands (Pascal and Bertram 2018). For example, the recent focus of Nordic debates on the role of ECEC in future citizen formation as well as on issues of schooling and future employability indicates a clear shift from older narratives, including the Swedish ECEC policy (Sjöstrand Öhrfelt 2019). Against the development of ambitious and comprehensive ECEC frameworks in many European states, there are suggestions for policy reorientations that will replace instrumental notions of school readiness on issues of diversity and multilingualism (Vandenbroeck 2018).

Diversity is a multidimensional and multilayered concept, characterised by definitional ambiguity in educational discourses (Arce-Trigatti and Anderson 2020; De los Reyes 2001). Superdiversity has also been used as a term to specifically describe new social realities as a result of increased migration (Vertovec 2007), and in the Nordic ECEC contexts, multiple views regarding diversity relate it to recent social and demographic transformations (Kuusisto and Garvis 2020).

Discourses in the public sphere, in Sweden and elsewhere, use the term diversity, often in positive and depoliticized ways, in what Ahmed and Swan (2006) discuss as ‘the turn to diversity’, articulated together with the vaguely-defined ‘equality’. Diversity refers only implicitly to ethnic, socio-economic, religious backgrounds, sexual orientation, disability, and gender-related aspects, but it has been criticized ‘because it individuates difference, conceals inequalities and neutralizes histories of antagonism and struggle’ (Ahmed and Swan 2006, 96). In doing so, depoliticized discourses reinforce ‘normal/mainstream’ identities that, in their relational form, construct binary opposites, ‘different’, ‘outsider’ identities, produced and reproduced through meanings that can often be negative for ‘the other’ (Hall 1997). In this respect, the concept of diversity as celebrated difference is criticized ‘precisely because it does not (explicitly) name a specific social category’ and merely embraces non-defined inclusive intentions (Ahmed and Swan 2006, 98). For the purposes of this article, and attending to Ahmed and Swan’s critique, I focus on two specific dimensions of diversity, cultural and linguistic diversity in Swedish ECEC.

The aim of this study is twofold: first, it explores how diversity is conceptualized and used in the contemporary Swedish ECEC policy sphere. Conceptions of diversity are important since they frame and steer ECEC policy, and have discursive effects on the future policy and practice orientations. Second, the study examines the roles of the diverse preschool explicitly and implicitly contained in policy discourses, which Ahmed and Swan view as a way to ‘redescribe or reimagine’ preschools through diversity conceptualizations (2006, 98). Through identifying patterns and interpretations articulated by policy actors and official documentary material, the study contributes with knowledge on how conceptions of cultural and linguistic diversity are formulated in the context of Swedish ECEC, and with what discursive effects.

The case of Sweden

Sweden has had a growing rise in the diversity of its population with one-quarter of the children in preschools having a foreign background (Swedish National Agency for Education 2023). Foreign background, according to the national agency’s document and statistics, refers to children born outside Sweden or to those children born in Sweden with both parents born abroad. The country has a long history of policies for preschool, connected to both social welfare and integration policies (since the 90s). These were intended to support gender equality through participation in the labor market, based on democratic values and a rights-centered approach (Alexiadou et al. 2022; Einarsdottir et al. 2015). Officially, diversity is given positive connotations, yet several Swedish researchers launched similar critiques of the blanket concept of diversity as Ahmed and Swan (2006) above, highlighting the risk that it masks unequal living conditions (De los Reyes 2001). Diversity has also been linked to the social integration of people from non-Swedish backgrounds, with researchers suggesting that the concept needs to be broadened to transcend binary and stereotypical perceptions and problematize the ways groups and categories are constructed depending on socio-economical structures (Bengtsson, Myrberg, and Andersson 2016; De los Reyes 2001).

The debate on the role of preschools (and schools) to enhance integration has been intensifying. Prior literature has highlighted the pitfalls of adopting diversity as homogeneity within preschools (see Lunneblad 2006). Monolingual or monocultural views and practices fail to embrace children’s cultures and languages and are permeated by a controlled compensatory pedagogy for perceived language-deficit skills (Åkerblom and Harju 2021; Lunneblad 2013; Olsson, Dahlberg, and Theorell 2016). Such deficit approaches, usually targeting marginalized groups, have been highlighted in criticism of the compensatory role of the Swedish schooling system, officially and historically grounded on providing equal opportunities for all children regardless of their background (Lunneblad 2013). Against such criticisms, issues of segregation and inequality in preschools have raised significant concerns for the Swedish ECEC. A recent commission inquiry (Preschool for all children – for better language development in Swedish) indicates that preschools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, among which there is a high proportion of children with a foreign background, encounter recruitment difficulties of Swedish-speaking staff and big variations in staff density at preschools (SOU 2020:67). The findings of the inquiry raise practical and political questions regarding structural, material and cultural contexts and conditions for Swedish preschools.

Sweden has embraced the Nordic ECEC model of multilingualism. The provision of active bilingualism and, in particular, mother-tongue teaching at preschool, has been recognised in national documents addressing children from various linguistic backgrounds. In the curriculum for preschool Lpfö18, the national minority languages, other mother-tongue languages, and sign language are all listed and provided for. Yet, Sweden also has been facing several challenges with criticism towards a lack of a clear language ECEC education policy (Puskás 2018).

Conceptualizing diversity in ECEC: influences on intercultural education

The study uses intercultural education as a theoretical lens and is inspired by the notion of hybridity as a theoretical tool in order to understand conceptualizations of diversity in ECEC. While culture may be more prominent in discussions around interculturality, language is viewed as a ‘constituent part of intercultural education’; both formulating meaning-making processes and interpretation (Dervin and Liddicoat 2013, 9).

Conceptions of intercultural education have differed depending on historical and socio-political contexts both internationally and in the Nordic countries. Interculturalism emerged in the 90s as a criticism of multiculturalism and outlines on ‘a contacts-based’ approach that enhances communication and dialogue, aiming at the creation of bonds amongst citizens from different (ethnic, national, linguistic, and cultural) backgrounds (Zapata-Barrero 2017, 1). Internationally and in Nordic contexts, literature concerned with social justice problematizes, however, simplistic interpersonal approaches and celebrations of diversity, calling for more critical conceptualizations of intercultural education (Gorski 2009; Mikander, Zilliacus, and Holm 2018).

At the level of the European Union intercultural education has been the official comprehensive educational approach in addressing diversity and promoting social cohesion in society and the labor market (Faas, Hajisoteriou, and Angelides 2014; Tarozzi and Torres 2016). In Sweden, a central concept within preschools and schools is intercultural pedagogy indicating a process of intercultural dialogue and interaction against fixed perceptions of culture (Garvis and Lunneblad 2019). Hammarén and Lunneblad (2022) also consider contextual negotiations and interpretations as additional dimensions to attitudes and ideas when conceptualizing approaches to intercultural education and dialogue.

Hybridity as the third space of negotiation

This study draws on Homi Bhabha’s theoretical framework and focuses on the concept of hybridity as a tool to understand the encounters that occur in diverse ECEC settings. According to Bhabha, meanings and signs of culture are dynamic and fluid since they can be ‘read anew’ (1994, 37). Moreover, hybridity is described as the emergence of a ‘third space’ that signifies a translational and dialogical space of negotiation (Bhabha in Rutherford 1990). The concept of hybridity has been used in educational research on conceptions of intercultural education (see Sorkos and Hajisoteriou 2021) and in order to develop an understanding of the hybrid spaces of young refugee children in ECEC services (Keary, Reupert, and Garvis 2022).

In addition to hybridity, the prefix inter in interculturality refers to reciprocity, mutuality and togetherness that is ‘not unilateral, affecting one party only. Interculturality should be the result of negotiations, reflexive and critical dialogues’ (Dervin and Simpson 2021, 10). As such, intercultural education promotes multilingualism for all as a positive value, moving beyond policies of merely increasing participation in activities and recognition of one’s own culture and language (Hajisoteriou and Angelides 2017). It also addresses the dynamic character of cultures and the production of multi-layered or hybrid identities, where children are encouraged to engage and identify with several aspects of different cultures instead of feeling forced to select one to the exclusion of another.

Method

The study examines how education narratives around culture and language are intertwined, and what is the role of the preschool in a social context characterized by high levels of diversity, using two sources of data.

First, the data includes selected official policy documents using a purposive sampling approach (cf. Cohen, Manion, and Morrison 2018) with a focus on: first, issues of cultural and/or linguistic diversity and the role of preschool and; second, documents that regulate contemporary ECEC policy. These are: (a) the national curriculum for the preschool Lpfö 18 (Swedish National Agency for Education 2018); (b) the government commission inquiry Preschool for all children – for better language development in Swedish (SOU 2020:67); and (c) the government Bill Preschool for more children (Govt. Bill 2021/22:132).¹

Second, in 2021, interviews with 8 high-level officials were conducted to examine their conceptualizations of diversity in preschools. The interviewees are: three participants from the Swedish National Agency for Education, and one participant each from the Ministry of Education, the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, the National Centre for Swedish as a Second Language, the City of Stockholm municipality and the Swedish Schools Inspectorate.² At the national level, governance of the educational sector is facilitated by school authorities and agencies (the core of which are Swedish National Agency for Education and the Schools Inspectorate) that collaborate at different levels (Jarl and Rönnberg 2019). Initiatives are also taken by further organizations to support all municipalities for example in the form of professional development such as the National Centre for Swedish as a Second Language and the City of Stockholm. All interviewees were experienced in the field of ECEC and two of them participated in the commission inquiry (SOU 2020:67) as experts. The interviews lasted 50–60 min each and were conducted using a video conferencing software. They were fully transcribed and anonymized. Four of the interview participants were contacted through follow-up written communications in a request for clarifications but also additional questions that emerged during the analysis of the material. All citations used in the article have been translated from the Swedish language into English by the author.

Regarding ethical considerations, information letter as well as issues of consent and anonymity of the procedure were communicated in advance according to the Swedish Research Council (2017) guidelines. As a doctoral researcher interviewing high-level policy actors, there were questions of positionality regarding status and the insider-outsider perspectives (Merriam et al. 2001). I adopted a careful and reflective approach to address issues in the conduct of interviews, confidentiality and the interpretation of the data.

The empirical data were examined in connection with the research questions. The thematic coding approach follows Creswell (2014), with specific attention to language and discourse in participants’ and documents’ descriptions of conceptualizations of diversity and the role of preschool. I first started by coding the material of the interview data by examining its properties and generating themes for each interview through an inductive analysis process (Alexiadou 2001). The same process was followed for the analysis of the documentary material by examining the coded themes from multiple perspectives across the different data sources, namely the interviewees and the documents (Creswell and Guetterman 2021). The data was examined also in relation to similarities, discrepancies and contradictions in the discourses of the interviewees and the documentary material. I continued working with ‘layering the analysis’ to establish a broader level of abstraction including major themes within broader thematic categories (Creswell and Guetterman 2021, 289). Through an iterative process between the thematic categories, I located ways of connecting the data to theoretical frameworks (ibid.).

In the following section, I present the main thematic categories that emerged from the analysis, providing a structure for the findings.

Key findings and discussion

Part I: Approaches to diversity in ECEC

Drawing on the described data and analysis, discourses of interculturality towards cultural and linguistic diversity were identified in the interviews and the documents of the curriculum and the SOU.

Interculturality and ECEC

There is consensus among the interviewees that diversity is enacted in the time and space where children meet. Drawing explicitly on the descriptions of the revised curriculum, preschool is described as ‘a social and cultural meeting place that should promote children’s understanding of the value of diversity’ (Swedish National Agency for Education 2018, 6). Preschool is seen as ‘a mirror-image of the society’ where children get the opportunity to interact and get an understanding of different backgrounds, cultures and languages (Participant 1). Thus, and consistent with the documents, the policy actors recognize cultural and linguistic diversity as a resource and a valuable asset for preschools, where different languages and cultures can co-exist. Moreover, using the language of values, the participants relate diversity to the equal value of people, seen as enriching when children develop empathy and understanding of others through reciprocity and respect. These intercultural qualities and values are portrayed as fundamental in the interviews, and recognized as defining the governing preschool documents.

Although the terms ‘interculturality’ and ‘intercultural approach’ are not found in the official documents of the revised curriculum (Lpfö 18) nor the Bill (Govt. Bill 2021/22:132), they are used in the SOU (2020:67) and mentioned often by the policy actors. Interculturality is conceptualized around the properties of ‘openness’, ‘curiosity’, ‘learning from each other’, ‘collaboration with guardians’, ‘negotiation’ and ‘awareness’, that should define pedagogical approaches and plays an important role in operationalizing diversity in positive ways.

Interculturality is thinking not us and them, but me and you … You can't say ‘here in Sweden we do it this way and in Turkey you do it that way’ … we meet and learn from each other. And it’s the same for all children who have Swedish as their mother-tongue. (Participant 3)

You can have different backgrounds and yes, it can sometimes be that you don’t think the same but you sort of learn to negotiate or reflect or just understand that it is so … (Participant 7)

The understandings of encounters of diversity as described by the actors point to dynamic interactions aiming at building bonds amongst children, and spaces of reflection and negotiation characterised by reciprocity and mutual adaptation, central to the notions of interculturality and hybridity. Moreover, one participant problematizes the fact that diversity in preschools where the majority of children are ethnically Swedish is not equally raised (Participant 4). According to the participant, it is important that individual preschool teachers take the initiative and incorporate the perspective of diversity also within homogenous preschool contexts.

A dynamic conception of culture and cultural heritage

Deploying discourses of a dynamic notion of culture, most policy actors conceptualize cultural diversity as broader than ‘just being about the cultures of different countries’ since ‘there are many different cultures even within a country’ (Participant 7) depending on location, ways of life, and background of different families (see Hjelmér 2020). A study on preschool teachers’ interpretations of culture as ‘the home culture of all children’ confirms the shift from essentializing perspectives to contextual and dynamic conceptualizations of the term (Hammarén and Lunneblad 2022, 482). Moreover, the notion of cultural heritage ‘has expanded in a positive way’ to issues of ‘relating to each other’ (Participant 3). Accepting these views of culture as dynamic, relational, and hybrid, interviewees argue for the need for openness, discussion, and reflexivity within preschools.

The transition, however, from this accepted contemporary policy discourse around culture, to practices and activities in preschool settings is not necessarily without tensions. Most interviewees do not identify contradictions in the curriculum, namely in the balancing between the transmission of cultural heritage, and ensuring the visibility of different cultures in education. Rather, they draw on mixing discourses of hybridity and interculturalism and suggest that several cultures can coexist and enrich children’s experiences. One participant, however, acknowledges that conflicts related to issues of cultural diversity can emerge, for example in connection to traditional Swedish celebrations (such as St. Lucia) and food. Preschool activities around these have led to more reflexivity, sensitivity and awareness among preschool teachers than in the past (Participant 3). Previous research in Sweden about preschool teachers’ strategies to negotiate cultural dilemmas and the tensions derived from these, suggests that cultural conflicts cannot always be avoided (Anderstaf, Lecusay, and Nilsson 2021). The interviewees suggest that the responsibility of preschool teachers is to handle such issues in their everyday work, through critical examination and reflection.

Interculturality for language support

Following these conceptualizations of cultural diversity, the interviewees promote interculturality also as the most appropriate pedagogical praxis in relation to language diversity in preschools. According to the curriculum Lpfö 18, children should be given the chance to develop both the Swedish language and their mother-tongue. In order to achieve this, according to the interviewees, interculturality should be instilled in pedagogical attitudes, approaches and practices towards children’s languages, as well as underpin the dialogue between children, parents and preschool teachers, to facilitate and support the development of children’s mother-tongue. This is contrasted to the superficial and simplistic approaches of interculturalism that celebrate diversity in preschools and highlights the complexity of preschool’s task for language development:

… it’s not just about having different countries’ flags and say hello and welcome in different languages, but it’s about really working with the language and that can be very difficult. (Participant 6)

Furthermore, in the documentary material, emphasis is given to the collaboration between the preschool staff and parents, particularly in the inquiry that refers to such collaborations as a ‘decisive factor for children’s integration at preschool’ (SOU 2020:67, 67). As the interviewees highlight, such collaborations constitute a great ‘resource’ that can strengthen children’s language development (Participant 5). Therefore, communication with parents is important since it establishes dialogic relations. Moreover, it clarifies the official position of the preschool in cases of contradictions or tensions between parents and teachers. Preschool teachers can ‘lean on the curriculum’ as a formal support for their decisions and to justify their approach (Participant 8).

Part II: Conceptualizing linguistic diversity

Linguistic diversity is presented as a broader thematic category on its own since it seems to concern ECEC policy to a large extent. Swedish language development issues provide the main focus of the documentary material of the SOU (2020:67) and the Bill (Govt. Bill 2021/22:132). For this reason, the first theme below – (re)defining multilingualism norms – derives mainly from the interview data with the policy actors, whereas the second – (re)balancing languages – stems from both the interview and documentary analysis.

(Re)defining multilingualism-norms

The term multilingualism is not mentioned in the curriculum nor the Bill, but the commission inquiry defines multilingual children as those who can ‘use and master several languages’ (SOU 2020:67, 55). Yet, the policy actors use the term very often and frame it as an important part of the life of the preschool and a resource. Some of them consider it to be a broad term, lacking a clear definition. These interviewees highlight the multi-faceted and complex nature of multilingualism due to its close association with immigration. They describe that it is sometimes ‘used carelessly’ pointing to a specific group of children, namely, those with a mother-tongue other than Swedish and (usually) from socio-economically disadvantaged areas (Participant 7). Yet, another dimension brought-up sees multilingualism as ‘having the resources to master several languages’ (ibid). The interviewees argue for a universal conception of multilingualism, not attributed only to children with another mother-tongue than Swedish. They acknowledge for instance that the majority of the people living in Sweden are multilingual because of the widespread knowledge and frequent use of the English language (Participant 5).

One consequence of delimiting the definition of multilingualism to a specific group of children is the challenge of having a relation of dominance of some languages over others. Most participants acknowledged the popularity of English as a second language, prominent in preschool everyday work. This is also confirmed by research on the use of English as lingua franca during play, instead of Swedish, in multilingual areas of large cities (Larsson et al. 2023). Using the language of value and equality, policy actors urge for raising awareness around and challenging such hierarchies, also present in the invisibility of minority languages:

It is important that when we talk about multilingualism … it’s easy for us to end up thinking about certain languages … it is important to see as a staff member that to have English and being multilingual – to have English and Swedish – that is likely seen as quite unproblematic. And it is easy to encourage, see it as something positive … but it is also important that one sees that if you have, let’s say Arabic, to pick an easy example, and Swedish – that is equally valuable … it’s really important that [multilingualism] is strengthened regardless of what your second or third language is. (Participant 4)

About the minority languages, I don’t think everyone thinks about the fact that you are in a multilingual environment if there are a few children who have some of the official minority languages⁣. So, it’s also an issue that you might need to pay attention to. (Participant 5)

The interviewees thus point out the difficulties that arise also due to idiosyncratic interpretations of the curriculum. These are identified as ‘individual voices’ which do not support the development of all languages (Participant 3). Some preschools emphasize the mother-tongue and, as a result, miss out on Swedish, while there are ‘those who say only Swedish applies here’ and so, overlook the importance of mother-tongue (Participant 7). However, and in contrast to monolingual ideologies, a few participants identify a gradual redefinition of monolingual norms in support of multilingualism. One participant, in a critical and self-reflexive mode describes that:

That norm has actually been monolingual, but actually, Sweden has never been a monolingual country. It has been our dark history as far as other languages that have always existed like Sami or Finnish … We have lived in the belief that we are monolingual, but it has never been so. And that norm, I think, is actually starting to change. (Participant 3)

These shifts in language ideologies reflect signs of culture that are ‘read anew’ (Bhabha 1994). Yet, implementation challenges still exist and are confirmed by the interviewees, as well as research in the field, especially when educators endorse multilingualism in the abstract, but practice monolingual norms (Harju and Åkerblom 2020).

(Re)balancing languages

While multilingualism entails positive connotations, the role of the Swedish language and its balancing with other languages in the preschool is re-examined. This is manifested in the documents and the discourses of the policy actors. In the SOU and the Bill, emphasis on Swedish language development is systematically communicated as having individual and societal implications, while language diversity is just acknowledged and legitimized. On this point, there is a clear difference between the documentary and interview material. The interviewees clearly underline that even though the policy documents, including the preschool curriculum, emphasize the role of the Swedish language, mother-tongue development and support are also important, and do not hinder the development of Swedish. The Bill, on the other hand, contains explicit discourses of deficiency especially visible when contrasted with references to the Swedish language.

The combined vocabulary of multilingual children is comparable to the vocabulary of monolingual children of the same age with a corresponding socio-economic background. However, this assumes that the child has typical language development and that the child is continuously exposed to both Swedish and its mother-tongue. If the child has a mother-tongue other than Swedish, there may be deficiencies in the versatile use of the language when learning Swedish, which means that language development will not be as favorable. (Govt. Bill 2021/22:132, 22)

The factor of socio-economic status is perceived as serious and a strain on multilingual practices,³ that is closely linked to the consequences of language learning. Even though the preschool curriculum refers to language and learning as strongly linked to the formation of identity, the interviewees and the policy documents underscore cultural (mostly) identity as an important dimension for children’s development. Moreover, the Bill and the SOU add social dimensions of language development as very important for integration. Thus, discourses of social participation and the prevention of future social exclusion are mobilized to signal the significance of the Swedish language, strengthening discourses of democratic citizenship. Most participants also supported these aspects while referring to the parallel promotion of the mother-tongue.

The right to one’s language is the right to one’s identity. It’s basic human rights and, it’s how democracy works. Swedish, is an important part if we are to talk about democracy. The fact that they have the Swedish language with them is a foundation stone for being able to take part in that democracy. (Participant 4)

The notion of citizenship is supported by descriptions of Swedish as a requirement that can facilitate participation to debates and public conversations. It is thus, presented to have (primarily) an ‘instrumental’ value, fundamental for social and economic mobility whereas the mother-tongue is seen to have (primarily) a ‘sentimental’ value, distinguishing in this way the instrumental and identity dimensions of the language (May 2005, 264). As such, the role of each language (mother-tongue and Swedish), is depicted as a balancing act between citizenship formation and identity. This instrumental function is clearly embedded in socio-economic and political priorities in the formal policy agenda, priorities that need careful (re)balancing of the languages to achieve both the holistic development of the child and the future projections of social mobility, efficiency and democratic citizenship (Labaree 2008).

Part III: The role of preschool characterised by diversity

This part presents findings regarding the role of the preschool that encompasses issues of diversity (mainly linguistic) through targeting increased participation at preschool and strengthening the Swedish language as focal points of policy goals and intervention. The table emerges mainly from the policy documents and in conjunction with the reflections of the interviewees.

As Table 1 shows, the three discursive representations of the role of preschool are ‘preparatory-compensatory’, ‘preventive’ and ‘promoting values’. These are closely connected to the tasks that preschool is assigned, with implications on individual, societal and economic aspects.

Table 1. The different roles of preschool and their implications at different levels.

Implications for	Preparatory role	Preventive role	Promoting (educational and welfare) values role	Source
Individuals	Prepare: children for lifelong education, contribute to children’s’ future school and knowledge results	Prevent: early knowledge gaps that are later difficult to bridge	Educational equality	Documents and interviews
	Develop a hybrid identity through intercultural interactions (for all children)	School failure and a risk of suffering from mental illness		Interviews and documents
	Perfecting the Swedish language for future employability			Documents mainly
Society	Lay the foundation for a growing interest and active participation in civic life/ integration in the Swedish society	Important part of crime prevention judiciary work	Gender equality (through increased labor force participation among foreign-born guardians, especially women)	Interviews and documents
		Reduce socio-economic segregation	Democratic values
Economy	Establishment in the labor marker	Prevent reduced opportunities to labor market establishment, poor opportunities for self-sufficiency	Economic equality	Documents mainly
	Economic growth both in terms of increased tax revenue and reduced costs for e.g. financial aid	Lower costs for e.g. healthcare and the judiciary

The preparatory-compensatory role of preschool is linked to school readiness discourses, related to school achievement and (perceived) linguistic barriers to access school. In particular, the SOU and the Bill refer to PISA measurements and construct the preschool as an early-intervention arena with significant potential than other forms of school to compensatory mechanisms. Preschool can have a decisive impact on some children to get exposed early to the Swedish language and, therefore, seems to be the ideal sector for tackling a ‘data-driven school crisis’ that has preoccupied the global and Swedish policy educational agenda of the recent years (Nordin 2019). The role of preschool and the importance of school readiness is therefore mainly emphasized for children with diverse or/and weak socio-economic backgrounds, including children who have Swedish as their mother-tongue.

In addition, Sweden’s gender equality policy as part of the Swedish welfare system has social and economic implications for the reduction of segregation. The role of learning the Swedish language is closely connected to guardians' and children’s future conditions since ‘increased knowledge of the Swedish language and a stronger trust in Swedish society’ can in turn reinforce children’s prospects’ (SOU 2020:67, 285). Discourses of preschool as an integration arena and a social space with the necessary tools for a better life have major socio-economic implications, as decribed in the SOU and the Bill. These are embedded in broader public philosophies of integration since in Sweden the integrative dynamics are strongly connected to the welfare state as the ‘core promoter of social inclusion’ (Borevi 2017, 366) while the recent potential shift towards civic integration policies concerns the viability of the welfare state (Fernandez 2022). The policy actors refer to citizenship through democracy and participation as a major mission of the Swedish preschool through the prism of cultural and linguistic diversity.

I think it is very important because the democratic mission, partly, it is about becoming part of Swedish society … and of course, it’s about both respecting each other, but also having high expectations on each other and demands … to believe that everyone believes in each other and that everyone wants to contribute. (Participant 6)

Preschool is thus embedded in discourses of promoting equal conditions before starting school also in congruence with the government’s integration policy to provide ‘equal rights, obligations and opportunities for everyone regardless of ethnic and cultural background’ (Govt. Bill 2021/22:132, 46). In this way, the role of the preschool becomes crucial with various institutional and societal implications.

Conclusion

This article contributes to illuminating the ways in which cultural and linguistic diversity are conceptualized in current Swedish ECEC policy and their implications for the role of preschool. Using an intercultural lens and the notion of hybridity as a theoretical concept, the results show that diversity is enacted in time and ‘hybrid’ spaces where negotiations, dialogue and interaction of cultures and languages emerge. Moreover, interviews with policy actors highlight dynamic notions of diversity and culture intertwined with intercultural qualities of awareness, openness and a redefinition of monolingual norms that are ‘read anew’ (Bhabha 1994). Ultimately, both the interviewees and the policy documentary construct diversity in ECEC as democratic participation in Swedish society with implications for individual and socio-economic levels, which are closely associated with the role of preschool.

The policy actors’ conceptualizations of diversity, in line with the curriculum for preschool, are embedded in positive discourses, reflecting the ways ECEC policies in Sweden embrace diversity as an important component of preschool that can be seen as depoliticized (Ahmed and Swan 2006). At the same time, they acknowledge conceptual misconceptions mainly in relation to multilingualism and cultural dilemmas within preschool settings. Together with the documentary material, they identify challenges in policy implementation that mask more serious structural disadvantage issues that need to be addressed. To this end, superficial celebrations of diversity, existing language hierarchies and unequal learning conditions raise practical and political questions that require more ‘language-aware policies’ in support of multilingualism (Bergroth and Hansell 2020). The complexity of multilingualism is also illustrated in the views of policy actors, who express universal approaches while the government Bill espouses a deficit aspect for linguistically diverse children. This signals that diversified conceptualizations of the term coexist in policy discourses and are characterised by definitional ambivalence.

The findings also indicate that in current policy discourses there is a high degree of consensus on the instrumental role of the Swedish language and its emphasis in the official ECEC policy. The interviewees highlight the values of intercultural education and democracy to support the development of a high level of the Swedish language, next to support for mother-tongue. Moreover, they underscore the role of resources as an important dimension for holistic language development of all children as part of ECEC policy. The role and (re)balancing of languages reflect the multiplicity of functions that the Swedish preschool is assigned also in relation to welfare and integration policies for children and families from diverse backgrounds. To this end, its preparatory, preventive and value-laden role reveals the growing tendency of ‘educationalizing social problems’ (Labaree 2008). Children with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are vested with future projections of school-social-economic readiness, serving the goals of education as these are mediated through the Swedish language.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 In the Swedish context, the government commissions function as an inquiry, with the aim to facilitate the work of policymakers through policy recommendations. The published reports (SOUs) are then referred to agencies and different parts of government for written responses, and a final text eventually results in a proposal from the government (a Government Bill) to be submitted to the Parliament (Nordin and Wahlström 2022). In the case of this research, the sample included the inquiry report (SOU 2020:67), and the subsequent Government Bill on inclusive and diverse preschools, in addition to the national curriculum.

2 The participant from the School’s Inspectorate contributed more with information about policy formation due to the nature of the position in the agency.

3 In the official policy discourse, the core target group for increased participation and better language development in the Swedish language is children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, as well as children from socially disadvantaged background who have Swedish as their mother-tongue. Yet, an even higher priority is placed on newly arrived children and children whose mother-tongue is other than Swedish, the focus of both SOU and the Bill.