Early Multilingualism in Sweden : A comparative case study of educators’ beliefs in three preschools in Sweden

Today’s globalized world is characterized by an immense linguistic and cultural diversity and this reflects on the education. Multilingualism is a reality in the school and Sweden is one of the countries that try to promote it from the early stage of preschool. Multilingualism in the Swedish preschool mainly refers to the development of the Swedish language and the mother tongue of the student which is therefore connected with the development of cultural identity. The present study is a qualitative empirical research that aims to explore the beliefs of preschool educators (principals, teachers and childminders) on early multilingualism in Sweden through a comparative case study in two Swedish and one International preschool in Stockholm. The focus of the beliefs is on the support, views and practices on multilingualism, as well as the link between the mother tongue and the cultural identity. The study was conducted in April 2019, it includes three preschool principals, two preschool teachers and two childminders and investigates their beliefs on early multilingualism as they emerge from semi-structured interviews. The contextual background is outlined according to international, European and national documents, while the sociocultural theory is the main theoretical background that contributes to the analysis of the data. After the critical analysis of the findings, various themes and sub-themes occurred and in general, the three preschools had more similarities than differences. Overall, the preschool educators have a positive attitude towards multilingualism and try to cultivate that to the preschool children. They believe that each language expresses the culture and that multilingualism can enhance the cognitive development, linguistic and intercultural awareness. Nevertheless, support for this task is required. The study concludes with some policy recommendations and suggestions for further studies that might help to upgrade the early multilingual reality