THE LEARNER
Perspectives on bi- and multilingual children’s participation in kindergartens in Iceland
Cultural and linguistic diversity of kindergarten children in Iceland has been growing rapidly in recent years
(
Reykjavíkurborg, Skóla- og frístundasvið, 2017;
Statistics Iceland, 2017), creating challenges for kindergartens. The main aim of the paper is to explore
how principals, kindergarten teachers and parents in three kindergartens in Iceland experience diversity, inclusion and
participation in their kindergartens and what learning spaces and educational practices seem to be instrumental for their
children’s participation. The paper builds on data from the Nordic research project
Learning Spaces for Inclusion and
Social Justice: Success Stories from Immigrant Students and School Communities in Four Nordic countries (2013–2015),
the aim of which was to draw lessons from success stories of individual immigrant students and whole school communities at
different levels that have succeeded in developing learning contexts that are equitable and socially just (
Ragnarsdóttir, 2015;
Ragnarsdóttir & Kulbrandstad, 2018).
Case studies were conducted in three kindergartens, including semi-structured interviews with kindergarten teachers, principals
and parents as well as observation (
Flick, 2006;
Kvale, 2007). The findings indicate that the kindergartens have developed various inclusive and empowering educational
practices to respond to the growing diversity. However, some challenges appear in the findings, including lack of sustainability
of good practices.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Background and context: Kindergartens in Iceland
- Theoretical and conceptual framework
- The kindergartens
- Method
- Findings
- Leadership, empowering learning spaces and educational practices
- Multilingual practices and heritage languages
- Educational partnerships with parents
- Discussion and conclusion
-
References
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Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Pérez-Izaguirre, Elizabeth, Gorka Roman & María Orcasitas-Vicandi
2024.
Immigrant minority languages and multilingual education in Europe: a literature review.
International Journal of Multilingualism 21:2
► pp. 932 ff.
Schwartz, Mila, Hanna Ragnarsdóttir, Nurit Kaplan Toren & Orit Dror
2023.
Towards a better understanding of preschool teachers’ agency in multilingual multicultural classrooms: A cross-national comparison between teachers in Iceland and Israel.
Linguistics and Education 78
► pp. 101125 ff.
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