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Armbandet & Kättsätter

  • Differences make a difference in preschool education

    Project article and conclusions of Erasmus 2018-1-DE03-KA229-047257_3 “How to talk about intercultural education – intercultural competences in the preschool pedagogy”

    by the preschools Armbandet & Kättsätter, in Norrköping Sweden

    The aim of the project How to talk about intercultural education – intercultural competences in the preschool pedagogy was to strengthen the intercultural skills of the participants as well as exchanging methods and good practices related to the integration of children with a migrant background. The project involved five preschools from four European countries:

    Coordinator:

    FAIRbund.e.V KITA Kohlgartenstraße from Leipzig (Germany).

    Partners:

    • 2nd Kindergarten of Rethymno (Greece)
    • 13th Kindergarten of Rethymno (Greece)
    • Campi Soncini, Dimora d'Abramo from Reggio Emilia (Italy)
    • Armbandets and Kättsätters förskolor from Norrköping (Sweden)

    The project initially had a duration of 24 months but after the extension given the special conditions due to Covid19, its duration was set from 01/09/2018 until 28/02/2021 (30 months).

    The proportion of newly arrived families with children starting preschool in Sweden has increased in recent years. This provides many opportunities but also makes great demands on preschool teachers to base their work on respect for everyone's inequality and equal value (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2020). An important task of the preschool is to impart and establish respect for human rights and the fundamental democratic values on which Swedish society is based. Each and every person working in the preschool should promote respect for the intrinsic value of each person, irrespective of background, as well as respect for our shared environment. This is described in the Swedish curriculum for preschool, where you can also read that the preschool should be a social and cultural meeting place, where children should develop an understanding of cultural diversity and be prepared for a life in an increasingly internationalized world (Swedish National Agency for Education, 2018). At the preschools Armbandet and Kättsätter there are some children of different ethnic origin and with different native languages. However, most of the children are born in Sweden and have Swedish as their mother tongue. Hence, this project has been an important means of creating an active and conscious work on diversity and the prevention of racism and xenophobia.

    Activities and collaboration between partners

    In the project, we have had five meetings in total where we have exchanged experiences and taken part in each other’s practices. The first meeting took place in Leipzig, Germany, where we met each other for the first time and together we observed and participated in various teaching activities at the preschool Kohlgartenstraße. It was interesting to see how the preschool teachers got involved in interculturality and how they included that perspective in the education. Together we also designed a logo for the project, and we discussed the goals for the project. Emphasis was given:

    • in the development of knowledge of multiculturalism
    • acceptance of diversity
    • how to integrate the intercultural concept into special but also daily activities
    • finding new ways for the municipality and parents to participate
    • developing practical ideas for
      • integration
      • to exchange cultural experiences
      • to prevent racism / xenophobia

    After our first meeting in Leipzig, we gained new energy, a sense of commitment and theories for how interculturality can be integrated and practiced in preschools. Together with the children, we started to explore how our world can appear depending on where on our planet we live. This to approach different cultures and to increase understanding of people’s different living conditions.

    In March 2019, we visited the preschool Campi Soncini in Reggio Emilia. There we took part in the integration of different languages in the children’s daily activities, and gained insight into the work with intercultural mediation as well as the “Reggio approach”. Participating in these innovative environments and meetings was a very educational experience.

    During this meeting in Italy, we decided to carry out a joint teaching activity together with the children, with a focus on internationalization and diversity. The Tale of the Ugly Duckling became the starting point for this activity since this is a fairy tale known in all countries and it visualizes the importance of belongingness, friendship and being part of a community – regardless of differences. We also decided that each preschool would share a traditional and classic fairy tale or story originating in its own country, to give children the possibility to take part of each other’s literary culture.

    In October 2019, our partner countries visited our preschools, Armbandet and Kättsätter, in Norrköping. We introduced them to the methods of the “Dream of the Good”: massage, movement (qi-gong and yoga), stillness and reflective conversations in the daily activities. The Dream of the Good is a health and peace methodology developed to create good conditions for human health, learning and development, but also to increase the ability of conscious presence in human encounters.

    During this meeting, our focus on fairy tales and the children’s literary cultures developed and we now wanted to involve the children even more in the process. We therefore decided to write a common story where each country would be responsible for creating a part of the story.

    In February 2020, we met in Greece. In recent years, due to political and economic changes in the world, Greece has become a host country for economic migrants and refugees. During our meeting, we gained insight into the pedagogical and social challenges that teachers face and we saw how committed they strive to give children knowledge about other cultures, traditions and perspectives. This they did in interaction and dialogue with the children and in close collaboration with the parents.

    We had completed our common story by now, which was translated into five different languages (English, Greek, German, Italian and Swedish). The children had named the story The very different friends and their adventures. Before the final meeting in Germany, the children from each country would now create pictures for the story, so that we could make a book out of it.

    Unfortunately, the closing meeting of the project could not take place in Germany as planned due to the Corona pandemic. Therefore, we arranged a digital meeting so that we could carry out the last activities anyway. During this meeting, we discussed how we have kept in touch with children and parents and how we have conducted distance learning during the pandemic. We also discussed how the media affects our intercultural skills and opinions. During the last day of the meeting, the children from the different countries also met in a digital room and performed for each other. It was a successful and joyful meeting between the children who participated in each other's performances and it was a wonderful closure of the project.

    The co-operation between the countries has been successful and is an example of good intercultural application. At the same time, we have developed our personal language skills in English, but also the technical use of means of communication and collaboration with the e-Twinning platform.

    Short-term and long-term results

    Through this project, we have gained evidence that preschool is a social and cultural meeting place that can prepare the children for life in an increasingly internationalized society. The project activities have stimulated and developed children’s awareness of their own cultural heritage as well as created participation and knowledge in other people’s cultures and traditions. This has given children the opportunity to develop an ability to understand and empathize with other people’s conditions and values. We have seen that differences do not scare children - they make them curious.

    Regarding the teachers, the project has given them methods to let differences serve as a resource and to let children’s opinions and experiences enrich each other in their teaching. The project has helped us to reflect on and question our activities as well as how we attend to children’s and parents’ language, culture and experiences. Already at the introduction, we now gather information from parents, for example about their children’s needs and their holidays to enable the best possible welcome and inclusion of parents and children in preschool. It is important that the collaboration with the home take place in a close and trusting way. Even though we now have few families with different ethnic origins or native languages in our preschool, developing routines for welcoming parents and children with other cultural backgrounds is still relevant since newly arrived families with children starting preschool in Sweden have increased in recent years.

    As a result of the activities of the project, literature has become a more useful tool for us to increase understanding and knowledge about cultural diversity, both by reading and discussing books about different living conditions and cultures. Our common writing process has been an activity that has contributed to an intercultural collaboration that resulted in the publication of a book.

    Another consequence of the project is that teachers now feel more secure in their professional role in relation to interculturality and they have gained new knowledge and methods to use in their teaching. By highlighting the common elements in cultures and people in this project, we have broadened our perspective on our own practice, as well as on the concepts of diversity, democracy and equality.

    Dissemination and continued implementation

    The new experiences and knowledge that the project has contributed to have been spread both between the countries, the teachers, to parents and out into society. The project partners have disseminated knowledge between each other through presentations and physical meetings in the different countries as well as through the E-twinning platform. The book that we wrote together in the project is a product of a collaboration between the countries and has been printed and distributed to all children in the project. We also created a brochure that presents the five participating preschools along with the aim of the project. This brochure has been distributed to various stakeholders.

    At the preschools Armbandet and Kättsätter, we have been disseminating experiences and knowledge during our staff meetings and we have been sharing information about our project by email. Our teachers have been telling others about the project, both orally and through social media.

    Parents have received information about the project’s development in weekly letters, at information meetings, during open houses and through documentation at the preschools. In the daily contact with the parents, we have talked about the experiences and the knowledge that we gained from our travels in the project.

    On our blog, it has been possible to follow our project journey and the activities that the teachers and children have carried out during the process. Our project has also received attention through a diploma in the Town Hall by the mayor of Norrköping. The exchange of experiences in this project has also generated the emergence of another project, focusing on the methods of the Dream of the Good.

    A conclusion from this project is that our work with intercultural education has only just begun. This project has raised teachers’ and children’s awareness about diversity and they have started to see their own reality in a global context. It was very enriching for the children to meet each other digitally, and we hope this will be a recurring part in the education. However, further efforts are needed to address these issues and to create sustained international solidarity. We have started an important dialogue about interculturality that must be continued. At our preschools, we will carry on the intercultural work by translating documents for parents into relevant languages. A network of interpreters needs to be created for conversations and contracts with the homes. We need to improve the communication and collaboration with parents about their experiences, opinions and values regarding child-rearing and education. In summary, there is still a lot of work ahead of us – but the intercultural skills gained in this project have created a solid foundation to build upon.

     

    Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.

    – Margaret Mead

     

     

    References:

    Swedish National Agency for Education (2018). Läroplan för förskolan: Lpfö18 (Curriculum for the Preschool: Lpfö18)

    Swedish National Agency for Education (08 October 2020). Mångfald i förskolan ställer krav på den pedagogiska kompetensen (Diversity in preschool makes demands on pedagogical competence). https://www.skolverket.se/skolutveckling/forskning-och-utvarderingar/forskning/mangfald-i-forskolan-staller-krav-pa-den-pedagogiska-kompetensen