Margareta Sandström

Diversity management in preschools using a critical incident approach

Using the critical incident approach, preschool teachers at 10 preschools in Sweden were asked to describe their work with respect to ethnic and cultural diversity. The study attempted to provide insights that go beyond commonly used models of intercultural sensitivity and intercultural competence (e.g. Gudykunst and Kim; Landis, Bennett, and Bennett). Four different understandings and approaches to ethnic and cultural diversity were discernible in the empirical material (i.e. ‘instrumental,’ ‘co-productive,’ ‘facilitative proactive,’ and ‘agitative proactive’). The data suggest that preschool teachers, in order to be interculturally competent, need to work systematically with intercultural pedagogy, intercultural communication skills, and with their discursive awareness. Moreover, it is concluded that if preschool teachers fail to scrutinize their own values, modes of behavior, and a-priori understanding of what ‘is’ cultural behavior, they may sustain cultural stereotypes.

Bureaucracies in Schools—Approaches to Support Measures in Swedish Schools Seen in the Light of Skrtic’s Theories

ABSTRACT In Sweden, policy changes for provision of special support have been introduced, implying that teachers are obliged to provide and evaluate extra adaptations in regular classrooms prior to referring pupils to special support. The policy changes raise questions about school staffs’ views of support measures and of necessary professional competence for provision of the support measures. We conducted focus group interviews with 60 school staff representatives—headmasters, general education teachers, and special educators/school welfare teams—about their understandings of the new policy. The data were analyzed qualitatively, with the objective to explore school staffs’ approaches to the policy changes. Two main “ideal type approaches” were discerned, using Skrtic’s theories, viz. the bureaucracy approach and adhocracy approach. In the light of Skrtic’s theory, professionals’ reasoning about the new policy may reflect difficulties that are encountered in the process of implementing the policy in bureaucracy-steered schools.