Introduktion: Föräldrar spelar en viktig roll när det handlar om utvecklingen av barns fysiska och psykiska hälsa, deras sociala kompetens, hur de klarar sin skolgång och vilka levnadsvanor de själva får i vuxenlivet. För att stötta föräldrar i att bli trygga i sitt föräldraskap så erbjuds föräldrastöd. Studier visar att asylsökande och nyanlända föräldrar i Sverige deltar i mycket lägre grad än vad svenskfödda föräldrar gör. Många rapporterar psykisk ohälsa och upplever svårigheter i sitt föräldraskap efter ankomsten till Sverige. Det finns en ideell förening som lyckats inkludera denna målgrupp och det är därför av intresse att undersöka hur de upplever det arbetet.  Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka kursledares erfarenheter av att arbeta med föräldrastöd till nyanlända och asylsökande föräldrar. Metod: I studien genomfördes individuella intervjuer med sex ledare från en ideell förening i Västra Mellansverige. Resultat: Resultatet visar att föreningen har anpassat verksamheten på en kulturell nivå för att kunna inkludera denna målgrupp. Många av ledarna har exempelvis liknande bakgrund som föräldrarna och kurserna erbjuds på föräldrarnas modersmål. Ledarna har vidare kunnat identifiera vissa behov och utmaningar som nyanlända och asylsökande uttryckt. Det handlar framför allt om hur det upplevs att komma till Sverige som förälder och hur man kan hantera föräldrarollen i det nya landet. Bland annat uttrycks ett behov att få veta mer om normer kring föräldraskap och barnuppfostran i Sverige eftersom det skiljer sig från hur det sett ut i deras hemländer. Slutsats: Föräldrastöd kan vara betydelsefullt för målgruppen nyanlända och asylsökande föräldrar. Genom att de får prata sitt eget modersmål kan de uttrycka sig på ett annorlunda sätt än vad de hade kunnat göra i en svensk kurs. Det är en trygghet för föräldrarna att möta en ledare som har förståelse för deras kulturella bakgrund och det gör det möjligt att diskutera känsliga frågor som exempelvis barnuppfostran och antiagalagen. Ledarna upplever att många föräldrar blivit tryggare i sitt föräldraskap och tänker att föräldrarna kan vara en enorm resurs för det framtida svenska samhället om de bara får rätt förutsättningar. / Introduction: Parents play an important role when it comes to the development of children's physical and mental health, their social skills, how they manage school and what living conditions they get as adults. To support parents in their parenting, parental support is offered. Studies show that asylum seeking and newly arrived parents in Sweden participate to a much lesser extent than Swedish-born parents do. Many people report mental illness and experience difficulties in their parenting after arriving in Sweden. There is a non-profit association that has managed to include this target group and it is therefore of interest to investigate how they experience this work. Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the course leader's experience of working with parental support for newly arrived and asylum seeking parents. Method: Six individual interviews were conducted with leaders from a non-profit association located in the middle west of Sweden. Result: The result shows that the association has adapted the support on a cultural level to be able to include this target group. For example, many of the leaders have similar backgrounds to the parents and the courses are offered in the parents' native language. The leaders have also been able to identify certain needs and challenges expressed by newly arrived and asylum seekers. It is primarily about how it feels to come to Sweden as a parent and how to handle the parent role in a new country. More information is required about norms regarding parenting in Sweden as it differs from their home countries. Conclusion: Parental support can be important for newly arrived and asylum seeking parents in Sweden. By being able to speak their native language, they can express themselves in a different way than they could in a Swedish course. It feels safe for parents to meet a leader who understands their cultural background. It makes it possible to discuss sensitive issues such as parenting and the law of corporal punishment. The leaders mean that many parents have become more secure in their parenting and think that parents can be a huge resource for the future Swedish society if they only get the right conditions.

The chief aim of my thesis is to study and analyse how the multiculturalism of schools is reflected in research and reports in Sweden and in the way in which teachers talk about multicultural issues at school. Part of the work is done in the form of reflecting talks with two groups of teachers in two different schools on issues and situations taken from their own everyday experience. The talks are conducted over two years. One partial aim is therefore to study whether this working method can help teachers to develop their strategies with regard to multicultural issues at school. I describe how the talks develop over two years in an ethnically heterogeneous group of teachers in one of the schools, some areas related to multicultural issues in the school that the teachers find problematic, and how the talks to some extent influence the teachers’ choice of strategies in the school’s practice. Part of the work is an analysis of a talk from each group of teachers and their conceptions of “the immigrant pupil” and her/his parents are focused on. The analytical tool of interpretive repertoires is used to visualise patterns of common points of departure and values in the talks. Also part of the work is an analysis of how research and reports reflect the discourse on multicultural issues from 1980 to 2005. I emphasise some themes and how these change over time. Through the study, parts of the content of the discourse about the multicultural Swedish education are made visible. The discourse contains expressions of a focus on shortcomings and problems that are regarded as linked to pupils, parents and to some extent to teachers with foreign backgrounds. The discourse also contains expressions of seeing differences, chiefly between groups of pupils with foreign and ethnic Swedish backgrounds respectively. By focusing on differences and shortcomings a boundary is at the same time set up between “us” and “them”. The composition of teachers in Swedish schools is relatively homogeneous as regards ethnicity. When, in addition, it is many times teachers that have the responsibility and power to define what are seen as problems and to find solutions in schools’ practice, the problems and solutions are often defined from a majority perspective. It is also from a majority perspective that decisions are made about to what extent, to what degree and in what way minority perspectives should be represented in these contexts. It is a matter of who has the power to define themselves and the others and the others’ shortcomings.