Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of my thesis is to study the role of teachers in schools where they help students achieve the objectives of the Swedish curriculum. The aim is also to see if there is a difference in how the school uses students’ experiences, knowledge and desires when planning their lessons, depending on whether they are working in a multicultural school or ethnically Swedish school. Part of the work also discusses the teachers and students experiences around the concept of multiculturalism. The method I have used is the qualitative interview study where I have chosen to interview two experienced teachers and twelve students. One teacher and six students in a multicultural school and then another teacher and six other students of an ethnically Swedish school. I have used various texts in literature, dissertations, articles and other research reviews to discuss the results. The results show that knowledge about the concept of multiculturalism in students in fifth grade is very low, however teachers are more familiar with the term and concept. It shows very clearly that teachers follow the curriculum to help students achieve the desired grades. Students at both schools are well aware off the syllabus available for each topic and why the students’ experiences and wishes cannot always be met during selection of teaching methods. However teachers put an effort into having the students’ experiences and wishes in mind when planning for the lessons.

Alla barn ska ha rätt till att främja sin förståelse av sin egen och andras kulturer, enligt Barnkonventionen (UNICEF Sverige, 2018). Studiens syfte är att synliggöra vilken mångkulturell barnlitteratur som finns tillgänglig för de äldre barnen i förskolornas verksamhet, genom att presentera vilka diskurser som framträder i de böckerna som finns tillgängliga i förskolornas bokhyllor.  Ett besök vardera gjordes på en förskola med en uttalad mångkulturell profil och en förskola utan en uttalad mångkulturell profil, där genomfördes en observation av vardera förskolas bokutbud samt en mindre intervju. De böckerna vi fann på förskolorna kategoriserades i olika kriterier och sedan genomfördes en diskursanalys på bokutbudet samt en mer djupgående diskursanalys på sex av böckerna. Normen för dessa böcker är att huvudkaraktären är vit.  Slutsatsen vi kommer fram till är att förskolor behöver mer mångkulturell barnlitteratur för att undvika exkludering, diskriminering och fördomar mot olika etniciteter i förskolans utbud av böcker. / Every child has the right to promote their understanding of their own and other´s cultures (UNICEF Sverige, 2018). The aim of this study is to present what kind of discourses that books available in preschools bookshelves, and what kind of discourses multicultural literature that is available for children aged 3-5 years old express.  An observation of two preschools’ book selection was conducted, one preschool profiled themselves as multicultural and one didn’t, as well as a minor structured interview. The books were then analysed through a discourse analysis as well as a deeper discourse analysis on six of the books that were found. The results show that there is a small amount of multicultural literature in preschools, and that children’s characters of a different ethnicity than the dominant ethnicity in the books is put aside. The books that we made a deeper discourse analysis of shows that it’s rare that a child with a different ethnicity is written as a main character. The norm of these books is that the main character is white. Our conclusion is that pre-schools need more multicultural literature to avoid exclusion, discrimination, and prejudice against different ethnicities in pre-schools book selection.