Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Practices in Early Childhood Education in Norway
Diversity of all kinds has increased in Western societies as a result of global migration, bringing both opportunities and challenges to educational settings. This chapter focuses on how linguistic diversity is reflected in language and literacy practices
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Linguistic Diversity and Literacy Practices in Early Childhood Education in Norway Gunhild Tomter Alstad and Lise Iversen Kulbrandstad
Abstract Diversity of all kinds has increased in Western societies as a result of global migration, bringing both opportunities and challenges to educational settings. This chapter focuses on how linguistic diversity is reflected in language and literacy practices in early childhood education in Norway, an educational context which traditionally is characterized by informal learning. In recent years, educational policy, however, has stressed the importance of kindergarten attendance as an important preparation for meeting Norwegian as the main school language. The chapter starts out with a description of the socio-political level including laws, regulations and curriculum concerning bilingualism and literacy. Furthermore, it draws on an analysis from a case study of kindergarten teachers’ second language teaching practices and beliefs, documented through observations and interviews. The analysis demonstrates how informal teaching practices in activities like picture book reading and play create opportunities for more complex and challenging second language and multilingual literacy experiences.
Introduction Since the 1990s both educational policy and migration patterns have brought significant changes to early childhood education (kindergarten)1 in Norway. In 1993 the official number of children with linguistic minority background who attended kindergarten was 6 800 (NOU, 1995). Twenty years later the number is 41 000, that is 14 % of all children in kindergarten. In 2002 the Norwegian Parliament made the municipalities responsible to ensure full coverage of kindergarten. At the time around 60 % of children between one and five years of age were offered part-time or full-time places. Today 90 % in this age group attend kindergarten, most often full-time. The proportion of children from families with immigrant background is 1 In the Norwegian context, as well as in this article, ‘kindergarten’ is used with the meaning ‘early childhood education institutions for children below school age (i.e. children 0–5 years)’.
G.T. Alstad (*) • L.I. Kulbrandstad Hedmark University of Applied Sciences, 400, N-2418 Elverum, Norway e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017 C.J. McLachlan, A.W. Arrow (eds.), Literacy in the Early Years, International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education and Development 17, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2075-9_3
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also increasing, the latest figures showing 75 % attendance (Statistics Norway, 2015). Although the latest White paper on integration policy (Ministry of Children & Equality and Social Inclusion, 2012) promotes linguistic and cultural diversity as a resource, kindergartens are primarily seen as an important context for learning Norwegian. The kindergarten teachers are supposed to “work actively” to promote Norwegian language skills, and in addition “support” emergent bilinguals
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