”Barnen talar två språk och har två kulturer”

Abstract

Cooperation between school and home is one of the cornerstones in school policies in Sweden, as well as internationally. During the last decades, questions of parental influence and the freedom to choose schools have come to the fore. The importance of well-functioning cooperation between school and home, aiming to support school performance and improve the pupils’ results, is another issue which has been stressed in policy, as well as in research. When implementing a major change, such as developing bilingual education, it is important to have the support and cooperation of the parents. In this paper the views of parents of pupils who received bilingual education in Arabic and Swedish are presented. Data was collected in questionnaires. In addition to information concerning the educational and linguistic background of the family, the parents gave their views on bilingual education in general, and on the bilingual education their children received, in particular. The parents appreciated the bilingual education and emphasized the importance of both mother tongue and Swedish for their children. They regarded bilingualism as an asset and wanted their children to become bilingual and bicultural.

Keywords

• Arabic and Swedish
• bilingual education
• parental views
• primary school