Browsing by Author "Athanasopoulou, Chiara"

The aim of this Bachelor’s thesis is to examine what expectations immigrant parents have from the Finnish kindergarten and what they think of multiculturalism, multilingualism and upbringing. The theoretical part is divided in six sections where the following concepts are analyzed: multiculturalism, acculturation, multilingualism, minority language and identity, multilingualism and upbringing, communication. This is a qualitative study and three people were interviewed. The criteria for the interviewed persons was that they are of foreign origin and that they talk another language than Finnish or Swedish with their children. The informants have Russian as their mother tongue; this does not mean though that they all are from Russia; they all come from different countries. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed in relation to the research questions. The results demonstrate that the central values that emerge in relation to the child's upbringing are health, safety, hygiene, responsibility, respect, rules and athletics. Parents are aware of the importance of language, both at the kindergarten and at home, but preserve their mother tongue that is Russian. The study shows that the culture in the kindergarten and home are relatively similar and that they must support each other. Kindergarten is considered a place where parents learn the structure of the society's culture. The results also indicate that parents want information about their child's everyday life, something that is appreciated and leads to a good relationship with the kindergarten.