The purpose of this study is to explore the status of intercultural perspective in education in Sweden. The study is guided by three questions of what are the official views of intercultural perspective in education, why intercultural perspective is relevant for education and what are the possible ways of implementing it. Bennett´s definition of intercultural learning is considered as theoretical starting point for the study, ‘Acquiring increased awareness of subjective cultural context (world view), including one’s own, and developing greater ability to interact sensitively and competently across cultural contexts...’ (Bennett, 2009, S.3). A general literature on intercultural perspective and a literature on the subject with specific focus on Sweden are referred for this study. The result of the reviews show the concept of intercultural education was introduced as a policy documents in Sweden as early as the 1980s; a serious definition of what interculture was not considered; there is a general recognition of diversity based on language, religion, ethnicity, gender, etc; while recognizing diversity, the focus is on understanding differences; on helping the “immigrant” to integrate to the society; on stating laws and policies for protection against discrimination of different groups. There is a common understanding among the authors of the reviewed texts, that more should be done to develop intercultural perspective in the different levels in the education system. 

Keywords: Diversity, education, intercultural education, intercultural perspective, multiculturalism, Sweden.

This is a text-based study. Government official reports, school authorities texts and Swedish comprehensive schools´ curriculum are used as base materials for the study. The official documents used here are written in Swedish. When necessary I translated some paragraphs of the texts to English, while in other cases I used the English terms equivalent to what is written in Swedish. In addition to the official documents mentioned above, books and journal articles on the theme of intercultural education are used. The books and journal articles are also written either in English or in Swedish. Short and long audiovisual materials (mainly films) are watched for further understanding of intercultural education but as I could not decide their relevance for the study I decided not included them in the reference list.

Intercultural education as concept was introduced in official documents in 1980s but this introduction of the concept had a minimal impact in its implementation ( von Brömssen & Rodell Olgaç, 2010). In a later official documents on education, when interculturality is mentioned it is mainly in relation to immigrant education (Norberg, 2000). Diversity and multiculturalism are used often in debates and discussions in the last two decades; and in discussing the education sector, concepts multiethnic and multicultural classrooms are commonly used (Lahdenperä, 1999). In Sweden there are a large group of citizens born outside the country, or have one or both parents born in another country. According to the Swedish Bureau of Statistics, out of the total population 19% are born abroad (SCB, 2018). This makes it important that sufficient attention should be given to this diverse group of the population. There is a recognition of ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural diversity in Sweden. But this recognition should have influenced the intercultural perspective in education, by recruiting more teacher students in higher education to much the diversity of pupils in schools (Norberg, 2000). It should have also influenced the organization of the school at different levels including courses given, lessons, examinations and scoring of students work (Lahdenperä, 1999). Researchers emphasis the need for transforming intercultural and inclusive polices in to practice and integrating “history, experiences, perspectives of minorities and migrants” into “the grand narrative of the Swedish society” for a progress of intercultural perspective (von Brömssen & Rodell Olgaç, 2010, 131). Other researchers are recommending the move from what they considered as monocultural to intercultural educational approach (Lahdenperä, 1999; Norberg 2000; & Tesfahuney, 1999). According to Tesfahuney this move could be possible by “making visible similarities, links, influences and mutuality between people and cultures” (Tesfahuney, 1999, 78).

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