Multicultural education has a visible role in the educational discussion in Finland and consequently the need to include instruction on multicultural issues in teacher education has also been recognised. There is a normative discourse on the necessity of multicultural education to permeate the Finnish school on different levels and in fact, possibilities for a rather progressive multicultural education can be found in the Finnish national curriculum for basic education (grades 1-9). However, it is usually not clear what this implies on a more practical level in the classrooms. Critical multicultural education, and ultimately critical theory, pushes us to examine the integration process of immigrant students in the light of social justice and anti-discrimination as adaptation to school is an important predictor of immigrant-pupils future wellbeing and positive integration to society as a whole.

We are analysing the relationship between multicultural ideals and discourses, on the one hand, and multicultural practice, on the other hand. In this paper we are focusing on this particular relationship in Swedish-speaking schools in Finland. As the majority of immigrant pupils are directed to Finnish schools in order to learn the language of majority, few Swedish schools in Finland have experience with immigrant pupils. Of interest here is how schools merge the demands of multicultural education with the demands and goals (as mentioned in the national curriculum) of the school to preserve and advance both the Swedish language minority culture and the Swedish language among its pupils.

Our main focus is on the following research questions: (a) How are immigrant students perceived by teachers and school leaders?  (b) What school processes or formal and hidden curriculum aspects support or obstruct the integration of minority students and a critical intercultural education? Both issues are discussed in relation to a study in progress about how immigrant pupils perceive their own identity and schooling in the school milieu? The pupils are from rural Swedish-speaking schools in Ostrobothnia in Finland where the number of immigrant pupils is fairly high compared to other areas.

The importance of this study comes from the fact that teachers often lack experience, skills, and occasionally the motivation necessary to encounter challenges posed by the increasing heterogeneity in the student population. Many teachers in Finland (as in other Nordic countries) have found themselves in multiethnic classrooms without training or guidance.

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