In Switzerland as in many other European countries, children from linguistically diverse families have increasingly reached a higher level of education during the last years, but the differences between children who speak the local language in their families and those who speak other languages at home remain almost unchanged. Hence, in the current international educational discourses, early childhood education in general and the early acquisition of the second (local) language in particular are seen as powerful measures in order to encourage educational success for children from linguistically diverse families.

There is also a consensus about the fact that the family is the most important learning environment for young children and that the quality of support children are exposed to in their homes is very important for their development. Consequently, early childhood education seems to be especially successful if it is based on a good partnership between the family and the early childhood professionals. And it also seems important, that the learning support that takes place in the early childhood institutions can be carried on in an adapted manner by the family.

So far the empirical data base about how partnerships between professionals and linguistically diverse families take place is very small, even though it is an important prerequisite in order to strengthen the further development of interventions. Hence, more educational research is also necessary for a better understanding of the needs, expectations and perspectives of linguistically diverse families in order to implement early childhood programs that support the academic success for their children.

In this presentation the final results of a longitudinal educational research project (2009-2011) of families whose children attended play-groups that supported early second language learning will be presented. Using the “bioecological model of human development” by Bronfenbrenner & Morris (2006) as a theoretical framework, the study is based on a model that made it possible to investigate a differentiated analysis of mutually dependent development processes of the involved actors over time.

Answers to the following research questions will be focused:

- What is the family’s view of early childhood education?

- What kind of support to they expect from the early childhood institution?

- What do the early childhood educators expect from the families?

- How do these (different) perspectives affect the cooperation between the families and the early childhood institutions?

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