In Swedish preschool children with a mother tongue other than Swedish are given the ability to communicate in their native language and in Swedish. Research reveals notions of a monolingual norm of Swedishness in early childhood education. Developed skills in the mother tongue increases the opportunities to learn Swedish and good skills in different languages promote learning in other areas (Björk-Willén, 2007; Lindberg, 2002).

Purpose of this paper is to problematize multilingualism in preschool and participation conditions. Data has been collected through interviews with preschool teachers and surveys of native supporters. Ethical considerations are made by informant’s agreement. Theoretical basis is postcolonial theory (Fanon, 1971; Said, 2004) and critical multiculturalism (May 1999) who question the socially constructed notions of majority and minority cultures, highlighting opposites, notions of monolingualism and the creation of superiority and subordination where the possession of language may prevail in different linguistic contexts.

The analysis visualizes relational and didactic skills (Persson, 2012). Preschool teachers' relational skills appear when speaking about mother tongue, positive impact on school success and expanded vocabulary when the teacher speaks the same language as their parents. Through native support children receive help in understanding the preschool. Mother tongue teacher’s education represents high didactic competence. Offering language support at inappropriate times, when children are sleeping, visualizes low didactic skills and lack of flexibility in the organization. Arranging language support when children can not participate appears as a consequence of superiority and subordination. The norms of monolingualism are in control.

In Swedish preschools children with a mother tongue other than Swedish areencouraged to communicate in their native language. Developed skills in thenative language increase the opportunities to learn Swedish, good skills in differentlanguages promote learning in other areas. The purpose of this article is to discussthe prerequisites for preschool children’s learning, linguistic diversity andmultilingualism in the multilingual preschool context. Data was collected throughinterviews with preschool teachers, surveys of native language instructors andsupervisors. Theoretical basis used is postcolonial theory and critical multiculturalism,which question the socially-constructed notions of majority andminority cultures, highlighting opposites, notions of mono-lingualism, the creationof superiority and subordination where the possession of language dominates indifferent linguistic contexts. Our analysis reveals both relational and didacticcompetence. Relational competence appears when informants speak aboutmother tongue, its positive impact on school success and expanded vocabulary.Through native language support, children receive help in understanding thepreschool. Teacher education, subject and preschool assignments knowledgerepresents didactic competence. Offering language support at inappropriate times,i.e. when children are sleeping, shows lack of flexibility in the organization.Arranging native language support when children cannot participate appears as aconsequence of superiority and subordination.