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Att längta, söka, och bli sedd: Hur yngre barn upplever och skapar välbefinnande på flerspråkig förskola
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work. (RISCY)ORCID iD: 0009-0004-6248-2778
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work. (RISCY)ORCID iD: 0000-0002-4530-8215
Linnaeus University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work. (RISCY)ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7148-4960
2025 (Swedish)In: Socialvetenskaplig tidskrift, ISSN 1104-1420, E-ISSN 2003-5624, Vol. 32, no 3-4, p. 306-327Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Sustainable development
SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
Abstract [en]

This article explores how young children experience and create well-being in a multilingual preschool setting. Preschools are intended to promote children’s development, health, and well-being, yet they can also be understood as spaces of institutionalized adult control over children and childhood. Today, preschools are highlighted as particularly important for children with a mother tongue other than Swedish. Although interest in children’s well-being has grown, research on younger children’s well-being is dominated by adult perspectives, often overlooking how children themselves understand well-being. In light of the new Social Services Act’s strengthened responsibility for preventive work and the emphasized role of preschools for multilingual children, there is a need for nuanced knowledge about what well-being means for children in preschool. The aim of this article, grounded in a phenomenological approach, is to contribute to an understanding of how young children experience and create well-being in a multilingual preschool. The study was conducted through ethnographic and participatory fieldwork with fifteen children at the preschool “Katten.” The analysis shows that children’s understandings of well-being are framed by longing and waiting, and by everyday practices where well-being is created through seeking contact and being seen and acknowledged. Children actively participate in creating their own and others’ well-being by showing care, fostering togetherness, and engaging in reciprocal recognition. From the children’s perspectives, well-being emerges as a relational practice where small acts generate communities that can be understood as gestures of love. Finally, the article discusses the structural conditions of multilingual preschools for enabling recognition of children’s bodily expressions, connections to family, and life context. Implications for strengthening preschool and social services’ work with children’s well-being are presented.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, 2025. Vol. 32, no 3-4, p. 306-327
Keywords [en]
well-being, young children, phenomenology, love, ethnography, participatory research
National Category
Social Work
Research subject
Social Sciences, Social Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-146555OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-146555DiVA, id: diva2:2061799
Available from: 2026-05-22 Created: 2026-05-22 Last updated: 2026-05-28Bibliographically approved

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Eriksson, LouiseEnell, SofiaAnderberg, Mats

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