Not knowing Swedish or being a native speaker of Swedish is posed as a problem related to and exacerbating disabilities (SPSM om flerspråkighet). In 2017, the political debate in Sweden lifted the problem of how the immigrant stay- at-home- mother phenomenon was hindering newly arrived women from entering the work force due to what is portrayed as their lack of Swedish skills. Language plurality in this respect is posed as a weakness rather than a resource (Hyltenstam & Milani, 2012). These women are still largely seen “as workers rather than human beings with equal rights” (Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson, 1996). There is a general assumption that knowing the target language is paramount in becoming established in society which involves paying taxes. Non-governmental integration efforts draw on these types of descriptions when applying for funding.

Swedish with Baby is an NGO initiative focusing on organizing group meetings for parents with small children with different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. The activities build on the idea of a combined language and baby café which are educational initiatives where language users with small children devote time to conversation practice with native speakers in the target language. The objective is described as promoting parents towards becoming established in society by learning to speak Swedish through language role models.

We have conducted a year-long fieldwork project in Swedish with Baby with the aim of exploring aspects about language and belonging in families in migration contexts. In this presentation, we will discuss how the very ideas of what is being aimed for, Swedish language knowledge, undermines inclusion.

We examine our findings in terms of how social justice is linked to tacit, unspoken policy objectives about what counts as appropriate language goals for groups seen as marginalized or in need of being de-marginalized through integration efforts. The groups most disadvantaged by language policies are girls and women, ethnic minority groups and social minority groups (Corson, 1993).

In our research findings, it became evident that for many of the first-generation immigrants the goal of learning Swedish is secondary or unimportant. A large part of this group expresses that they are attending Swedish with Baby to meet other parents of small children and to exchange ideas on questions and thoughts which have come about through their new role as parents. This is regardless of how much or how little Swedish they previously knew. In fact, most of the parents in this group were communicatively competent in Swedish.

Situations where not knowing Swedish was described as disabling was in their everyday living, not in looking for employment. The experience of being limited by language had to do with their children, from choosing preschools, schools, contacts with health care and especially if their child was not able to communicate with other children. Our results indicate that the idea of language as a skill for getting a job is missing the mark on what language learners need to actually be successful: a sense of community through social engagement.