Peer integration – a free choice? Newly arrived children's participation in free play in Swedish preschools

This article investigates how integration manifests at the micro level by exploring how four newly arrived migrant children are enabled or restricted in their participation in peer play during free play. Based on in-depth analyses of participant observations and video recordings, the authors illustrate how certain participation patterns have the potential to enable peripheral participation in peer play, while others risk leaving these children more or less disconnected from play conducted in the majority language. The authors discuss these patterns from the perspective of integration and problematize children's free choice during play activities in early childhood education and care. The findings imply a need for preschool practitioners to adopt a more active role during free play in order to facilitate children coming together and learning from each other. The article is innovative in the sense that it makes use of integrative perspectives on education and explores a social phenomenon in the context of early childhood education and care.