The purpose of this paper was to look into how the individual has been portrayed in the different curriculums for Swedish compulsory school from the 60’s to the 90’s. This was done in order to see what type of discourse –monocultural- multicultural- or intercultural- the understanding of the individual has led to.

The purpose was divided into five questions: Who is the individual in the curriculums? How is the individual portrayed in relation to education in the curriculums? How is the individual portrayed in relation to society in the curriculums? What type of discourse - monocultural- multicultural- or intercultural- is mirrored in the different curriculums? Is it possible to see tendencies in the discourses that lead closer to, or farther away from, an intercultural perspective?

The material that was analysed consists of four different curriculums: Lgr 62, Lgr 69, Lgr 80, and Lpo 94.

The method used was a discourse analytic approach based on the theory of social constructionism. The answers to the questions asked were structured with the support from definitions of monocultural discourse, multicultural discourse, and intercultural discourse, derived from Pirjo Lahdenperäs (2008) descriptions of different organizational cultures.

The main conclusion drawn from this analysis was the fact that the intercultural discourse about the individual has not been obtained. Instead, the monocultural discourse has been dominant for a long time. There have been tendencies showing a move towards a more multicultural-, or intercultural discourse in Lgr 80 and Lpo 94, but these perspectives have not been fully accomplished due to there always existing a cultural norm.