Making space for collaboration at school and preschool : the places mother tongue teachers meet teachers of other subjects

• Recent changes in the Swedish Education Act aim at reducing time spent in reception classes, so that newly arrived pupils (at least partly) enter mainstream classes on arrival. A consequence is that educating newcomers has become the responsibility of all school staff. Expectations on the contribution of mother tongue teachers have increased, as well as presupposing extensive collaboration between bilingual support staff or mother tongue teachers and teachers of other school subjects.The presentation focuses on the social practices in schools concerning mother tongue teachers and their potential participation in school development and collaboration with other staff, paying particular attention to the places where meetings occur. Three mother tongue teachers were followed a total of 15 days in a period of six months, to observe the opportunities for collaboration and communication in their working days. Two of these teachers also worked with study guidance.Results suggest that among the significant aspects were: the place of interaction, the language, higher status of mother tongue at the school, a positive attitude in teachers involved, and interaction with an entire class and with other staff. Places of meeting were frequently corridors, the staff rooms, or other places that were not normally designated for regular teaching or planning activities. The places of interaction thus tended to underline the marginal position of the mother tongue teachers with respect to participation in school development.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Internationell migration och etniska relationer (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- International Migration and Ethnic Relations (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

mother tongue teachers

Sweden

newcomer education

place

research methodology

linguistic geography

Pedagogics and Educational Sciences

Pedagogik och Utbildningsvetenskap

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)