The present paper delves into how symbolic boundaries in a school that is undergoing a desegregation process come to shape social boundaries of ‘we-ness’ and ‘otherness’. The theoretical framework of the study starts from an interest in analysing whether symbolic and social boundaries emerge in new encounters during a desegregation process and whether this may produce different modes of incorporation. Peer interactions and schoolwork were observed and interviews with school staff were conducted to investigate school desegregation implementation in a large Swedish town. The town we investigated has formulated a desegregation policy that, over time, has not resulted in desegregation in practice. The results highlight that schools without a coherent pedagogy, idea, or practice for social inclusion face challenges. These challenges, in turn, promote internal micro-segregation and non-incorporation of minority students, despite intentions to promote inclusion.

Pedagogisk och utbildningssociologisk forskning visar att den svenska grundskolan är starkt segregerad vilket har bidragit till försämrad likvärdighet i elevers måluppfyllelse. En följd av detta har blivit att kommuner försöker hantera skolsegregationens negativa effekter genom att aktivt styra skolornas elevsammansättning. Denna artikeln handlar om hur skolledare och pedagoger i en i mindre kommuns lågstadieskola, arbetar med en ny elevsammansättning, organisatoriskt, socialt och pedagogiskt och den betydelse deras arbete får för elevers relationer till varandra och deras skolframgång. Fallstudiens har ett kultursociologiskt perspektiv vars analyser baseras på etnografiska fältanteckningar, intervjuer med skolaktörer, kommundata över elevernas resultat på nationella prov mellan åren 2016–2021 samt ett sociogram som eleverna har fyllt i. Resultaten visar att majoriteten av eleverna som sedan starten av sin grundskoleutbildning har gått i en integrerad skolform umgås i hög grad med elever som har en annan etnisk bakgrund än de själva. Eleverna får också högre resultat på de nationella proven i svenska och svenska som andraspråk i jämförelse med innan och åren direkt efter reformen. De huvudsakliga förklaringarna till denna framgång grundar sig i skolaktörernas genuina tro på en skola för alla, samtidigt som de utvecklat interaktionsförutsättningar som lagt grunden till en inkluderande skolkultur. 

This is an open access book which focuses on different aspects of education, employment, and successful integration of migrants in three countries: Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. The chapters in this book reflect on these issues from micro, meso and macro perspectives; some are based on interviews with migrants and people who work with them, others on documents and literature about migration. There are different pathways for skilled migrants to vocations. Some start working in their previous vocations after arriving in the new environment. Some re-enter their professions but on a lower level. Some can re-train themselves in a new vocation, and some will go to further education, as studies in different chapters of this book suggest. Common for successful integration seems to be several intertwined factors: the target language competence, strong motivation and agency, supporting networks and supporting persons, as well as structural opportunities of the new environment. The book’s editorial board takes an eclectic view, hoping to start an academic debate about what ‘successful integration’ means. While discussions about the integration of migrants tend to focus on integration failures, there are millions of migrants, in different countries, who have successfully integrated into their new societies. 

The presentation in this paper is based on a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council. The focus of this study is to examine the role that vocational education and training (VET) played and still plays in relation to the challenges that stem/ed from structural changes and immigration that Sweden has experienced from the 1950s to today. From the mid-1800s to the 1990s, Sweden experienced major structural changes: a shift from an agrarian economy, to and industrial based economy and labour market and finally to a post-Fordist knowledge intensive economy and labour market. In this study, we investigate how VET responded to labour market needs that resulted in the shift from industrial economy and labour market to a post- industrial labour market. In addition, the focus is on the role that VET play/ed in the inclusion of immigrants/refugees from the 1950s to today.

The project is grounded on frame factor theory as presented by Lundgren (1989). The project consists of two interrelated studies: a historical study of VET and the changes in the VET system from the 1950s to today and two interview studies. The historical study will examine how the delivery and provision of VET has changed over time because of structural changes and immigration, and the role VET has played in the inclusion of immigrants to the labour market from the 1950s to today. In this study we will also look at changes in the organization and curriculum of the car mechanic vocational training from the 1950s to 2020. The historical study will not only shed light on how VET respond(ed) to structural changes and inclusion of immigrants in the Swedish work life from the 1950s to today but will also help to contextualize the interview studies and enrich our analysis of the interviews.

This article explores the role of popular education for migrants in a social movement context. The aim of this study is to explore how migrants' societal involvement is enabled and constrained by participation in study circles organised in a local branch of the Swedish Workers' Educational Association (ABF). The study was designed and conducted in close cooperation with ABF. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures, the preconditions for involvement of migrant study circle participants in ABF are analysed using participant interview data. The analysis of cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements shows how the study circles are highly integrated into various ethnic associations, thus preconditioning societal involvement with upholding an ethno-cultural heritage. Societal involvement is enabled as the participants can share social resources, information, and knowledge for both navigating in and relating to the local community and society at large. Societal involvement is constrained by scarce resources and challenges related to maintaining and developing constructive relationships, both within the group and in relation to the surrounding society.

This article focuses on ‘successful migrants’, who have succeeded in gaining employment in Sweden in their previous vocational area. The aim is to describe factors on various levels – individual, organisational and national – that have facilitated migrants’ way back to work as well as their inclusion at workplaces. Twenty migrants and five employers/mentors were interviewed. The overarching theme of facilitating factors concerns language proficiency, individual factors, enabling frameworks, and supporting persons and networks. The migrants’ own ambitions and motivations, and the support they got in interpersonal encounters were especially emphasised as important. In the migrants’ narratives, a central theme in relation to the theoretical perspective was how to deal with threats to their social and professional identity in the new country. For them, maintaining a positive self-image was key to the strength needed to fight for a return to working life. People in the environment were important in this struggle – for positioning them as competent persons and for offering support.

Att vårdnadshavares utbildningsbakgrund spelar roll för deras barns inträde till högre utbildning är inget nytt. Men bilden är inte huggen i sten och i det här projektet utmanas den synen genom att vi fokuserar på studenter både från hem med och utan högre utbildning. Då finner vi andra förklaringar än de gängse till hur elever från hem utan utbildningsvana tar sig vidare till högre utbildning. Projektet undersöker hur högpresterande elever själva beskriver att de klarar av skolan med höga betyg. I studien ingår elever vars föräldrar har eller saknar högskoleutbildning, är svenskfödda eller är utlandsfödda. Med högpresterande menar vi dem som har hög eller över medelpoängen i kärnämnena (matematik, svenska eller svenska som andra språk eller engelska) i slutet av det första året av deras gymnasieutbildning. Skolsvårigheter som barn från arbetarklassen eller elever med invandrarbakgrund möter i utbildningssystemet är väl dokumenterade men mycket mindre uppmärksamhet har ägnats åt elever som har eller är på väg att uppnå en framgångsrik akademisk karriär trots att de kommer från utmanande bakgrunder. I pedagogisk litteratur benämns dessa elever ofta som pedagogiskt motståndskraftiga. Men hur kan vi förstå deras drivkrafter och vilket stöd de fått och får under sin skoltid? Och hur ser de på sin framtid?

Forskningsprojektets syfte är att utröna vilka mekanismer och faktorer som bidrar till utbildningsframgången för både studenter från hem med låg utbildningsnivå och där man ofta inte har kännedom om hur utbildningsystemet fungerar och bör användas, samt för studenter vars föräldrar har hög utbildning och troligen större kännedom hur utbildningsystemet och skolan fungerar.

The focus of this paper is to examine the desegregation of hyper-segregated schools in Sweden. In this paper, our focus is on the practice(s) of desegregation in four Swedish municipalities. This study is based on interviews with municipal school politicians, school headmasters, and municipal school officials. Theoretically, the study departs from the theory of steering. This study shows that the municipalities use a strong belief in the peer effect to legitimise their decisions to desegregate hyper-segregated schools. Their decisions ignore a substantial research body that could lead to the development of different types of pedagogies that are relevant for these types of schools.