The purpose of this paper is to investigate, analyse and interpret the educational ideals of the ABF (Workers Educational Association) as they are understood by five members within ABF. The paper also examines how the educational ideals are represented in the national guidelines and statues of the ABF. The basic theoretical perspectives are intercultural theory and theories about Bildung and adult liberal education in a multi-cultural pedagogical environment presented by Bernt Gustavsson and Hans Lorentz respectively. The empirical study consists of five semi-structured interviews and a text study of the official documents of the ABF. The data is interpreted with hermeneutic and semiotic tools. Organisational theory focusing on organizational culture has also contributed to the study. The result of the study, when analysed in accordance to the methods, shows mainly four things. Firstly, the educational ideals within the contemporary ABF are the self-educational ideal and the civic educational ideal. Secondly, the analysis of contemporary society identifies social class as the main category of injustice with sex/gender ethnicity, disability, sexuality and age as subcategories. Thirdly, there is a lack of influence for people with a foreign background in the ABF. Fourthly, the ABF can make another world possible if the organisation consciously recruits people with a foreign background, is culturally aware when applying concepts, makes sure that the education emanates from every single participant, fights against stereotypes and builds networks. One of the main conclusions I draw from this study is that popular education within the ABF can promote learning of Intercultural competence but there is an uncertainty about where the organisation will go towards a universalistic or a particularistic direction. There is also a lack of discrepancy between the written policy and the actual practice.

Studiens syfte är att, med hjälp av life-history metoden, bidra med en fördjupad förståelse av hur föräldrar med utländsk bakgrund upplever och erfar sitt liv under ankomsten till Sverige och hur de minns och konstruerar sin egen migrationshistoria och sönernas skolgång.   Livshistorierna baseras på intervjuer med två föräldrar från Irak och Iran. Föräldrarnas utsagor visar att de livsval som föräldrarna har gjort har haft betydelse för sönernas skolgång. De har valt att undvika att bosätta sig i segregerade områden och de har strävat efter att bli integrerade i det svenska samhället. Familjer med utländsk bakgrund genomgår en ackultureringsprocess och de båda informanterna tillhör assimilerade familjer vilket betyder att de har anammat majoritetskulturens normer. I informanternas utsagor belyses de erfarenheter de har av maktförhållandet mellan minoritetskulturer och majoritetskulturer vilket leder vidare till begreppet intersektionalitet. Föräldrarnas livshistorier lyfter även fram de olika referensramarna av skolans innehåll som föräldrar med utländsk bakgrund kan bära med sig och det är viktigt att skolan kan bemöta det på ett bra sätt och det interkulturella perspektivet bör genomsyra skolans verksamhet. Modersmålsundervisning har visat sig har liten betydelse för sönernas studieresultat däremot har föräldrarnas olika livsval haft desto större betydelse. / The aim of this study is by using life-history method, to provide a deeper understanding of how parents of foreign origin experience their arrival to Sweden and how they remember and reconstruct their own migration history and their sons schooling.   The life­ histories are based on interviews with two parents from Iraq and Iran. The parents’ statements show that the parents’ life choices have influenced the sons’ schooling. They have chosen to avoid living in segregated areas and they have been trying to get integrated into the Swedish society. The integration of families with foreign origin varies and the two informants belong to assimilated families which mean they have embraced the dominant culture norms.   The informants’ statements show the experiences of power between majority and minority cultures, cultures which brings us to the concept of intersectionality. The parents’ life histories also show the different references of the school’s content that parents of foreign origin can carry around and it is important that the school can address it in a good way and the intercultural dimension should influence the school’s activities. To study native language has proven to have little impact on the sons’ academic performances, however, the parents’ different life choices had more impact.

School leaders face the challenge of creating and maintaining learning during rapid and complex conditions. Some of the challenges associated with leadership based on authenticity in intercultural schools will be discussed. The purpose of this essay is to describe and gain an insight into three school leaders´ views on leadership in multicultural schools. The study is based on scientific articles and the survey consists of interviews with head teachers in different multicultural schools. The hermeneutic research approach has been the basis for this study through qualitative interviews and collected data for analysis. To get a better understanding of the issues this essay culminates in, different leadership styles are shortly presented. The characteristics that underpin this study will hopefully be better understood through definitions of key concepts. In an attempt to further define authentic leadership, the concept of authentic followership will be introduced and discussed. Effective leadership in intercultural schools requires genuine understanding and action. In line with this, various strategies are proposed by which leaders can consciously transform and better understand the problems and find solutions in intercultural school contexts.

Bilingualism and multilingualism have always existed in Sweden. Preschool teachers must provide a stimulating pedagogical environment adapted to bilingual children. The purpose of this examination is to study the perspective of the preschool teachers and their knowledge regarding bilingual and multilingual children. Their knowledge will be examined related to their language experiences. I hope to find similarities and dissimilarities in the preschool teachers’ opinions concerning teaching and learning what they actually do when they are teaching. My study is based on qualitative method, based on interviews and repeated observations. My study is based on interviews with four preschool teachers from different preschools. The information given in the interviews has been analyzed using socio-cultural and social constructivist theories and previous research. My conclusion is that the preschool teacher’s attitude towards children’s bilingualism and multilingualism is based on a positive perspective rather than a negative perspective regarding the importance of mother tongue and identity as well as ethics. Preschool teachers with foreign background and with Swedish background had similar thoughts. At the same time, they seem to have a critical perspective concerning bilingual children’s learning process in Swedish. In many cases these preschool teachers consider bilingual and multilingual children’s cultural and social habits a hindrance in learning the Swedish language. But at the same time, as preschool teachers, they are aware of the importance in learning at least a few words in the bilingual children’s language.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sju lärares reflektioner om elever med en annan kulturell bakgrund i Hong Kong, vilken betydelse har interkulturell kompetens och vilka effekter skolsystemet i Hong Kong gör som påverkar elever med en annan kulturellbakgrund, lärare samt föräldrarna. För att få svar på mina frågeställningar har jag därför åkt till Hong Kong och vistats där i två veckor. Jag besökte två skolor och gjorde totalt sju intervjuer. Utifrån intervjuerna kan man se att de lärare som är mindre interkulturell kompetenta känner en svårighet och oro i möten med elever med en annan kulturell bakgrund. De ansåg även att orsaken till att elever med en annan kulturell bakgrund inte kunde hinna ikapp med skolgången berodde på deras kulturella bakgrund och deras föräldrar. I uppsatsen diskuteras om lärarnas reflektioner genom teorier om interkulturell kompetens och tidigare forskning om bland annat lärare i Hong Kong. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate seven teachers’ reflections about students with other cultural backgrounds in Hong Kong, which importance does intercultural competence have and what effect does the Hong Kong school system make. Therefore, I went to Hong Kong and spent two weeks there to search the answer to my questions. I visited two schools in Hong Kong and did seven interviews. Through the interview, it appeared that the teachers were less intercultural competent and thus felt difficulties and concerns about when meeting students with other cultural backgrounds. The teachers though that the cause that the students with other cultural backgrounds could not catch up with the language skills and the development on school subject, which they mean, could be because of their cultural backgrounds and parents. In this thesis were I discuss about teachers reflection through theory about intercultural competence, earlier research’s and studies about for example teachers in Hong Kong

This study is a qualitative content analysis which sets out to examine the representation of stereotypic masculine traits amongst the main characters in two films from The Swedish Institute of Film's (Svenska Filminstitutets) selection for ”School Cinema” (Skolbio). The study is operationalised through the use of a scheme, constructed by Lorraine Evans and Kimberly Davies for their study No sissy boys here, which maps stereotypical masculine and feminine traits and originates from Sandra Lipsitz Bems ”Sex Role Inventory”. The masculine traits in the scheme are: aggressive, competitive, argumentative, decisive, assertive, risk-taking, self-reliant and adventurous, and the feminine are: affectionate, emotionally expressive, impetuous, nurturing, panicky, passive, tender, and understanding. A background is provided through the presentation of previous work within the fields of Hegemonic masculinities, Masculinities in teaching aids, Film as teaching aid, Representation and Discourse. Through the analysis several instances of masculine – as well as some feminine – traits are detected, and the findings ultimatley shows that even though there is a big agent with a lot of credibility behind the distribution of these films, and the related tutor-material to go with them, it is not enough to ensure that the material does not reproduce stereotypic, hegemonic masculinity and a normative way of thinking about gender.

The aim of the study is to elucidate and analyze newcomer students´ experiences of the Language Introduction Program, in more detail, how the students describe their time at the program and how experiences could differ between girls and boys. Finally, the study examines how the program, according to the students, can be significant for their future. The analysis of the students´ dictums is based on the perspective of intercultural education. To answer the study´s aim and research questions, the investigation consists of eight semi-structured interviews with students who are studying at the Language Introduction Program at an upper secondary school in Uppsala.The results show that the main advantages with studying at the Language Introduction Program are, according to the students, that they learn the Swedish language and that they meet students with several cultural backgrounds. The main disadvantages that were noted were that the Language Introduction Program takes a long time to finish, and furthermore, the contact with the students at the other programs at the school is not enough. To some extent, the students´ experiences differ, however, the differences are not always due to gender. The students feel that the Language Introduction Program has helped them with the Swedish language and prepared them for future studies. In conclusion, the study shows that good knowledge in the Swedish language is considered to be the key to success in school and society, both for social life and for educational purposes.

No description available.

The aim of this study is to use empirical investigation to collect data and analyze the constructed normative ideas and concepts within the discourse of interculturality. We used the perspective of social constructions as a means of understanding the underlying normative discourses. We used critical white studies to get an alternative understanding on the constructed normative discourses. The investigation was an etnographic study of a preeschool in a multicultural suburb in Stockholm. We used quality methods such as focus groups discussions as the main material for our discourse analysis and did etnographic observations as a complement. The results showed that the preeschool teachers constructed interculturality in the same way as we understand multiculturality and thought the swedish language to be one of the most important elements in their deifinition of interculturality. They constructed the families at the preeschool in a position where they stood in opposition against the families in the inner city of Stockholm, which stands for the normative white majority society

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur förskollärarna på två mångkulturella förskolor arbetar för att skapa trygghet i leken hos nyanlända barn. För att få fram ett resultat så genomfördes en kvalitativ studie där fyra förskollärare intervjuades enskilt kring ämnet, vilket sedan transkriberades och analyserades grundligt för att få fram ett resultat. Studien utgick ifrån ett interkulturellt perspektiv då det perspektivet berör mångkulturella grupper där en handling sker bland individer med olika kulturella bakgrunder. Resultatet visade på att förskollärarna använder sig av olika metoder som närvarande pedagog, ta del av barnens hemkultur, tecken, bilder och rörelser för att främja trygghet hos nyanlända barn i leken. Förskollärarens inflytande i barns gruppkonstellationer beskrivs då det skapar trygghet hos barn även där. En närvarande förskollärare som bidrar till att barnen leker i en varierad mångfald skapar på så sätt en trygghet i en interkulturell miljö.