Children who live in Sweden without a legal residence permit have the right to go to Swedish school. Students are thereby welcomed at the same time as they are considered illegal in society at large. In this qualitative study based on interviews, I rely on an explorative approach towards Swedish Compulsory School policy practice and the way it affects the schooling opportunities of undocumented children. Findings include how policy interpretation and enactment involves secrecy and socially compensatory acts. The school policy practice of secrecy is primarily enabling schooling opportunities for undocumented children. However, it also conditions these opportunities as participation presupposes concealment and self-restraint in order for the undocumented student to remain incognito. This ambivalence is identified on macro, meso, and micro-levels, as the ambiguous state policies are built into the school organization and reproduced on the school floor. Schools’ social compensatory support is partly expressed through challenges and resistance against unjust policy practices, and partly through civil commitment. The result show that schools’ social support relies widely on the arbitrariness of individual school agents; a commitment that stems from a situationally emerging ethical responsibility to aid undocumented students. It is thereby recognized as vulnerable, as the social support for undocumented students depends on individual agents.

In this study, the policies and legislation connected to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act between 2001 and 2012 were reviewed and analyzed to identify how the DREAM Act perpetuates structural violence. The DREAM Act purported to assist many undocumented immigrant children and young adults in becoming legal residents of the United States of America. This study applied both the qualitative content analysis approach and a policy analysis methodology guided by David Gil’s methodology for analysis and development of social policies. Data collection sources included legislative bills crafted on the DREAM Act, research articles and studies, progress reports, films, and archived newspaper articles, prior interviews, and memoranda. The theory of structural violence presented in this study was analyzed in terms of Johan Galtung’s account, particularly pertaining to undocumented children who are unserviceable or remain within the gray areas of the DREAM Act’s policies and legislative efforts. Additionally, the goals and objectives of the Act were evaluated against the disqualifying factors with which otherwise eligible children are faced, leading such children and young adults to become confined to substandard social and economic conditions. The leading research question was, “What is the impact of the DREAM Act policies on undocumented immigrant young adults?” The single follow-up question was, “How does failure to pass the DREAM Act affect undocumented children?” The study also aimed to detect signs, symbols, and traits of structural violence found through the analysis of the DREAM Act.

1 juli år 2013 trädde en ny skollag i kraft i Sverige. Den nya lagen ger papperslösa barn i Sverige rätt till utbildning. Detta gäller både om barnet har fått avslag av Migrationsverket på sin uppehållstillståndsansökan och om barnet lever gömt och inte sökt uppehållstillstånd. Idag har papperslösa barn rätt till utbildning men detta innebär inte att dessa barn har en skolplikt, utan det avgör barnet själv eller familjen till det papperslösa barnet om rätten ska nyttjas. Denna valfrihet leder till att flera papperslösa barn inte utnyttjar sin rätt till utbildning. Det finns flera orsaker till detta som exempelvis att många papperslösa familjer inte känner till den nya skollagen och att polisen de facto har rätt att omhänderta en papperslös elev från skolan. Då det inte existerar någon garanti för att den papperslösa elevens trygghet i skolan väljer många papperslösa familjer bort denna rättighet på grund av rädslan att barnet skall bli omhändertaget av polisen. I samband med detta har vi identifierat olika dilemman för lärare, dilemman som uppstår vid en sammanstötning mellan lärares yrkesetik och lärares lagstadgade plikter såsom anmälningsplikt. I Sverige har lärare en skyldighet att anmäla, om de misstänker eller får kännedom om att ett barn far illa skall de meddela socialtjänsten. Denna anmälningsplikt orsakar ett stort dilemma för lärare då konsekvensen av en anmälning kan bli förödande för den enskilde papperslösa eleven och dennes familj. För att få en klarare bild av lärarnas dilemman utförde vi intervjuer med olika lärare på Skånska skolor. Vid intervjutillfällena fick vi förklarat för oss att dilemmat med anmälningsplikten och skyddande av papperslösa elever är någonting som lärare fruktar. Utifrån Barnkonventionen, lärares yrkesetik, tystnadsplikt samt specifik skolsekretess kan lärare skydda den enskilde papperslösa eleven. Dock så finns rädslan kvar bland lärarna om vad som händer om en specifik situation leder till att socialtjänsten måste kontaktas. Resultatet av analysen ger en bild av att lärares yrkesetik inte är så stark som andra yrkesetiker, således kan lärare stå upp mot andra myndigheter och neka deras begäran om tillträdde på skolan. / July 1 2013 a new law entered into force in Sweden. The new Education Act gives undocumented children in Sweden right to education. This is regardless whether the child has been rejected by the Migration Board on their residence permit application and shall be rejected or if the child lives in hiding and has not applied for a residence permit. Today, undocumented children's right to education does not mean that undocumented children have a school attendance, this determines the child himself or the family of the undocumented child´s the right to be utilized. This choice leads too many undocumented children do not exercise their right to education. There are several reasons for this, such that many undocumented families are not aware of the new Education Act, but also that the police actually have the right to seize an undocumented student from school. Then there exists no guarantee that the undocumented student's safety at school, many undocumented families declines this right because of the fear of being found and cared for by the police. In connection with this issue, we have identified various dilemmas for teachers, dilemmas that arise when there is a clash between teachers' professional ethics' and teachers' statutory obligations such as notification requirements to authority. In Sweden, teachers have an obligation to notify if they suspect or become aware that a child is being abused to social services. This notification requirement causes a big dilemma for teachers as the consequence of a notification can be devastating for the individual undocumented student and their family. To get a view of the teacher's dilemmas, we conducted interviews with teachers from Skåne. In the interviews we got told by teachers that the dilemma with the notification requirements and protection of undocumented students is something that teachers fear. Thanks to the Convention of Children´s Rights, teachers' professional ethics, teacher´s obligation to observe silence and confidentiality that exists at the school, teachers can protect the individual undocumented student. However, there are fears remain in the teachers about what happens if it comes to the situation where a claim must be made to social services. The results of the analysis gave us that the teachers' professional ethics is not as strong as other professional ethics so that teachers can stand up to other authorities and deny their request for the entry of the school.