The aim of this study was to examine how teachers and leisure staff experience that differences in financial conditions among students in preschool class and grades 1-6 are expressed in school as well as how differences in financial conditions affect the students’ social interactions. The ambition was to reach a greater understanding of how children are affected early on by living in poorer financial conditions than other children. The study was conducted through six qualitative, semi-structured interviews with teachers and leisure staff. Five themes were identified in the interviews: concrete examples of differences in financial conditions that are visible in school, difficulties in identifying and talking about financial difficulties, groups that are perceived as particularly vulnerable to financial difficulties, social groupings among children and shame. These themes as well as the theory of stigma by Erving Goffman were used to analyze the results. The results show that teachers and leisure staff see several signs that indicate differences in financial conditions among the students. The students can however be good at hiding their family’s financial situation which makes it difficult to identify financial difficulties among students. Some teachers and leisure staff described children of immigrant parents, children of single mothers and children of divorced parents as particularly vulnerable to financial difficulties. The results also show that teachers and leisure staff experience that differences in financial conditions indirectly affect the students’ social interactions and groupings. The students are aware of their own and others' financial situation which can both divide and unite them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-110063 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Johansson, Ylva, Leiva Martinez, Madeleine |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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