Education and integration of newly arrived migrants in rural areas
Short description
This project has two starting points.
The first is in relation to the sharp rise in the number of new arrivals in Sweden in 2015 and its implications for rural education and communities. The new arrivals were unevenly distributed and smaller municipalities, including many sparsely populated areas, received proportionally larger numbers than other parts of the country. To many small rural schools, lacking in material resources and qualified teachers, this presented a great challenge but also a chance for development and growth.
The second starting point is in relation to an emphasis from politicians about the importance of successful integration and the absence of firm guidance about how to achieve it. This has meant that schools have chosen different approaches and the project is organised in line with this.
Aim of the project
It aims to develop knowledge of how schools in different rural areas have worked to integrate new arrivals and how this has influenced educational practices. Two closely linked sub-studies are involved.
The first uses ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in six rural schools that were researched in an earlier study, Rural youth. Education, place and participation, and found to have different forms of reception of new arrivals in 2015-2016.
The second builds on the results from the first. Its will probe and explore local experiences of the reception and integration processes through interviews with school and community staff in 15 rural municipalities that received school age new arrivals in 2015-2016.