Summary: | Purpose: Our purpose with this study is to compare how the two selected schools in two different areas in Stockholm chooses to introduce and integrate newly arrived children in Sweden. The schools are located in the suburb and downtown in Stockholm. One school has chosen to integrate the child by placing him or her in a preparatory class and the other school is placing the child into a regular class. Investigation questions: We want to find out how the choosen schools are working with a newly arrived child. How is the child integrated and introduced directly into a regular class through teaching methods and teaching material and how a newly arrived child is integrated and introduced into a preparatory class through teaching methods and teaching material. We also want to find out if the community authorities in the City of Stockholm and the Swedish state have guidelines that schools are supposed to follow in the work with newly arrived children and whether our selected schools are working after these guidelines. Method: The study is based on two methods. One method are interviews, we interviewed three active persons from each selected school. We also interviewed a researcher in this subject and a person who works for the municipality with the reception of newly arrived children. The second method is based on textual analysis document issued by the Immigration Department (Migrationsverket) and the Education Department (Skolverket) as well as the Municipalities and Counties of Sweden (Sveriges Kommuner och Landsting). Theories: We have chosen to use two social theories: Mead's interactionist theory and Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. These theories are both based on the importance of social interaction for development. Conclusions: We have concluded that the most important thing is not whether the child is placed in preparatory class or a regular class. The key factor is how the teaching is, what resources are available and what skills the teacher has. We have also concluded that there are guidelines from the Education Department but that the schools in this study did not follow.
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