Education: Hope for newcomers in Europe
However, I believe that more could be done, given the education unions’ size and resources, to affect those circumstances and conditions that matter most for the educational success of newly arrived children. Refugee teachers need more support in the Swedish language to enable them to progress through the ULV programme and secure a teaching certificate. For many, English training is also needed, along with an academic mentor to guide them through their university education. This is particularly important for migrant teachers who attend the Fast-track programme. What more can be done? In additions to the previously mentioned recommendations and elsewhere (Bunar, 2017a), this report proposes four areas that can have the greatest effects on educational equity and quality for newly arrived children, in both the short and long term. 1.
An individualised approach to every child, his/her circumstances, background and life-history is absolutely essential. The ability to recognise a child as a refugee, with all the experiences this may entail, and to see a child beyond that experience is the foremost quality of a good teacher. Children are active actors with their own resources (ambition, resilience, previous knowledge, first language etc.) and these ought to be acknowledged and harnessed in the interests of learning to attain grades and learning for citizenship.
2.
The newly arrived are not just second language learners, a view which has dominated pedagogical discourse for many years. They are first and foremost learners, students at school, just like all other children. Two consequences of this argument are: a) newly arrived students ought to be provided with access to all subjects as soon as possible after a shorter introduction period with a focus on Swedish as a Second Language; b) in order to accommodate the newly arrived in ordinary classes, all teachers need to acquire skills to work with language-developing pedagogy in their subjects.
3.
Segregation, and its ramifications (exclusion and isolation), is the most pernicious social condition with regard to opportunities in schools and society for newly arrived students. Concentration of migrant students in certain schools should be avoided using all possible means, including ceilings to the share of immigrants, bussing, creation of new catchment-area boundaries etc. (see Brunello & De Paola, 2017). There is ample evidence that those most negatively affected by segregation are students whose parents have received little education, and foreign-born students who arrived after the age of seven. “Overall, the message seems clear: desegregation policies are not only equitable – they provide better opportunities D 23