tandfonline.com – Introductory classes for newcomer primary school students in Sweden. Pedagogical principles and emotional understanding

ABSTRACT

Through the study of pedagogic discourse and practice in introductory classes (ICs) aimed at new migrant students at a linguistically diverse primary school in Sweden, we discuss pedagogic principles and power dynamics, drawing on Bernstein’s conceptual frame. Our ethnographic data consist of teacher interviews and observational fieldnotes. A compound set of pedagogic principles was found, where the acknowledgement of the students’ prior languages differs from previous research. Furthermore, the teachers’ accommodations to the students’ needs through a collaborative practice of care formed an important part of the inner logic of discourse and practice. We find this multilingual and emotional support to be contingent upon the IC teachers’ multilingual competencies and long-term experience with ICs, multilingualism and migration, and support from school management. We welcome interrelated discussions of underpinning logics based on research within different educational contexts comprising migrant students.