This study examines the teaching of a student group that is often overlooked in research and policy: newly arrived adolescent students with limited previousexperience of formal schooling (NALS). Drawing on ethnographic data produced at two junior high schools with different reception models for newly arrived students, we asked how NALS were…

26% of the students in Swedish compulsory school have an immigrant background. To support the simultaneous development of their language proficiency as well as their academic skills and knowledge, several measures may be implemented by schools. This study focuses on one of those measures, namely multilingual study guidance, and illustrates the…

Critical thinking is brought to the fore as a central competence in today's society and in school curricula, but what may be emphasised as a general skill may also differ across school subjects. Using a mixed methods approach we identify general formulations regarding critical thinking in the Swedish curriculum of school year nine and seven more…

The overarching aim is to explore what teachers perceive as the opportunities provided by using literature in ethics education in compulsory school. When being interviewed, in what ways do the teachers express views on the potential of fiction to encourage students to accept certain human conditions as imaginable, or to create motivation for…

Research indicates that beliefs on the locus of the primary source of learning can have negative effects on learning behaviors in school (Mercer & Ryan, 2011). To an increasing extent, young people in Sweden acquire English outside school through different cultural practices (Sundqvist & Sylvén, 2012). At the same time, students lack…

The study explores Finnish compulsory school language teachers' formative and summative assessment practices. It aims at finding out what formative and summative assessment modes and tools the teachers use and what kind of evidence they collect for students' final grades. The data were gathered through questionnaires administered in national…

In the last decade war, social conflicts, and environmental catastrophes in Asia, the Middle East and Africa have contributed to an increased stream of refugees to Europe. Sweden was no exception and the increased number of asylum seekers made heavy demands on municipalities, including school systems. School leaders and teachers in Europe…

Views about what writing is and how it should be taught have varied over the years as well as across contexts. Studies of curricula, teaching materials, and teaching practices have shown a strong focus on skills, genres, and processes, but few have asked teachers about their perspectives on writing. In this article we explore what views, or…

Both Sweden and Finland have education systems promoting equity and equality. However, recent societal and political changes linked to increased immigration have created new challenges in efforts to support linguistic diversity. This paper aims to explore how multilingualism is represented in the national compulsory school curricula in the two…

Children of foreign origin are increasingly failing in mathematics in Swedish compulsory schools. This article analyses the didactics at a school proven very successful in teaching mathematics to all children including the 70% of children of foreign origin. The situation at the studied school is compared to research of the Swedish school system…

The value assigned to "friluftsliv" (activities similar to outdoor education) in physical education teacher education (PETE) and in the physical education (PE) syllabus in Sweden does not seem to result in the implementation of "friluftsliv" in the practice of teaching in Swedish schools. This study investigates how the…

A study sought information about the success of the Swedish 9-year compulsory comprehensive school for students with home language other than Swedish. Immigrant adolescents and a sample of Swedish students answered a questionnaire discussing their lines of study after comprehensive school and the students' views on the home language instruction…