In the context of humanistic Bildung-centred Didaktik, the educational potential of different school subjects is emphasized. But how can different school subjects collectively contribute to the ‘cultivation-of-human-powers’ and Bildung with a focus on sustainability? In this article, seven different school subjects are compared. Eleven teacher educators from Malmö University, Sweden, have written scholarly about the roles of their respective school subjects for Bildung and sustainability. Drawing from the texts related to the seven school subjects – geography, mathematics, physical education and health, religious education, science for citizenship, Swedish as a second language, and visual arts – a comparative analysis was conducted. The primary focus was to understand the unique characteristics of each school subject, explore their epistemic differences, and discern their potential roles in fostering cross-curricular didactics for Bildung and sustainability. It is shown that the different school subjects collectively provide complementary contributions to contemporary Bildung and climate change literacy.

For several decades, the Swedish school system has faced both an increasing educational attainment gap and a teacher shortage. In recent years, different policy initiatives have sought to establish alternative routes into the teaching profession. One target group is migrants with a teaching background. International research shows that this group can serve as bridge builders and as extra language and social support for school children with a migrant background. However, difficulties in terms of language acquisition and validation of previous skills can impede fast labor market entry. This chapter draws on recently conducted qualitative research on a teacher education course labeled as a fast-track for introducing Arabic-speaking newly arrived migrant teachers to the Swedish educational system. Not only did the course enable participants to reflect upon differences in teaching styles, educational systems, and negotiations of their professional teaching roles, it also allowed them to form an impression of the Swedish teaching system and find potential contacts and paths into work. Nonetheless, many participants in the course requested a faster validation process, more Swedish language support, and help finding employment. Moreover, some were disappointed to find that their previous knowledge is devalued in local schools.

Flight has developed into a new research focus worldwide, but, only a few projects are concerned with newly immigrated teachers. Meanwhile, increasing importance is politically assigned to them and their linguistic resources. Despite these expectations, there are hardly any studies that address language diversity in the professional training of immigrant teachers. As a reaction to this lacuna, we have conducted a qualitative study in two countries: Sweden and Germany. These cases are particularly interesting to compare as they approach the re-professionalization of immigrant teachers in very different ways. In Sweden the introductory programs are the result of a political measure (top-down-policy making) and hold no language requirement in Swedish, whereas in Germany these programs are the result of bottom-up initiatives on behalf of universities and academics, which consequently result in a varying dealing with linguistic diversity. The difference in approach is of extreme interest with regard to top-down- and bottom-up processes of language education policy making, as the chapter will explicate with a specific focus on research review thus far. It will then present a qualitative study that focuses on multilingual practices in teacher training. To access this level, interviews were conducted with the respective actors – programme coordinators and lecturers. The results allow deep insights into the process of language policy making and their implementation on the institutional level. Finally, we will discuss the potentials of top-down- and bottom-up approaches and formulate implications for international teacher education.

Amongst the most significant labour market challenges is the integration of migrants and the opportunities for individual migrants to find employment that match their qualifications. The object of this study is to analyse the formal and informal obstacles migrant teachers face when entering the labour market. These obstacles include the formal validation of existing credentials, as well as the needs of local schools, and migrant teachers' own experiences of the new school system. We have conducted qualitative interviews with school principals, representatives at labour market organizations and authorities and migrant teachers. By analysing these different accounts we argue that the individual career adaptability of migrants also needs to be understood in relation to institutional and organizational constraints. Moreover, by adding a temporal understanding to the integration process, we find that migrants' own perception of the process and the time-scales of entering work should be accounted for more explicitly in the guidance process.

Syftet med studien är att belysa immigrerade lärares övergång från Snabbspåret och kompletterande utbildning till fasta anställningar i svensk skola. Studien bygger på kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare med migrationsbakgrund och med rektorer. I våra resultat diskuterar vi formella hinder för att arbeta i den svenska skolan som legitimerad lärare, såsom lärarlegitimationen, men också informella hinder såsom språkkrav i utbildningsverksamheten, tillgänglig information om legitimationsprocesser och anställning i den svenska skolan, samt olika förväntningar på vad lärarrollen i den svenska skolan kan innebära. Resultaten visar att lärarna pendlar mellan sin egen professionella förmåga och anpassningar till regler och förordningar. De deltagande lärarna vill ha trygga anställningar för att kunna försörja sig. Rektorerna i studien värderar praktisk kunskap om den svenska skolan i fråga om undervisning och bedömning. Samtidigt uppskattar de ofta den kompetens de migrerade lärarna tillför både i form av ämneskunskap och i form av ”integrationskompetens”. Flerspråkighet ses som något mycket positivt i vissa sammanhang, medan man i andra fokuserar på lärarnas bristande kunskaper i svenska och oförmåga att kommunicera. Endast lärarlegitimationen ses inte alltid som tillräcklig för att kunna garantera en anställning och en del rektorer ser också risker med tillsvidareanställningar och föredrar att prova om lärarna har tillräcklig språk- och undervisningsförmåga genom kortare anställningar. För lärarna innebär detta till att börja med en osäker väg till arbetsmarknaden. Anpassningen till den nya lärarrollen i Sverige är komplicerad och utmaningarna är många.

The Swedish welfare state has social protection policies focusing on labour market participation. Initiatives have been introduced after the increase of asylum seekers in 2015, focusing on so-called ‘fast tracks’. In this paper I consider one of these fast track courses aimed at newly arrived teachers wishing to continue their teaching career in Sweden. Based on interviews and observational data I have followed one cohort throughout their course. The research aims for an understanding of the teachers’ experiences from their own perspective as well as from the stakeholders’. The theoretical framework is mainly taken from the concepts of the capital market introduced by Bourdieu. In light of the findings, while the education the participants receive may be useful in order to understand the educational system, many are disappointed to find that fast track courses do not give them a clear advantage in terms of finding a faster way into the Swedish labour market. In addition, there are tendencies for local teacher communities to devalue the qualifications of this group. Generally, the emphasis on ‘fast tracks’ may ignore the need of individuals to complete formal Swedish education and to navigate complex processes of nationally set standards of professional requirements, which impede a fast integration process.

I Litteraturundervisning och interkulturella möten behandlas frågor om hur ett väl genomtänkt arbete med skönlitteratur kan få oss att utmana föreställningar och tankemönster. I mötet med det som är främmande och annorlunda kan både elever och lärare lockas att gå utanför sina bekvämlighetszoner och kritiskt granska både sig själv och det egna samhället. Boken ger både konkreta exempel på arbete med skönlitteratur i heterogena klassrum och teoretiska perspektiv på läsande och lärande. Lärarnas viktiga roll i valet av texter, arbetsformer och i relation till eleverna ägnas särskild uppmärksamhet. Målet är att skapa en trygg arena som ger utrymme för en mångfald av engagerade röster och kritisk reflektion.  

Employment of newly arrived migrants can be seen as one of the key aspects to managing both national labour market needs and the inclusion of individuals in both work and society. In Sweden, efforts to manage recent migration - for example, from Syria - has resulted in various labour market 'fast tracks' that aim to facilitate labour market integration. In this article, we consider how individual migrants attempt to negotiate the new national demands of professional identity to become teachers in Sweden by following a Swedish introduction course to teaching. The study builds on qualitative interviews and fieldwork following two different cohorts of students.

Studien undersöker lärares motiveringar för de urval av litterära texter som används i skolämnet svenska som andraspråk och elevers uppfattningar om dessa val. Detta sker genom en diskussion av intervjusvar från lärare och elever. Studien är kvalitativ och består av semistrukturerade intervjuer som har genomförts med 8 lärare samt 15 elever på gymnasiet som följer kursen i svenska som andraspråk. McCormicks repertoarbegrepp (1994) och Felskis begrepp (2008) om olika sätt att läsa och reagera på texter är det huvudsakliga teoretiska ramverket. En tematisk innehållsanalys är gjord av resultaten. Resultaten visar att lärarna anser att elevers läsning av skönlitteratur framför allt ska vara språkutvecklande. Ofta väljs litteratur med hög igenkänningsfaktor och lärarna menar att eleverna genom läsningen kan få perspektiv på sina egna liv och andra sätt att leva, något som bekräftas av eleverna. Det framgår även att lärarna anpassar sitt litteraturval och sin undervisning efter förväntningar som de har på elevgruppen och i viss mån anläggs ett bristperspektiv på deras språk och litterära repertoarer. Eleverna visar huvudsakligen ett positivt förhållningssätt till skolans litteratururval och de motiveringar som görs. Dock efterlyser de mer samtida och även utom-europeisk litteratur. Intervjusvaren om kanon och klassiker ger en splittrad bild och när begreppet ’bildning’ nämns handlar det om en inkluderingsönskan till svenska förhållanden, som kan tolkas som en slags assimilatorisk strävan. Överhuvudtaget synliggör resultaten behovet av att närmare diskutera förutsättningarna och villkoren för olika elevgrupper att kunna utvecklas genom de val av skönlitteratur som ligger till grund för undervisningen.

This article focuses the teachers’ views and beliefs of course literary texts and the selection of these, in the school subject Swedish as a second language in upper-secondary school. The aim is to illustrate and analyse the motivations behind teachers selection of the literary texts they use. In addition, students’ views on these selection criteria are also included in the aim. The main theoretical framework is Kathleen McCromick´s socio-cultural model of reading and literature teaching (1994)  as well as Rita Felski´s concepts of modes of textual engagements (2008). The empirical materials consist of tape-recorded and semi-structured interviews with eight teachers and 15 students, independent of each other, from three upper secondary schools. A thematic content analysis is used to find patterns and then themes to be applied in conjunction with the interpretation of the material. The results show that teachers find literature useful as it may provide knowledge of and various perspectives on life and society, even though second language pupils do not take part in the history of literature in their course. Furthermore, literature not only helps develop multilingual students’ knowledge of the Swedish language but also provides them with insights into Swedish culture, in some ways with an assimilating ambition with the aim to include the students in the Swedish culture and way of living. Literature that includes a high recognition aspect is often selected and the teachers mean that this can help the students to gain perspectives on their own lives, which the students most often appreciate. The teachers adjust their selection of literary texts after the expectations they have on the group of students, but they have in some ways a shortcoming perspective om the students’ language and literary repertoire. The students themselves show a positive approach to the schools’ selections and to the arguments the teachers give. However, the students call for more contemporary texts as well as global selections, as the selection of literature was found to be traditional and Western. Overall, the results make visible the needs to further discuss the conditions and terms under which different groups of students can be enriched or limited by the selection of literary texts in teaching Swedish as a second language.

Denna artikel handlar om en universitetsförlagd introduktionsutbildning för nyanlända lärare i Sverige, det så kallade snabbspåret. Den presenterade studien handlar om hur lärarnas flerspråkighet och transspråkande används, betraktas och tas tillvara i en kontext för högre utbildning och kompetensutveckling. Baserat på ett teoretiskt ramverk om transspråkande och olika synsätt på flerspråkighet och språkpolicyer, samlades data in genom intervjuer och observationer med utbildningens deltagare, lärare och handledare. Resultaten visar på att språkfrågan är komplex och flera tendenser visas. Dels ses deltagarnas språkkunskaper i svenska som bristande, dels ses deras flerspråkighet som en tillgång i vissa sammanhang. Transspråkandet visas fylla en viktig funktion i inlärningsprocessen inom kursens ram. Slutsatsen är att alla aktörer i utbildningen behöver få en högre medvetenhet om flerspråkighet och transspråkande så att deltagarnas kompetenser kan tillvaratas.