The increasing diversity of Swedish society is affecting the Swedish school. Applying the perspective of critical literacy (Janks 2010), this study examines how teachers' attitudes in a multilingual classroom affect the ability of pupils to develop semantic and critically reflective competence. The study shows that the class teachers hardly considered the pupils' multilingualism and cultural background when devising a procedure using literary tests to engage pupils in talking, listening and writing and to increase their lexical knowledge. With its one nation, one people and one language (May 1999), the Western cultural heritage seems to be taken for granted as natural. The teachers' domination, the pupils' powerlessness, and the lack of diversity do not give the pupils access to the learning that the teachers expect, and the pupils are not provided with an opportunity to develop critical-analytical thinking. The study also shows that the teachers feel inadequately trained for teaching in a society of diversity, and often experience powerlessness in their role as teachers, searching for good tools to guide their pupils.
De senaste decenniernas migrationsströmmar har medfört ett ökat inflöde av elever med utländsk bakgrund i den svenska skolan. Med utländsk bakgrund menas här att eleverna antingen personligen immigrerat eller är barn till utlandsfödda föräldrar som immigrerat till Sverige. Oavsett om eleverna personligen immigrerat eller ej beskrivs de av Bunar (2010) som elever med migrationserfarenheter eftersom de lever i familjer med migrationsbakgrund. Personligt upplevda eller sekundära erfarenheter från migration kan bli synliga i skolan på mångahanda vis, bland annat genom elevernas bilder och skrivna alster. Följande notering av 10-åriga Tatjana 1 ett par månader efter hennes ankomst till Sverige är ett sådant exempel på hur migrationserfarenheter kan ge återspeglingar i elevernas skolvardag, i detta fall i en berättelse i en skoldagbok. Eleverna hade fått i uppgift att skriva om en viktig personlig händelse i deras liv.
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