In 2015, approximately 70,000 children and young people immigrated to Sweden, including 35,000 unaccompanied minors who arrived without any legal guardian. The huge influx of young people has been a challenge for the Swedish school system. Newly arrived immigrant students are a diverse group, and their educational backgrounds vary. Those actively…

Educators rarely attempt to exploit the positive features of their students' family and ethnic backgrounds as helpful resources for instruction. Rather, they seek out students' individual differences only when problems arise. Thinking positively about the influences of particular features becomes lost in problem-centered efforts to maintain test…

The Swedish National Board of Education studied 7,095 youths (mostly immigrants) who left compulsory school in 1979 and who spoke home languages other than Swedish. The part of the study reported on here revealed that no less than 42% of them stated that they always spoke Swedish with at least one parent, while 22% never spoke Swedish with their…

A summary of the findings and recommendations of the Swedish Government's Committee on Linguistic Minorities among Children of Preschool Age is provided in this report. The first six chapters supply background material. Chapter 1 describes the target group and its estimated size, and suggests new definitions for use in native language backing…

This paper reviews the development of interest in teaching Portuguese to immigrant students, an interest rooted in an individual's ethnicity and cultural past. The story of a Portuguese couple who immigrated to Sweden with their young son is recited, emphasizing the child's struggle with his lack of identity with either Portuguese or Swedish…

A 1970's educational program in Skovde, Sweden, supports the country's immigrant policy of equality, freedom of choice, and cooperation by providing for active bilingualism among immigrant children at school. The program provides instruction from certified bilingual teachers in 16 home languages for immigrant groups dominated by Finns but also…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific country of the European Union--Finland. Details are provided about the features of the educational system, recent educational policies, divisions of responsibilities, main actors, legal…