Multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Swedish-medium primary school classroom in Finland - some teacher views

Mikaela Björklund

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2013) IEJEE Special Issue Multilingual Policies and Multilingual Education in the Nordic Countries

Multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Swedish-medium primary school classroom in Finland - some teacher views

Mikaela Björklund

Published August 4, 2017 | Pages: 117-136 | Views: 339

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Abstract

Finnish society, including the Swedish-medium school, has traditionally been considered
linguistically and culturally homogeneous. During the last twenty years there has been a distinct
development towards increasingly heterogeneous municipalities and schools, but with great
local variations. The aim of his article is to present some teacher perspectives on this
development towards linguistically and culturally more heterogeneous primary school
classrooms, what kind of new challenges teachers experience and what tools they express the
need for. The data consist of qualitative interviews and focus discussions with teachers and
headmasters in Swedish-medium classrooms and CLIL classrooms, representing both urban
and rural settings. The results show some variation concerning the types of multilingualism
evident in different contexts and the views on multilingualism and multiculturalism. A number of
challenges and needed tools are identified. These call for a professional, facilitating teacher
role, as well as for complex societal networks.

Finnish society, including the Swedish-medium school, has traditionally been considered linguistically and culturally homogeneous. During the last twenty years there has been a distinct development towards increasingly heterogeneous municipalities and schools, but with great local variations. The aim of his article is to present some teacher perspectives on this development towards linguistically and culturally more heterogeneous primary school classrooms, what kind of new challenges teachers experience and what tools they express the need for. The data consist of qualitative interviews and focus discussions with teachers and headmasters in Swedish-medium classrooms and CLIL classrooms, representing both urban and rural settings. The results show some variation concerning the types of multilingualism evident in different contexts and the views on multilingualism and multiculturalism. A number of challenges and needed tools are identified. These call for a professional, facilitating teacher role, as well as for complex societal networks.

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References

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Keywords

Multicultural, Swedish-Medium, Primary school, Linguistic minorities, Multilingual

Affiliations

Mikaela Björklund

Åbo Akademi University, Finland

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How to Cite

Björklund, M. (2017). Multilingualism and multiculturalism in the Swedish-medium primary school classroom in Finland - some teacher views. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 6(1), 117–136. Retrieved from https://iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/36