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Aktörskap, kompetens och yrkesroller på språkintroduktionsprogrammet

Abstract

This article focuses on the Language Introduction Programme (LIP) in Sweden, a programme for recently arrived students between 16 and 19 years who need to learn Swedish and to complement earlier studies to fulfil requirements for National Programmes at Upper Secondary School. The aim of the article is to generate knowledge about educational policy regarding equivalent education at LIP by directing focus towards agency, competence and professional roles of principals and subject teachers. Layers of official policy documents on a national level regarding LIP and documents regulating  the education of teachers and principals have been analysed through a content analysis. Apart from official documents on national level, course plans and programme plans for education for principals and for subject teachers at four universities in Sweden are analysed.

Through the analysis important contradictions appear between demands on national level and the competence expressed in the education for subject teachers and principals. One contradiction appears between the explicit responsibility ascribed principals on national level regarding specific competence among the staff, and the fact that this competence is only made visible in the education of the teachers in Swedish as a second language (L2-teachers). Another contradiction appears between the focus on national level of collaboration between staff, such as L2-teachers and subject teachers, and between teachers and study assistants in the mother tongue, while this is not mentioned at all in documents from education of teachers and principals. While L2-teachers are trained in second language development in subject teaching they do not have competence in the subject specific language of various school subjects. Subject teachers, on the other hand, are not trained to focus on language issues in their subjects and not in learning conditions for L2-students. Thus, the continuity between stipulations for collaboration between L2-teachers and other subject teachers is low. At the same time there is a discontinuity between stipulations regarding teacher competence on the national level regarding LIP and the education for subject teachers as well as for principals.

The lack of competence among teachers generally regarding conditions for learning among L2-students and about teaching approaches that promote language development in school subjects has been addressed previously in research and reports. The Swedish National School Agency (Skolverket) has launched large efforts through in-service training through various courses and training programmes. These are, however, not directly related to LIP, for example as a competence requirement for teachers or principals. Thus, there is an ambivalence between on the one hand the coherence between national documents and research on conditions for L2-students’ learning, and on the other hand educational demands on principals and teachers in LIP. The lacking coherence and the discontinuities revealed here may severely affect the education quality for the students and may explain several of the problems that have been shown through research and reports regarding LIP. The main conclusion is that taking the large number of students who are recently arrived and who have Swedish as an L2 into account, issues on multilingualism in education should be included in all teachers’ education and regarding LIP such competence should be a requirement among teachers and principals.