Being a Swedish teacher in practice: analysing migrant teachers’ interactions and negotiation of national values

ABSTRACT

National values or imagined communities are often reflected in a country’s educational system. In this paper, a teaching course for migrant teachers in Sweden is used to reflect on how some of these national values and practices are presented and subsequently negotiated by course leaders and course participants. While measures that emphasise national values are often criticised as assimilationist, building partly on Goffman’s work it is argued that a discussion of national values can also serve to unveil hidden rituals that are otherwise taken for granted, while also pointing both to the potential usefulness and pitfalls of civic education. For example, while course teachers try to avoid presenting the Swedish value system as superior to that of other countries, certain ‘sacred’ national values, such as a commitment to gender equality, are seen as non-negotiable. For participants, their previous teaching identity can be used both as a resource in navigating the course and for work practice. But for some participants, their previous teaching identity is seen as in need of adjustment in order for them to follow Swedish teaching and school ‘rituals’.

KEYWORDS:

• Migrant teachers
• social codes
• rituals
• integration

Introduction

The integration of migrants into nation-states has recently been criticised as normative ‘thinking for the state’, thereby feeding into nationalist policies based on problematic power relations and an outdated vision of modernity (see Favell, 2019, for a summary). However, sociological thinkers such as Durkheim et al. (2008) assume that a degree of social cohesion or ‘integration’ is essential for forming a certain social order and for binding individuals together. Moreover, social interaction between individuals presupposes a certain common ground and a joint understanding of shared values and appropriate (situational) behaviour (Goffman, 1986).

National values have become a contested concept, both politically and academically. This article contributes to these debates by arguing that the dismissal of civic education as solely an exercise in nationalism ignores the sociological understanding of how individuals use the ‘tools’ of cultural understanding for navigating a society, particularly when entering a new context.

National norms and values can be seen and understood as functioning in various ways. As earlier theorists have pointed out, ‘imagined’ values have been important for creating a shared sense of belonging and nationhood (Anderson, 2006; Smith, 2003). While the ‘national’ element in many Western countries more often can be seen as a general adherence to certain liberal, humanistic values – such as freedom of speech, equality and tolerance – the suggested ‘universalism’ of these values cannot be perceived as given. Rather, the assumed universality of these values makes civic education initiatives both more complex and potentially more useful for understanding the cultural assumptions of a specific local context.

Theoretically, there are different ways to understand the functioning of ‘national’ norms and values. In recent discussions, authors such as Joppke (2004), Goodman (2010) and Mouritsen et al. (2019) have recognised the introduction of civic education directed at migrants in European countries as a way to present non-negotiable values that often serve as the ‘othering’ of groups, such as Muslims. These initiatives are seen as emphasising assimilation over multiculturalism (Vertovec, 2010) through highlighting national belonging and norms that need to be enforced through sanctions relating to citizenship requirements, while in practice not achieving increased employment or political participation (Goodman & Wright, 2015; Simonsen, 2017). Moreover, the adoption of civic education elements in national school settings have been discerned as reflecting European political leanings towards increased nationalism (Halikiopoulou & Vlandas, 2019). In contrast, following authors such as Durkheim et al. (2008), shared norms and values can instead be regarded as a basis for mutual understanding and social cohesion. In a more interactionist approach, the negotiation of different social values can be seen as a way for individuals to continuously make sense of social situations and reject or adjust to societýs moral values (Goffman, 1991).

The qualitative analysis of this paper takes the ideas of Goffman as a way to analyse the usefulness of examining national values in practice, that is, in the specific setting of a classroom. It contributes to the debates on national values by arguing that, rather than serving as simply an exercise in nationalism, civic education initiatives have the potential to be useful for individuals – if the values are used to show participants the cultural tools of ‘what is going on’ in a specific national context. At the same time, civic education initiatives also harbour potential dilemmas and ambiguities that need to be discussed and accounted for.

While national societies contain many different social groups that can be viewed as ‘established’ or ‘outsiders’ (cf. Elias & Scotson, 1994), entering a new national context can lead to different forms of adjustment and the revelation of otherwise taken-for-granted social relations (Ryan, 2010). This paper deals with how participants and teachers at a university course for migrants with a teaching background understand and interpret the social codes associated with a certain national teaching system.

The article is guided by the following research questions:

How are national norms regarding the educational system and being a teacher in Sweden presented, discussed and negotiated?

What do such practices tell us about the functioning of national norms in the Swedish educational system?

In what ways, if at all, are such practices useful for the integration of migrants?

The national school system can be seen as particularly relevant for exploring cultural values and norms due to the role of teachers in socialising students, based not only on education but also on the values supposedly transferred through education. Here, the teacher’s competence lies not exclusively in their professional background. It also lies in their accepting of the prescriptions of the national curriculum and legal obligations, or at least gaining knowledge of the legal and professional national requirements for teachers.

The emphasis on the cultural specificities of the nation involves both the acceptance of a particular set of values and a supposed commitment to adopt or accept these values in order to transmit this value system to children or youth through their schooling. The role of migrant teachers in conforming to these values in order to contribute to this transmission is of particular interest to study in terms of how the understanding of a certain national educational system is portrayed and reflected upon. In this context, civic education courses may be seen as an introduction to a particular national society, whereas in the teacher training course a stronger commitment to accept and internalise these values may be expected by course leaders. As noted above, the concept of integration has been regarded as problematic by scholars (Favell, 2019). However, other researchers have formulated the concepts to encompass both the role of the receiving society and of migrants. One such definition is provided by Penninx (2019), who sees integration as ‘the process of becoming an accepted part of society’. This definition incorporates not only a legal and socio-economic definition but also a cultural dimension. This definition is thus useful for analysing the potential value of civic education courses.

Fast track course for migrant teachers

The teaching introduction course¹ created for newly arrived migrants with a teaching background that is being studied in this article was part of a labour market measure labelled ‘fast tracks’ introduced in Sweden in 2015 following large migration from Syria. In Sweden, two-year introduction programmes for newly arrived migrants had since 2010 been coordinated by the Swedish Public Employment Service and were similar to other European integration measures, focusing on language learning, activation measures such as work placements and labour market education (Ennerberg, 2017). The aim of the fast tracks was to provide more targeted measures directed towards labour market areas in need of labour power, such as teaching.

The teaching profession in Sweden has been challenged in a number of different ways over the last decades, with the current shortage of teachers projected to increase over the coming years. Low salaries in comparison to other OECD countries, a high administrative burden, and a growing gap between school performance in different socio-economic groups have been seen to impede teacher recruitment (OECD, 2019). The fast track is one of many measures trying to facilitate the recruitment of teachers to schools in other ways than through higher education teaching programmes. Upon completion of their education, teachers in Sweden apply for their teaching certificate. Possession of such a teaching certificate is a formal requirement for permanent employment as a teacher – a requirement which is intended to restrict the permanent employment of unqualified teachers and facilitate higher salaries for qualified teachers. In practice, however, the shortage of qualified teachers entails that many schools have to rely on unqualified teachers (without a formal teaching degree) to fill certain teaching positions.

While the fast track gives an introduction to the Swedish school system, it does not lead to the participants gaining a teaching certificate. In order to validate their former education and experience, they are instead required to first complete Swedish studies equivalent to language level C2 and have their individual studies evaluated by the Swedish Council for Higher Education.² Here, the individual teaching certificate is validated through a comparison with a Swedish teaching degree, where similar courses should be included in the validation process. Complementary studies can be completed within a specially designed Swedish university programme³ aimed at all teachers with a degree from abroad and consisting of a 15 ECTS course module introducing Swedish schools, which is similar to the fast track course.

Civic education and teaching of fundamental values

Individuals who are forced to migrate face not only entering a new society but also having to adjust in many ways, for example entering a new labour market. Even migrants with a professional background that can be utilised in the new national labour market face challenges when re-establishing their previous work status in terms of language training, validation of skills and certificates, and labour market discrimination (Yakushko et al., 2008). Individuals can also lack information about the local labour market and local job requirements. Introduction programmes for migrants, including different active labour market policies to tackle these issues, have been introduced in many European countries (Butschek & Walter, 2014). Apart from labour market measures, migrants from certain backgrounds are also often required to take part in civic orientation or civic education programmes to acquaint them with certain core values and knowledge about society (Goodman, 2010). When entering the labour market, certain adaption to manage new professional routines may be necessary even for individuals entering similar professional work as in their former home countries. In this article, the focus is on Arabic-speaking teachers intending to enter the Swedish teaching profession. Although they belong to a skilled professional group, they are, nonetheless, required to re-validate their previous education. Moreover, in this particular labour market measure, they are also required to partake in an educational course on Swedish values and history, thereby mixing elements of civic education and regular teaching training.

As noted above, civic education courses for migrants have been problematised in recent years for their emphasis on nationalism that confuses more general liberal values such as liberty and equality with an emphasis on national belonging and culture (Joppke, 2004; Mouritsen et al., 2019). Migrants’ own experiences can also be seen as de-valued, and certain national norms presented as unproblematic may instead serve to strengthen differences (Abdulla, 2017).

Compared to general civic education programmes, courses directed towards migrant teachers that emphasise national values and curriculum can be seen as particularly interesting, due to the history of the importance of national education systems in promoting certain ideals and values through their education of future citizens. The reproduction of a common national history and a model of citizenship that emphasise certain traits as valuable has been historically important for the building of ‘imagined communities’ and nationhood (Anderson, 2006). A national culture built on certain myths, memories and symbols can, on the one hand, be used by different far-right or ethnic nationalist groups to argue for exclusion and xenophobia. On the other hand, these symbols have also been important for providing a certain level of social cohesion (Smith, 2003).

Since 2014, schools in the UK are to promote ‘Fundamental British Values’, while Citizenship has been a curriculum subject since 2000 (Starkey, 2018). At the same time, the effects of global migration include increased diversity in national school populations. Within the citizenship curriculum ambitions, there seems to be a tension between, on the one hand, preparing students for ‘global citizenship’ – which also has the potential to provide students with a more critical approach leading to a reflection of ethics and power inequalities (Bamber et al., 2018) – and, on the other hand, emphasising a stronger national identity (Starkey, 2018).

In a recent study, Panjwani (2016) found that Muslim teachers did not object to teaching these Fundamental British Values to students as they were seen as overlapping with ideals important in Islam. However, teaching the values in practice was regarded by some teachers as problematic due to the, for example, perceived arbitrariness of which values were included as important. In a study of student teachers, Sant and Hanley (2018) found that students’ different perceptions of Britishness influenced their ways of teaching citizenship, where some chose to promote a certain view of the topic, whereas others problematised the notion of Britishness. The introduction to the Swedish school system seems a particularly useful case in terms of discussing integration of migrants in Sweden. As Fernandez and Jensen (2017) have shown, the Swedish approach to civic education has, rather than being pronounced at targeting migrants in relation to entry and residency requirements, been adapted into the Swedish school system. Here, Western values of multiculturalism and tolerance are emphasised as crucial citizenship values, encompassing what Fernandez (2019) has labelled ‘thin citizenship’.

Interactions and rituals

The topics above can be understood by using the concepts of interactions and rituals. Everyday interactions between individuals often follow certain pre-determined rules of behaviour that are learnt since childhood through a socialisation process. Rules of ‘normal behaviour’ for a certain society or group are, as a result of this process, often taken for granted; and in our daily life, most of our actions are carried out ‘unthinkingly’ (Goffman, 1972, p. 49). At certain times, however, the normality of these actions can be revealed and be called into question. While individuals attempt to carry out their ‘performance’ through a range of techniques of impression management, certain ruptures can call into question both the performance and the rules.

The social interaction of individuals can be seen as reliant on a pre-existing framework. In this way, people’s actions are usually interpreted in relation to the expectations that come with a certain role or status (Goffman, 2011). The expectations of others can lead to a sense of ‘role play’, where individuals take on a role that, to a greater or lesser extent, chimes with the individual’s own desires and intentions (Sluss et al., 2011). The compliance, or in some cases strategic actions to challenge the social order, thus requires a knowledge of the social order or the ‘generalised other’ (Mead, 2000). As Goffman shows in relation to asylums, different institutions have various norms and rules that structure interactions and reaffirm certain moral values (Goffman, 1991). Moreover, in more general, everyday situations, individuals often follow certain ‘rules of conduct’ interpreted either as ‘obligations’ or as ‘expectations’ to avoid social sanctions from other group members. While these rules are often followed unthinkingly, their prevalence also leads to mostly patterned and predictable behaviour (Goffman, 1972). In this sense, the rules of conduct are typically simply assumed, and it is the deviation from the rules that often reveals the rules themselves.

While Goffman’s concept of stigma has been used to analyse othering of different ethnic groups (Mobasher, 2006), many of his other concepts have been under-used in relation to the integration of migrants. However, as Ryan (2010) notes, many of Goffman’s ideas can be useful for analysing migrants’ adjustment into a new normality, in a society where certain ideals and behaviours are similar, but where other aspects are different from their previous experiences. This does not imply that ethnic identities should be seen as set in stone or inherently different (Anderson, 2006). The fluidity and interdependence of ‘ethnicities’ should, however, not obscure the fact that ‘imagined communities’ have played, and continue to play, an important part in different societies (Smith, 2003). While negative aspects of nationalism should be challenged, it remains important to see how the ideas are represented and understood in practice. The presentation of a certain national school curriculum and of educational practices can thus reveal some of these ‘unwritten’ codes and rules, as well as shedding light on how individual migrants negotiate and reflect upon these potentially new forms of expected behaviour. Here, following Ryan’s work, Goffman’s concept of ‘adjustment’ can be useful as it can both reflect a certain continuity with past norms and behaviour and the ways individuals are required to, or indeed struggle to, adapt to a new situation. Participating in the ‘rituals’ of a particular setting can also be seen as a way to attempt to incorporate the social norms and expectation (Collins, 2004). Additionally, individuals tend to make strategic decisions in terms of adapting their behaviour to different settings in order to adhere to the particular social norms and values of social situations (Goffman, 1990). As Goffman notes, in any situation individuals are faced with the question ‘What is it that’s going on in here?’ (1986, p. 8). The teaching course in this paper can be seen as an example of where an exploration of what is actually going on in the context of Swedish schools is presented to and discussed by teachers and course participants in a particularly explicit manner – revealing in a sense how we can understand the organisation of social life in a particular setting. Moreover, the course can be regarded as an attempt to reveal the ‘rules of conduct’, which at other times are taken for granted.

In this study, Goffman’s work is used as a theoretical framework to analyse how certain nationally coded cultural norms are expressed and negotiated in a teacher training course for migrant teachers.

Materials and methods

The empirical data this study is based on consists of qualitative interviews and classroom observations following a cohort of students over their 26-week fast track course to teaching in Sweden. Observations, or ‘shadowing’, were mainly conducted in the classroom of the educational institute where the theoretical parts of the course were taught. This was done to gain information about the teaching and the interactions in the specific organisational setting of the course (Czarniawska, 2007). In the initial period, notes were taken more extensively than in the later period. Later in the process, I participated more through informal discussions with the participants in class and at group lunches. In this later period, 6 semi-structured interviews were conducted with university teachers and programme coordinators on the course. For course participants, 4 group interviews and 12 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted, with a total of 24 participants. Moreover, informal interviews were conducted with both university teachers and participants throughout the course period. Written consent to participate in the study was collected by university teachers and course participants.⁴ Due to the structure of the course, both Arabic and Swedish were used as languages of instruction. The level of Swedish for some participants was very basic, as they had recently arrived in the country. For others, the level was near fluency. This led to certain challenges during the data collection period as the researcher was unfortunately unable to communicate in Arabic. Consequently, certain interviews were held through a certified interpreter. Other informal interviews were also made with a co-student as interpreter. During the university teaching course, some of the lectures were held only in Swedish, but others were held both in Arabic and in Swedish. For example, power-point slides would be written in Swedish, but the lecturer would explain the content in Arabic, thereby allowing the researcher to follow the content of the lecture. Often, however, lectures were also used for initiating discussions around certain issues or served as a basis for further group or individual work. In these instances, key informants with Swedish language skills would volunteer to translate the discussions. Occasionally, university lecturers would also translate key issues that were seen as of particular importance, turning directly to me to ensure that I had understood the material. The data is thus limited in this sense as it is often filtered through certain translations and skewed towards the participants with more advanced language skills, who may also have different experiences in comparison to those participants with a lower level of Swedish skills. The use of an interpreter can result in information being filtered through, for example, the interpreter’s understanding of the topic (Bergen, 2018). Nonetheless the risk of a filtered understanding has however been reduced by following the group for a longer period of time and speaking to several participants repeatedly.

The interviews were transcribed verbatim in English and/or Swedish as appropriate, but Arabic phrases were left out and only marked in brackets, for example ‘[informant speaks in Arabic]’. The observations were noted using pen and paper during the lessons, and subsequently written in a separate word processor document. An alternative observation method might have been to use video recordings to supplement the data collection. This would have facilitated a closer study of the interaction in the classroom (Knoblauch et al., 2018). However, the potential disturbance of using a camera in terms of making participants feel uncomfortable with partaking in discussions and the potential sensitivity of subjects being discussed in the classroom led to the decision to focus on traditional field notes. The observations and interview transcripts were then coded in Nvivo 12.

The data analysis was conducted in an abductive manner, where the analysis moved between empirical data and theoretical insights (Tavory & Timmermans, 2014). An initial thematic analysis was developed by summarising the themes in the material. In a second step, moving back and forth between the data and the theory, the themes were re-conceptualised and considered in relation to Goffman’s work.

Results

In this section I present the results according to the themes of fundamental values, gender and sexuality, and teaching practices.

Fundamental values

In comparison to the obligatory civic education for newly arrived migrants in many other European countries (Goodman, 2010), the Swedish teaching fast track course is more specific because it takes the teaching profession and the national school system as its starting point. Rather than pointing to more generalised value systems, or ‘leitkultur’, (Mouritsen et al., 2019), the course is also grounded in national legislation and steering documents relating to education. This documentation can be interpreted as serving as a basis for the course and how it has been developed.

The teaching course was procured by the Swedish Public Employment Service, with the procurement agreement specifying certain areas that should be covered through the course. The course consisted of three different modules: 1) History, organisation and values in the Swedish school system, 2) Grades and evaluation, and 3) Social relations and conflict management. Goals for the course include, for example, that the student should be able to describe the historical development of the Swedish school system and teaching profession, and that the student should be able to describe and discuss the concept of value system related to Swedish schools and pre-schools.

During the first course, the university teachers used the Swedish national school legislation as a starting point for some lectures and discussions. For example, the following two passages were used in the classroom to emphasise the value system guiding Swedish education (Skollagen, 2010):

The education in the school system aims to ensure that children and students acquire and develop knowledge and values. It will promote the development and learning of all children and pupils, as well as a lifelong desire to learn. The education should also convey and anchor respect for human rights and the fundamental democratic values on which Swedish society rests. (Paragraph 4, [my translation])

Education is to be designed in accordance with fundamental democratic values and human rights, such as the inviolability of human life, the freedom and integrity of the individual, the equal value of all people, and equality and solidarity between people. (Paragraph 5, [my translation])

These two passages can serve to exemplify the Western liberal values used to emphasise a certain common historical legacy. The legal document brings up democracy both in relation to content and to form, and it emphasises not only 1) that democratic values are to be transferred to students through the process of education, but also 2) that the education should itself be shaped in democratic ways.

When contrasting civic education with teacher training, we may therefore be able to predict a certain difference in terms of what is expected by participants. While civic education courses can provide information concerning which values may be deemed acceptable in relation to a certain (democratic/Western) ideal, the demands of teachers, according to the cited school legislation, is that democratic values are to be enacted through teaching practices. In short, we can expect a discussion not only of what but also of how. These themes were also explicitly used to start these discussions in the classroom.

One of the course coordinators reflects on the essence of teacher training for migrants in making certain practices more explicit in the following way:

There’s not really anything in the course that we don’t include in all teacher education. It’s just that [teacher] students who have been pupils in a Swedish school know a lot about our system because they have experienced it. And maybe that has to be put on the table for this group, even though it’s the same information. Everyone’s going to work in Swedish schools, so everyone needs a basic kit or something. So, there’s no big difference really … . (Program coordinator)

That the same type of material and normative guidance is used for regular teaching education can here be seen as a way to legitimise the content of the course. As such, it is argued it is not used to portray a different normative standpoint only particular to migrants. On the other hand, that the information is presented in a different way can be regarded as an acknowledgement that some of these norms are made more explicit in the introductory course than for regular teacher students – that is, teacher students who are assumed to know the norms implicitly through their previous participation in schools.

For some students during the course, the emphasis on democracy and human rights was interpreted as a sense of ‘othering’:

Some of us, we have worked in many places and countries, in international organisations, and so on. This isn’t new to us. The only thing that is new to us is the language, but otherwise we just sit there and listen. But they speak to us as if we know nothing. (male participant 2)

The quote by this participant emphasises the problematic aspects of teaching some form of cultural understanding. Focusing on these values in relation to the Swedish school system assumes a central difference that does not, at least for all participants, exist in reality. When they also see these values as central to teaching, teaching then implies a certain difference – a difference that is interpreted as derogatory and insensitive to the rich experience the participants bring to the course.

Other participants with similar international experience use these skills to reflect on the Swedish system more critically:

I have worked internationally, so many of these things weren’t new to me. Many things are similar, but I prefer the other [third country] system to the Swedish one. (female participant 4)

The international experience of these participants can be understood as essential in taking a more critical outsider perspective, rather than accepting the Swedish system as superior or struggling to understand some of the experienced differences.

At the same time, some of the teachers point out that bringing up the discussion of values is not unproblematic:

There’s a lot of talk about work with fundamental values. But then sometimes I think that, regarding these fundamental values, it’s almost as if we’re the only ones with fundamental values, and now we are going to teach it to others. And that’s not the case. Rather, everyone has fundamental values. And that’s why the discussions should end up there, so that we don’t end up [saying] ‘Now you’re going to learn about Swedish fundamental values.’ I’m not really sure what they consist of. (University teacher 1)

This quote can be interpreted as an example of the difficulty of teaching these courses. On the one hand, a certain national value codex is presented, while, on the other hand, the teaching practices avoid the ‘othering’ of participants or a devaluation of the participants’ own experiences and views. The question of how to balance a more inclusive teaching view without compromising certain values is difficult; this can be seen more clearly in relation to certain themes such as gender.

Gender and sexuality

One of the questions relating to the course was gender – a topic that was specified as important in documents from the Public Employment Service agreement regulating the course. The focus on gender and equality between men and women has been highlighted as particularly prominent in Swedish political discourse (Leira, 2002). Moreover, it is included in the school curriculum for primary and secondary schools:

The school should actively and consciously promote students’ equal rights and opportunities, regardless of gender. The school also has a responsibility to counter gender patterns that limit students’ learning, choices and development. How the school organizes the education, how the students are met, and what demands and expectations are placed on them helps to shape their perceptions of what constitutes female and male. The school should therefore organize the education so that the students meet and work together. Further, it should try to develop their ability and their interests, with the same opportunities and on equal terms regardless of gender. (Skolverket, 2019, p. 7 [my translation]).

This and other quotes were used by some of the teachers to frame the discussion of how gender relations are managed in Swedish schools. The work done on this topic included, for example, a film clip of a classroom setting where a boy wanted to play the part of a princess in a school play, but with the teacher arguing that this role should be played by a girl. Following the film clip, the class was able to discuss different aspects and alternative strategies the teacher could have used. For some participants, emphasising the difference between boys and girls was seen as important. For example, they argued that the boy should be socialised into these norms in order to know what is seen as appropriate gendered behaviour. Others saw this as a matter of religion, where Islam would not allow for boys and girls to be able to behave in the same way.

Here, the university teacher on the course entered the discussion and reminded the students of the Swedish national legislation and the emphasis on gender equality and human rights: ‘We can think what we want; but if you want to work in a [Swedish] school, this is the law.’

The exchange above can be seen as an example of how certain fundamental values are seen as non-negotiable for the group of university teachers. Compared to the quotes above, where one university teacher argues for a more fluid view of fundamental values, the issue of gender and/or religion was seen from the university teachers’ perspective as something that both needed to be presented in a balanced way and underlined as important.

These discussions also reveal important differences between participants in the group. Many of the women I interviewed appreciated the ideas raised about gender equality:

They’re good ideas, and they’re new ideas for us. In Syria, men and women are not equal or have equal rights; women are dependent on men. Here, in Sweden there’s a difference. I think the reason is economics. Women are independent, they have an independence materially when they’re 18. So, there is a difference. But it’s a good idea. (female participant 3)

While gender equality in terms of legal status and economics were easy topics to agree upon, certain aspects, such as homosexuality, were seen as more difficult to embrace, particularly in terms of how to manage these issues in practice:

Yes, I wanted to talk about gender; it was great. We can talk about it here in Sweden; but in my home country, we couldn’t talk about it, we’re afraid to … . Also, here in Sweden, there’s homosexuals, bisexuals. And we need to respect everything. We need to know … Maybe I’m a teacher and there’s another teacher in the school who’s a homosexual. We have to respect everything. It’s good that we learnt about it. (female participant 2)

The respondent above considers the actual topic of gender and homosexuality as pure information, that is, new in terms of content, and she requires a new understanding. Beyond this, the information is viewed as important, as it is put into the context of the participant’s future professional work. Beyond the actual knowledge of gender roles that may be introduced in civic education, the connection to the participants’ future work situation, the legal framework and the professional expectations of the teacher role can make the information more relevant. As we will see in the next section, teaching practices and rules of behaviour proved an important part of the teaching course.

Teaching practices

As mentioned in the section on Fundamental values, the Swedish education legislation focuses both on teaching democratic values and on teaching in democratic ways.

Teachers’ work in terms of managing classroom behaviour is regulated through legislation and legal praxis. In recent years, the need to create more order in classrooms has been subject to both political debates and international policy recommendations. In other words, while democratic teaching methods are emphasised, the practical implementation of these norms can be seen as something that needs to be de-coded and interpreted by individual teachers in different contexts.

In the course, some of the university teachers were Arabic-speakers who had themselves earlier migrated to Sweden. In the lectures by these university teachers, participants could speak more freely due to being able to use Arabic. In many cases, individuals also used these opportunities to ask questions about the practices of the Swedish educational system that they had encountered during their work experience or through their children’s schools. Often, these questions were very specific and focused on gaining an understanding of what type of behaviour would be deemed acceptable in different situations.

On one of these occasions, a film was shown discussing the legal rights and mandate of teachers in terms of managing difficult classroom situations. The film was not aimed specifically at migrants, but it posed questions such as whether teachers had the right to physically remove a student from a classroom if the student posed a threat to the other students. The possible ways to manage this situation were widely debated by participants:

Participant 1: What happens in a situation when the teacher needs to intervene?

University teacher 3: Different schools have different rules, and there are also different circumstances. The Child and Student Ombudsman⁵ has said the following (showing PowerPoint slide):

‘School staff have an obligation to maintain order, security and a peaceful working environment in the school; and this must be done without using violence against students … . But sometimes there may be circumstances that justify violence if there is a risk that students may be harmed without an intervention.’

University teacher 3: Intervention, not violence! A child can’t be abused, but teachers can intervene!

University teacher 3: – If a student starts throwing chairs around and I’m the teacher, what do I need to do first?

Many different participants give suggestions: ‘Ask the student why’; ‘Give him a warning.’

University teacher 3: – First thing, open the door for the other students so that they can go out and be safe. Then, I can go back and talk to him calmly, calmly. I can also ask the other adults for help.

Participant 1: Why shouldn’t that student be sent out of the classroom?

University teacher 3: He’s also a student at the school. I need to help him too.

Participant 2: What rights do teachers have?

Participant 2: I’m going to go back to Syria. I don’t want the students to hit me (laughs)

[…]

Participant 3: In Syria, it’s not OK to go to the headmaster. It puts the teacher in a negative light, as if the teacher doesn’t have control.

University teacher 3: Here, it’s not like that; it’s expected. It’s OK. (Field notes)

The participant interpreting the dialogue above for me commented on this exchange afterwards: ‘We have to know this, otherwise we won’t be able to work in Swedish schools. In my country, this would never happen.’

Many of the situations that ‘would never happen’ concerned the relationship between teachers and students, where many participants expressed disappointment that Swedish students lacked a certain respect for the teachers:

I think we need some stronger rules for the children. For example, one of my friends told me of a situation where a student put his feet on the table; and when the teacher told him to take them down, he didn’t answer. The teacher is very upset that the students don’t respect him. How can we teach when we are not respected? The rules in Sweden are not strong enough. I think the rules need to be stronger so that the teachers can teach better. (male participant 5)

Similar discussions were raised during other lectures. They often involved the actual teaching practices, of which many participants felt needed to be re-considered in relation to their practical experiences:

Now, if I want to go to school, I know exactly what happens if they have a meeting about something, if they have problems with students, what they should do. Theoretically, I’m not sure about practically (laughs). But I know the steps that should be taken. (female participant 3)

This quote suggests that the actual knowledge gathered is not enough to be implemented in reality. Though the teaching methods have become clearer, the actual practical response may differ in the classroom. Moreover, the same participant continues to explain how she was able to gain much of the practical information from one of the teachers with a migrant background:

We come from the same culture, the same background. That’s why he says, ‘In this case, don’t do this. I know you will be nervous, and you will be [gestures with hands to emphasise stress or agitation] But you should be calm and talk like this.’ And we’re like, ‘Oh my God, we can’t do that.’ He said, ‘Yeah, yeah, you can do it! If I can do it, you can do it!’ That’s why, because he could understand how the school works in our countries. It’s almost the same system in Syria, Iraq or Palestine. Most of Arab systems have the same system, so that’s why he could understand what we could think if this happens. He would say, ‘No, don’t do that. You don’t have the right to do that. Calm down … [laughs]’. (female participant 3)

These teachers use their own experience to further validate their ideas on the process of acquiring new norms and values. These ‘interaction norms’ are thus something several of the participants could discuss more freely with someone they felt shared an understanding of their process of adapting to a new set of norms and practices.

Discussion

In the previous sections, I have summarised the empirical findings of the paper. These will be further analysed using the analytical conceptual tools described above. As we can see in the first section, the presentation of ‘fundamental values’ can be understood as in line with general civic education policies. The inclusion of this topic is argued for and legitimised with reference to the national curriculum and school legislation, which serve as a basis for understanding the educational system. In this sense, the framework presented in the course can be perceived as an interesting example of acknowledging or making certain aspects of the national curriculum and school system visible, which Swedish teaching students may regard as obvious ‘obligations’ and ‘expectations’ (cf. Goffman, 1972, p. 49). When presenting the national school system as shaped by certain values and in relation to certain aims, different ideals of the Swedish nation are presented and interpreted in a particular way. Through the presentation and teaching, the national school system is portrayed as significant and, in certain ways, different.

However, in different subtle ways the interaction between teachers and participants in the course serves to question and negotiate this underlying framework. We might understand it as a means to spell out clearly the ‘rules of conduct’ in terms of both obligations and expectations. For some university teachers, there is an uneasiness with regards to presenting the fundamental values as, one the one hand, particular to Sweden and, on the other hand, superior. One way of managing this uneasiness is to invite participants to reflect upon their own experiences and to avoid making assumptions about the participants’ previous knowledge. In a sense, this can also be interpreted as being reluctant to make the rules of interaction transparent. In other lectures, teachers with a similar background to the participants, in terms of having moved to Sweden after being educated in an Arabic-speaking country, use a more confrontational or practical strategy, where some commonality in experience is assumed. Here, by taking a similar outsider perspective, the differences can be exaggerated or the Swedish system, to a degree, idealised in order to invite the participants to attain a deeper understanding of the school system. This strategy can be seen as a way to present the ‘codes’ governing conduct, thus affording participants the possibility to follow the ‘ritual order’, and thereby avoid embarrassment, yet display respect and demeanour (Goffman, 1972). These different approaches are interpreted variously by participants on the course. For some, the emphasis on democratic teaching styles and values is interpreted as a sense of othering, where this implies a challenge to their own background and a presumption of differences that may not exist. Others value the possibility to confront what they perceive as fundamentally different teaching strategies as revealing, that is, giving them an insight into a new system. This can be seen as a de-coding of values in practice, where the group collectively share experiences from their work in the field and interpret such experiences with the help of their peers and the university teachers (cf. Goffman, 1986).

In relation to the two themes of gender and teaching practices, some of the contradictions and tensions can be seen more clearly. For example, the importance of accepting certain gender norms to teach in Swedish schools is underlined with respect to the curriculum, but it can also be viewed as one of the core themes where university teachers articulate a fundamental value that is regarded as inflexible for teachers. The theme of gender can be understood as something ‘sacred’ in the Durkheimian way (2008), that is, interpreted as a moral necessity and a guiding point by university teachers. Accepting non-traditional gender norms for pupils and respecting homosexuality were the two main discussion points that engaged participants during the course. Here, some participants also show a certain discrepancy, where they, on the one hand, accept the given norm and the information about legislation and curriculum in these matters, but, on the other hand, may have to square these norms with private beliefs and behaviour. Respecting others of different sexualities is acknowledged as essential for performing a successful teaching role and colleague. However, it may be different to more informal interactions and norms that take place outside the formal workplace (cf. Goffman, 1991). University teachers focusing on the significance of these norms having to be internalised indicate the social importance attached to certain social ideals.

The theme regarding teaching practices can be seen as perhaps even more complex, as this relates to adjusting to a role previously inhabited by participants in their professional roles as teachers. The ‘democratic teaching practices’ as referred to in the curriculum can be understood as related to didactic issues of teaching, such as encouraging group work and maintaining a student-centred perspective. In the discussion of the course, attention often returned to issues of order and respect in the classroom. While the same issues have been debated in the Swedish media, teachers in this group who are used to other classroom practices may present a double challenge. Firstly, the rules protecting students require many participants to adjust their former reactions to unruly student behaviour, as many participants realise that the Swedish legislation imposes stricter rules in terms of teachers’ mandate in the class room. Secondly, certain participants are confronted with experiences from Swedish schools through their work experience, where they have encountered what they consider to be disorderly and poorly functioning classroom environments. In these instances, their own experiences of being able to impose rules that provide a calm learning environment clash with what they interpret to be the normative expectations of Swedish schools. The struggle to internalise this potentially different teaching role thus, in some ways, clashes with their perception of how to teach successfully. The ‘frames’ guiding the school system they met through work experience and in the university classroom clashed somewhat with the framing of how they interpreted teaching practices.

Though other participants accept and appreciate the underlying visions of what they perceive to be the Swedish teaching model, they still emphasise the difficulties they discern when incorporating this behaviour in practice. In one sense then, the participants were trying to learn and incorporate the ‘rituals’ they were expected to partake in in order to fully participate in the situation (cf. Collins, 2004). Incorporating these rituals can be seen as a way for individuals to adjust to new norms (cf Ryan, 2010) while still using their previous professional knowledge as teachers. For some, this means trying to take on a lower-level role. While for others, it entails striving to get used to not only the norms but also the practical realities of working as a teacher, and merging the different ideals and practices. Here, the past experiences of teaching can also be used as a resource to bridge the gap between the two systems, where some participants emphasise the sense of comfort they take in terms of feeling at home in the school environment and in their teaching capacity. Despite efforts to find a ‘Swedish’ teaching identity, the teaching identity can also be viewed as a particular way to interpret and gain an insight into Swedish society and values that are more grounded in practical concerns and matters than the more general aims of the civic education courses.

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper has been to examine how national norms regarding the education system are presented and negotiated, as well as analysing the functioning of national norms in the Swedish education system and their potential usefulness for the integration of migrants.

Similar to the material covered in civic education courses for migrants, or training focused on ‘fundamental values’, the values presented can be seen on a surface level as typical, that is, containing norms that can be seen as Western or in line with universal human rights. At a deeper level, however, some of these principles can be understood as more contestable, when discussed with regards to being applied in the education system. First, the theme of gender and sexuality was addressed as controversial by both participants and teachers. In other questions, some of the university teachers considered the emphasis on Swedish values as more flexible and relativist. In contrast, the theme of gender was regarded as a non-negotiable and ‘fundamental’ value that participants were expected to follow.

Another topic discussed during the course was the ‘democratic teaching practices’ in the Swedish educational system. The social codes and norms involved in this way of teaching present certain challenges for some of the participants. Moreover, these ideas also allow both university teachers and participants to engage more critically in a discussion of teaching ideals. Compared with the discussions on gender and sexuality, here the participants are able to use their previous teaching identity to challenge some of the teaching practices they experience in the Swedish context. Moreover, the classroom discussions allow for very practical debate of what these ideas are taken to mean in practice – posing what are perceived as very real challenges for adjustment. In this sense, the classroom discussions can be interpreted as an opportunity to consider how national and social codes are de-coded and made meaningful. In this sense, the discussion of what forms the central aspects of an education system can be understood as revealing what is sacred for a group. This kind of training course thus reveals certain aspects of the sacred – but it also shows that the ‘newcomers’ ask for cues to access this sacred aspect. In line with Goffman, this implies a need from participants to get the answer to the question ‘What is it that’s going on here?’ in a fundamental way. Moreover, it implies a desire to be able to take part in the rituals and show appropriate respect (cf. Collins, 2004). At the same time, a different type of sacredness can be seen in part of the school/education, one enabling a ‘continuity of the self’ in terms of how the ability to teach can be translated and transferred into a new setting as a form or comfort in the ritual order.

By using the insights of Goffman, this article has contributed to theoretical debates by showing that civic education cannot solely be understood as highlighting nationalist ideas and emphasising differences or otherness. Instead, aspects of civic education can be perceived as being useful for providing migrants with certain cues of cultural assumptions that can be unpacked, discussed and, to a certain extent, incorporated into personal beliefs and routines. Nevertheless, from a policy perspective, civic education also contains the risk of certain pitfalls and discrepancies that relate to how the topic is covered in teaching. For example, on the one hand, treading carefully among certain sensitive topics in order to avoid conflict can undermine the potential for reflection and discussions. On the other hand, emphasising certain values can be seen by participants as stating the obvious, thus leading instead to a misplaced paternalism that is rejected by the participants. These difficulties of teaching are also linked to the plurality of student responses, which range from the adoption of values to finding practical use in the material, and to critical responses in terms of how certain practices are seen as unreasonable in the classroom setting. The complexity in how to teach civic education – while balancing both different cultural values and respect for individuals’ previous knowledge – serves to show that ‘national norms’ remain important in the Swedish education setting.

The imagined community of the nation (Anderson, 2006) can, in a sense, be revealed through the discussions of certain ‘sacred’ or symbolic objects within the education system, where the importance of these rituals is confirmed (Durkheim et al., 2008). While these practices can be seen as either exclusionary or potentially inviting, confronting and negotiating the values in practice becomes a way to understand how one is to navigate a new society professionally.

Disclosure statement.⁶

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express a sincere gratitude to all the informants who have shared their knowledge and time throughout the field work. Thank you also to the anonymous reviewers for their invaluable and very constructive comments that really helped me to improve and clarify the text. Many thanks also to Damian Finnegan for proofreading and language editing and to Janna Lundberg for helpful discussions and comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Hereafter referred to as ‘fast track course’; although as mentioned in the article, the official course name is somewhat misleading as the course in practice constitutes an introduction to the Swedish school system, rather than a faster route to being a qualified teacher (see also Ennerberg, 2021).

2 UHR.

3 Utländska lärares vidareutbildning (Foreign teachers’ further education).

4 No ethical review was requested at the outset of the project by the university.

5 In Swedish: Barn och elevombudet

6 At the outset of the research project, consultation was made with representatives for data protection at Malmö University and no ethical review was deemed necessary.