To Örebro University

Governments have long focused on supporting parents through social services and schools as key platforms for promoting health and addressing educational and societal issues. However, while civil servants believe schools underestimate their capacity to support parents, educators argue that parenting support is not part of the curriculum. In Sweden, teachers are required to inform parents about their children's development, rather than offer parenting support services. Research shows, however, that parental involvement increases children's success in school. Against this background, the intervention of a family support 101 worker (FSW) is a novel educational move. Two questions are addressed, “How does the FSW promote school-home relationships?” and “What effect does this work have on pupils’ prerequisites to succeed in school?”.  Georg Simmel describes trust as "a hypothesis certain enough to serve as a basis for practical conduct," emphasizing that it can bridge the gap between the known and unknown. He introduces the triad, involving three elements, as “a social framework that transcends both members of the dyad” which can enhance relationships by allowing a third party to mediate.  The project is a research collaboration between academics and school staff. Data collection methods include surveys for parents and teachers, reflective protocols for teachers, interviews with school leader and FSW as well as parent and teacher group interviews. This approach allows each stage’s results to inform the next, creating a progressive contextual framework for content analysis. Expected outcomes include; A strong statement from school personnel and parents about the value of school-based FSWs in promoting student success; Results that can be adopted by other schools, encouraging leadership to invest in family-school partnerships through FSWs; A meaningful contribution to international research on school-based parenting support, highlighting the role of family support workers in enhancing family life and child learning and development.

My input is an attempt to offer some pedagogical responses to the questions we received. The first two questions are answered withr eference to research conducted with teachers and multilingual assistants in 'Swedish for migrants' courses run by the municipality. The context is not higher education but is adult education and illustrates plurilingual issues. The final two questions will be answered on the basis of interviews with two doctoral students here at Örebro university whose mother tongue is not Swedish. I have not yet conducted these interviews, but I think that the students should be able to provide insights into the topic in focus.

Jag ska presentera huvuddelarna i en nyare studie som syftar till att utforska användning av vuxna elevers förstaspråk genom språkstödjare och de möjligheterna de skapar för elevers inkludering i sfi studieväg 1. Studiens resultat presenteras som fyra bidrag från språkstödjare som verkar vara avgörande för inkludering av vuxna elever i svenska som andra språkutbildning. 

Dialog möjliggjort av en transspråkande miljö framställer inkludering som interaktionellt utrymme där eleverna kan hitta sina egna vägar till förståelse genom respons.  

Språkstödjares socioemotionella arbete med elever som inte vågar ta kommunikativa risker i klassrummet visar upp inkludering som en balans mellan undervisningens krav och elevernas psykologiska styrka att bemöta den.

I språkstödjares samverkan kring elevers möjligheter att förankra deras framväxande språkliga kunskap i deras vardag, lyfts inkludering fram som ett pedagogiskt engagemang i att skapa meningsfullt och värdefullt undervisningsinnehåll. 

Språkstödjares uppgift att tillgängliggöra lärarens skriftliga återkoppling till eleverna genom deras starkaste språk synliggör inkludering som en kapacitet hos elever att självreglera utvecklingen av sina andra språk genom en metaspråklig medvetenhet.  

This workshop draws on a research project in which bilingual language assistants (BLAs) were employed to provide first language support for adult additional language (AL) learners on the beginner path of a “Swedish for immigrants” programme. In the project, BLAs, without a teaching qualification, were engaged in extending the pedagogical range of the language teachers. What issues does this AL language education raise?

This workshop seeks to engage participants in evaluating the kind of classroom work models the teachers used with BLAs for creating accessible learning environments in which students can develop their AL proficiency. By showing some “initial practice” and “developed practice” clips of BLA-mediated classroom interaction, participants can reflect on some of the pedagogical changes the teachers made and assess the effectiveness of their strategies. Participants are invited to share and discuss their thinking about using students’ L1 in AL teaching-learning, working with BLAs as well as possible ways of working with students’ strong languages without BLAs. 

One of the characteristics of additional language (AL) adult learners is that they have gained various levels of metalinguistic awareness (MLA) from learning their first language (L1) that can be used advantageously to orient to and understand how the new language works. However, a lack of first language literacy and fundamental alphabetic and script differences between their L1 and the AL can limit the usefulness of first language MLA for AL learning. Despite these difficulties, the importance of transferring MLA to AL learning is evidenced by empirical data showing emergent adult bilinguals making use of their metalinguistic knowledge to make sense of AL form and use. Pedagogic space and opportunity to use the students’ strongest languages is an important condition for being able to talk and think about the AL. However metalinguistic tasks need to be complemented by using the AL communicatively for fuller development of the AL language skills. 

One of the characteristics of additional language (AL) adult learners is that they have gained various levels of metalinguistic awareness (MLA) from learning their first language (L1) that can be used advantageously to orient to and understand how the new language works. However, a lack of first language literacy and fundamental alphabetic and script differences between their L1 and the AL can limit the usefulness of first language MLA for AL learning. Despite these difficulties, the importance of transferring MLA to AL learning is evidenced by empirical data showing emergent adult bilinguals making use of their metalinguistic knowledge to make sense of AL form and use. Pedagogic space and opportunity to use the students’ strongest languages is an important condition for being able to talk and think about the AL. However metalinguistic tasks need to be complemented by using the AL communicatively for fuller development of the AL language skills. 

Alla i skolan ska ”samarbeta med elevernas vårdnadshavare” men hur kan skola skapa ett tillitsfullt och motiverande samarbete med vårdnadshavare? Frågan är viktig utifrån forskning som påvisar en stark relation mellan vårdnadshavares engagemang i sina barns skolgång och barnens trygghet, utveckling och prestation i skola. Den närmaste bakgrunden till denna Skolledarnätverksträff utgörs av två skolor som har sett ett stort behov av att tänka utanför ramarna och att stärka samarbetet med vårdnadshavare genom nya samverkansformer som inkluderar vårdnadshavare utifrån deras förutsättningar. Ett samarbete mellan skolorna och Örebro universitet har lett till ett nystartat praktiknära forskningsprojekt som motiveras av ett behov för mer kunskap om hur lärare (skolpersonal?) och vårdnadshavare kan stödja och komplettera varandra – för elevernas bästa. Syftet med projektet är att bidra med kunskap om hur skolornas två modellerna a) familjestödjare och b) nätverk för vårdnadshavare används för att uppfylla skolans uppdrag att genom samarbete med vårdnadshavare skapa gynnsamma förutsättningar för elevens utveckling och lärande i skolan. Projektet syftar också till att undersöka vilka effekter samverkansmodellerna har för skolans och vårdnadshavares förutsättningar att bygga tillitsfulla relationer sinsemellan och hur modellerna kan vidareutvecklas. Dessutom är syftet att sprida forskningsproducerad kunskap till andra skolor. Under träffen ska skolans uppdrag att samarbeta med vårdnadshavare diskuteras utifrån en presentation av projektet.  

Parent Support Advisor: A way of developing partnership between school and home?

Research shows a strong relationship between parental involvement in children’s schooling and their academic achievement (Antony-Newman, 2019). These findings validate the task of the school to cooperate closely with parents. In 2019, a pre-school class to year 9 school appointed a parent support advisor (PSA) for the junior years to strengthen school-family relations and enhance conditions for children to succeed at school. In 2022, two more PSAs were appointed with a focus on years 4-6 and 7-9. A PSA supports an educational partnership between parents and school personnel through building trustful relationships with parents, boosting their confidence to manage challenges and guiding them towards other social service agencies if needed (Percy-Smith, 2011). 

This project’s goal is to investigate the role and effect of PSAs as a way of developing partnership between school and home. The aim is to generate knowledge about how schools can work successfully with parents for children’s best. How can parents’ potential to support their children’s learning processes, create pedagogically congruent environments at home and contribute to school teaching contexts be realized? How can a PSAs role be developed? 

The project is framed theoretically by the concepts of situated learning and legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Learning as situated casts learning as an integral aspect of participation in a social practice and foregrounds everyday events as rich sources of insight. Parents and teachers count as two legitimate participants in children’s education albeit with different perspectives, funds of knowledge and practices. Despite the rewards of participation, parents struggle with low self-efficacy regarding their parenting and often do not feel qualified to engage in their children’s schooling. 

In line with action research, this project’s focus emanates from a school’s developmental needs and builds on cooperation between university researchers and school practitioners. Methods of investigation include questionnaires, interviews, focus groups and workshops. 

A pilot study suggests that PSAs can extend the pedagogical reach of teachers (clarifying homework, encouraging parents to boost literacy at home) and contribute with their own qualities (empowering parents, liaising with other support agencies/services). Teachers disclosed that a PSA can go the extra mile with parents in ways teachers do not have the time to but that there is a risk that teachers leave their work with parents to the PSA. 

(Pre) schools increasingly digitalize their communication with parents. However, this practice can include some parents and exclude others depending on their life contexts and competence. While PSAs can challenge teachers to meet parents on their own communicative terms, they also provide digital support in terms of hands-on coaching. Since this task is geared to creating conditions for parental engagement in their children’s schooling, it is a critical dimension of a PSA’s role. 

References

Antony-Newman, Max (2019). “Parental involvement of immigrant parents: a meta- synthesis”. Educational Review, 71(3), 362-381.

Lave. Jean & Wenger, Etienne (1991). Situated learning. Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.

Percy-Smith, Barry (2011). Parent Support Advisors: A key link in integrated Child and Family Services. Konferenspaper presenterad vid UcLan.

The aim of this study is to evaluate and explore the deployment of adult migrants’ first languages (L1s) by multilingual assistants (MAs) in additional language (AL) learning for the opportunities they afford to include students. The context is Sweden’s Swedish for Immigrants programme, in which a teacher team appointed MAs to support their students’ efforts to learn Swedish. In this context, MAs aremultilingual school personnel employed to support the students in their Swedish language development by, among other means, using the students’ L1s. The ensuing research study set out to investigate and develop MA and teacher roles in promoting Swedish language development through L1 use. The quest to include the students permeated this investigation. Action research provided a framework for the teachers to study their classroom interaction with MAs as a basis for professional development. Group interviews complemented video data. Different dimensions of inclusion and Bakhtin’s thinking about other‐orientedness offer theoretical support. The results are presented as four cardinal contributions made by MAs with significant potential to include adult migrants in AL education. The teachers’ conception of dialogic activity specifies inclusion as a transsubjective enterprise that, through instructional restraint and translingual space, allows students to explore language and achieve progressively coherent responsive understanding. The MAs’ socioemotional work of reassuring, affirming, and imparting faith in student capabilities to communicate in and learn Swedish posits inclusion as an equilibrium between the demands of instructional situations and the psychological fortitude to manage them. MAs key role in contextualizing content illustrates the way inclusion can be realized by transferring language form and content to the students’ personal experiences, extensive knowledge, and everyday communicative realities. The teacher’s plan to entrust the MAs with the task of making their formative feedback accessible to students projects inclusion as increasing students’ capacity to regulate their AL learning themselves.

This presentation casts and exemplifies action research (Stenhouse, 1975) as a viable way of constructing credible knowledge about naturally occurring translanguaging for promoting professional understanding and development. The action research (AR) context is Swedish as a second language learning in which a teacher team decided to employ multilingual language assistants (MLAs) in their beginner courses to make possible the pedagogical use of the students’ first languages. The project design comprised four AR phases each with their own opportunities and challenges. 

Orienting to the research foci. Relevant AR questions emanate from the challenges of practitioners tempered, as this study shows, by research perspectives. For example, an initial focus on MLA’s work and role expanded to incorporate an orientation to first language support for optimizing second language learning.  

Mapping insider views of current practice. It is frequently difficult for outsiders to gain insider views. A hallmark of AR is to mobilize practitioners in investigating their own professional performances. In this study, teachers agreed to video film their classroom interaction with MLAs to make visible patterns of task distribution and language use.  

Turning data into action. In that analysis in AR is rooted in the local context and action-oriented, strategies selected for change in practice carry immediate, potent, professional validity. In the study, analysis of teaching sequences featuring teacher and MLA coordination was conducted collaboratively by teacher constellations. The challenge was that researcher and teacher conceptions of what analysis entails differed significantly. 

Achieving change. AR promotes change in professional practice through practitioner emancipation. Since the teachers had been involved as research partners in all the project phases, they understood and were corporately accountable to the action plan. While teachers subscribe to the importance of ongoing AR development, they regularly succumb to pressing immediate and institutional demands and fall back on well-rehearsed teaching routines.