Abstract:

In contemporary society, questions are often raised about the relation between education and integration of immigrants and people with a foreign background. In that context, pedagogical efforts have been made to combine educational and social interventions, emphasizing issues of inclusion, mobilization and learning processes. The overall aim in this study is to identify and explain how pedagogical strategies with respect to inclusion processes has evolved at a school for adult Roma students. Such pedagogical strategies are seen as crucial for improving immigrant conditions and opportunities and the data collection took place at a school with an outspoken Roma-profile in Sweden. In all, eight teachers and one principal were interviewed and the following research questions are addressed: What are the relevant aspects of social pedagogy in inclusion processes? How are these social pedagogical strategies distributed individually and jointly in a school context? The results show how the historical roots and theoretical foundations of pedagogical thinking and action take place as a “facilitator” and guides the teachers actions. To recognize the students cultural belonging and having a dialogical approach works as cultural bridging which actually to some extent transformed the teachers daily work from teaching to also embrace cultural broking-strategies to enforce learning processes.

Keywords:

Adult Learning, Cultural competency, Empowerment, Ethnic Minorities.