De oauktoriserade migranterna i svensk byggnadssektor : En studie i deportationspolitik 1990–2004

The unauthorized migrants in the Swedish construction sector – a study in the policy of deportation 1990–2004 The unauthorized migration of construction workers to Sweden increased during the 1990s, especially at the end of the decade. The migrants often came from Poland and the Baltic states. The aim of this article is to examine this change of the migration pattern to Sweden and how the Swedish Building Workers Union responded to this new situation. I examine how the Building Workers Union cooperated with the Police authorities to find, capture and deport unauthorized migrants. A conclusion is that the Building Workers Union has not adopted a more inclusionary strategy towards unauthorized migrants, as have trade unions in Spain and US. The main strategy has instead been to try to restrict this migration. One explanation of this is that the Building Workers Union is a strong and well organized trade union. It didn’t perceive of unauthorized migrants as potential new members, but as a threat to wages and work conditions. Another explanation is that it has been able to restrict migration in the past. This may contribute to making demands for restrictions an attractive strategy in the present even when the possibilities of succeeding with this have diminished.

English-medium instruction in Sweden : Perspectives and practices in two upper secondary schools

This thesis presents English-medium instruction (EMI) in the Swedish context, focusing on perspectives and practices in two schools. The research question is as follows: How and why is EMI offered, chosen, and practiced in the Swedish upper secondary school today? The aim is to explore the status of the educational option, the reasons for offering EMI to stakeholders, the stakeholders’ beliefs about and goals of EMI, and the implementation of EMI in the classroom. A survey of all upper secondary schools in Sweden was conducted to ascertain the spread of content teaching through a foreign language. The educational context was studied from an ecological perspective using methods based in linguistic ethnography. Language alternation, academic language, and language hierarchy were all considered. Interviews were analysed for content; and classroom language use was analysed for language choice and function. The concepts of affordance and scaffolding together with translanguaging were key. The de facto policies of the micro contexts of the schools were examined in light of the declared national policy of the macro context of Sweden. The results indicate that the option in Swedish schools has not increased, and also tends to only be EMI—not Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or instruction through other languages. EMI is offered for prestige, an international profile, marketing potential and personal interest. EMI students are academically motivated and confident, and see the option as “fun”. 100% EMI in the lessons is not the goal or the practice. Translanguaging is abundant, but how language alternation is perceived as an affordance or not differs in the two schools. One focuses on how the languages are used while the other focuses on how much each language is used. In conclusion, the analysis suggests that a development of definitions and practices of EMI in Sweden is needed, especially in relation to language policy and language hierarchy.