With another mother tongue

This report focuses on the work of the compulsory school concerning students with another mother tongue. Today, almost a fifth of compulsory school students have a foreign background;either born abroad or born in Sweden of foreign parents.

The proportion of students with another mothertongue varies from school to school. In some schools it is quite rare, while in others it is very common. The question of the number of students at a school who have another mother tongue is significant for the work of that school.However, the study also presents other factors that are important for how the school acts and for what the school does for these students, these factors can be differences in knowledge, in experience and, more generally, in approach.Parallel to this, a number of general patterns emerge, such as in relation to the organisation of the teaching of Swedish as a second language and of mother tongue tuition. In addition to the organisation of the teaching, the study has attempted to illustrate the significance of participation in this tuition for the students’ knowledge performance - as regards grades and average merit ratings. The study also highlights the issue of adapting the teaching in a more general way for the benefit of this student group.