Cooling Out and Warming Up – Professional Strategies in the Education of Newly Arrived Migrant Students in Sweden

Abstract

This study explores how school professionals manage the challenges of educating newly arrived migrant students (NAMS), with a focus on the transition from the Language Introduction Program (LIP) to a national upper secondary school program or alternative forms of education. We draw on the theoretical framework of Inhabited Institutionalism to understand how school professionals’ interpretations and sense-making of external policy pressures and internal challenges of teaching a diverse group of students are shaped by social interaction. The study reveals that professionals are critical of the educational system and its consequences for NAMS’ education, due to its rigid admission requirements and unrealistic timeframes. To mitigate the potential effects on students’ educational trajectories, the professionals employ both cooling-out and warming-up strategies. The study emphasizes the significance of social interaction among school professionals in interpreting the educational system and its consequences and suggests that the outcome of negotiations among professionals regarding different strategies is likely to have a significant impact on the future trajectories of NAMS.