Lack of support for newly arrived students - many risk falling behind

It is about so-called study guidance in the mother tongue.

The idea is that students should be given the opportunity to keep up with all subjects, even though they have not been able to learn Swedish.

- Learning both a new language and new subject knowledge at the same time is difficult. As a newcomer, getting support in the language you are strongest in is important to even having the opportunity to succeed in school. But the study guide can also be about getting help to understand the Swedish school system, says Hülya Basaran, project manager at the National Center for Swedish as a Second Language.

In addition, the support effort, which all pupils who are unable to follow the teaching in Swedish are entitled to, has become increasingly important as the proportion of pupils in compulsory school, who recently immigrated to Sweden, has increased sharply since 2012.

The academic year 2018/19 involved almost 8 percent, or about 81,000 students. The 2012/13 academic year, the same figure was just under 40000 students.

And in five years, the proportion of students who receive study guidance in their mother tongue has almost doubled. From 17308 academic year 14/15 to 33443 academic year 18/19, according to figures produced by SVT Nyheter.

But there are a number of problems that allow students to end up in school, despite having the right to support.

In a recent state study, it was stated that it is not the students' actual needs that govern access to and participation in the study guide.

One of the most serious problems is that the extent and quality of the aid varies across the country.

"The luck or chance of getting into a school that provides the high-quality support should not determine whether a student meets the knowledge requirements," the investigator writes.

Another problem highlighted is the lack of study supervisors.

And the investigation finds that the low proportion of study supervisors with an educational college degree is a serious problem for the quality and status of the support measure.

Hülya Basaran agrees.

- It is so bad about study supervisors that you might just hire someone who knows the language the pupil is supported in, but at the same time the teacher may not be able to Swedish. And to also get hold of someone who has subject knowledge and is included in the school's steering documents.

- There are also study tutors who really do a good job, but who need to get more education about, for example, multilingualism and the Swedish school's knowledge view - but because it is such a shortage, schools do not want to send them off on education, says Hülya Basaran.

In the state investigation, it is proposed, among other things, that the requirements for municipalities to arrange study guidance in mother tongue should be tightened and that the National Agency for Education should be tasked with coordinating and driving the development of the support effort.

The proposals are currently with the Ministry of Education, which does not want to comment on the investigation at present.