Diversity in School: RE:Defining Arrivals: On Newly Arrived Children’s Possibilities of Participation in School Life When Starting Directly in Regular Class

An increasing number of children move with their parents to live in another country. Upon arriving in Denmark, these children are categorized as ‘newly arrived children’, whether they migrate because of war, work, or other factors. Since the summer of 2016 a common trend in several municipalities across Denmark has been to close reception classes from grade 0 to 6, enrolling newly arrived children directly in Danish teaching practices without knowing the language. Yet, while there might be many reasons for doing so, we have little knowledge on the possible impact on these children’s own experiences of this first encounter with Danish school culture. This presentation is based on my PhD project and will present the initial findings from an ethnographic field work at two public schools in Denmark. As environmental shifts and participation in new cultural practices are significant factors for newly arrived children’s experiences, the analysis focuses on the ways in which the social and material dimensions of school and learning environments affect newly arrived children’s ability to participate in the social practices of school life in Denmark.