Tímarit um menntarannsóknir - 01.01.2010, Page 89

slíkar umræður geta stuðlað að auknum þætti
fjölmenningar í skipulagi skólastarfs.
niðurstöður rannsóknarinnar leiddu meðal
annars í ljós að kennsla innflytjendabarna var
með svipuðum hætti, þótt skipulag hennar væri
mislangt á veg komið í þátttökuskólunum.
einnig kom fram að faglegur undirbúningur
kennara væri nauðsynlegur fyrir kennslu inn -
flytjendabarna, sérstaklega vegna þess að
íslensku kennslan væri öðruvísi með erlendum
nemendum. Við getum tekið undir það og teljum
að með faglegum undirbúningi verði kennslan
bæði skemmtilegri og auðveldari. niðurstöður
sýna einnig að námsver koma að miklu gagni
meðan nemendur af erlendum uppruna eru að
aðlagast íslensku skólaumhverfi, einkum hjálpa
þau þeim að auka hæfni sína í verkefnavinnu
inni í bekkjarstofunni. Þá er ljóst að foreldrar
barna af erlendum uppruna þyrftu að fá tækifæri
til að kynnast betur íslenskri skólamenningu.
með þetta í huga teljum við að kennsla
innflytjendabarna og viðhorf kennara til hennar
þurfi að fá meiri athygli. einnig teljum við
mikilvægt að styrkja þátt fjölmenningar í
skipulagi skólastarfs, einkum með því að styðja
kennara með ráðgjöf, námskeiðum eða með
öðrum hætti. að okkar mati styðja kennarar
erlenda nemendur vel með því að nota hópa -
vinnu því að með aðstoð bekkjarfélaganna er
auðveldara fyrir þá að tileinka sér það sem fram
fer í kennslustofunni. Það ætti líka að styrkja
þá í að aðlagast íslenskri skólamenningu.
abstract
Teachers’ experiences in teaching immigrant
students
The main focus of this study was teaching
diverse student groups, in particular teachers’
views towards teaching immigrant students. The
four participating schools had students aged 6
to 16 and all of them emphasized multicultural
learning and teaching. One of the four schools
had formed a clear policy on multicultural
education, but the others had it on their agenda
during the time of the study.
Method
The study was based on qualitative methods
where collection and analysis of data consisted
of interviews with eight compulsory school
teachers about their experiences in teaching
immigrant students. The participants were all
women of different ages and all had had various
experiences working as teachers. The main aim
was to identify some elements that might affect
teachers’ points of view when offering learning
conditions, learning experiences and materials
to diverse groups of students, especially when
immigrant children are part of the group.
Findings
some of the participants emphasised that teach ers
should embrace positive attitudes towards
multicultural teaching. The participants’ motivat -
ions were, among other things, immigrant
students’ increased confidence and joy when they
began to understand more and more. But the main
con straints seemed to be not enough time to find
or develop suitable assignments for children of
diverse origins. some of the things they claimed
counted in providing a multicultural environment
and learning conditions were suitable sizes of
schools, administrators’ readi ness to change, good
school culture, and teachers who show interest or
are devoted to multicultural policy. Participants
also thought that professional preparation was
important since teaching immigrant students is
inevitably quite different from teaching main -
stream groups. some of them thought that the
work was stressful, challenging and that it
included a great deal of work and patience.
The participants also agreed on the rele vance
of a learning centre for immigrant children as a
support for new icelanders when adjusting to
their new environment. They also thought that
immigrant children seemed to have friends
among icelandic children in their schools, but
they did not seem to mingle much with them
after school. The participants also noticed that
cultural differences were prominent when it came
to interaction between icelandic and immigrant
children with respect to their roles and duties at
home. Participants said they interacted with
icelandic parents through email but with
immigrant parents directly with assistance from
an interpreter. They agreed that the immigrant
parents should be given opportunities to get more
acquainted with the icelandic school culture.
Discussion
89Kennarar og kennarastarf í fjölmenningarlegu samfélagi
Tímarit um menntarannsóknir, 7. árgangur 2010
Tímarit um menntarannsóknir_Layout 1 1/17/11 5:18 PM Page 89