Resan till Bulgarien. En berättelse om ett internationellt utbildningsutbyte, dess organisering och förmågor som frigörs

Abstract

The report is based on a case study of an international exchange in which five Swedish students and a teacher participated in spring 2012, and which was highly valued by the students. The preparations for the international exchange and the trip were ‘shadowed’ – implying different ethnographic techniques and participatory observation. A narrative approach is the base for the report. The plot of the narrative includes the expressed motives of the teachers, the preparations for the trip and critical incidents and the Swedish students’ experiences during the trip. The Swedish students participating in the exchange were enrolled in the so-called introduction program in upper secondary education, a program for students who have not fulfilled the entry requirements for regular three-year upper secondary education programs. International exchange projects and trips have increased in Swedish upper secondary education during the last decades. Research informs on various positive effects, e.g. that students’ personal development is highly improved, through experiencing different cultures and cooperating with young people from another country. However, international projects are very rare for students in introduction programs, and there is no research reporting on exchange projects for students in the introduction program. The purpose of the study has been to describe and analyze the organizing of this trip and to identify the development of the students. The analysis of the development of the students is built on the concepts of John Dewey as elaborated in Democracy and Education.

The contribution of this report is two-fold: a detailed organizing is explicated on how this specific teacher team has built up and institutionalized international exchange projects for their students in introduction programs, and the outcomes on the positive student experiences are described and analyzed. In the concluding part of the report, critical reflections are offered regarding the future possibilities of exchange projects for students in introduction programs. This is a critical issue since the curriculum of 2011 of upper secondary education states that international contacts and international exchange with other countries shall be encouraged.