JÄMLIKHET OCH RESPEKTFULLA RELATIONER I KLASSRUMMET Intervjuer med högstadieelever födda i Syrien och Sverige

Abstract

Aims: Syrian children who have experienced the terror of civil war have happily found themselves in a peaceful Sweden, where there is a completely different value system and a different "normal" life. The purpose of this essay is to ex-amine some of these teen-agers' perception of new values and principles of gender equality and to observe the changes that have taken place in their way of thinking, especially as these children are raised according to the strict rules of Islamic-Arab tradition. Their views, and social situation, are compared to those held by school-mates of the same age, not born abroad. Theory: Bronfenbrenner's theory of development and Karlson's theory of border-work. Method: Eight students in grade 7-9 were selected and divided into 3 groups, first those who were born in Syria, second those who were born in Sweden to Syrian par-ents and third, those who do not have foreign roots. Results: The students surveyed, as they present themselves, are a group of talented, ac-tive and social youth who like to spend time with other young people. They are open to contacts and cooperate with the other sex both during lessons and breaks, but for social and ethnic reasons, it is rare for Syrian girls to do so in their spare time outside of school. Those who immigrated to Sweden want to build their future here, therefore ambitiously they strive to master the language and school. However, they do not fully understand the reality and value system that prevails in Sweden. Sometimes democracy in their understanding is lim-ited to freedom of speech and it is not directly linked to equality. Despite their enthusiasm for learning school subjects, some of them still believe that each gender has its socially designated or natural abilities for certain learning sub-jects. Some of these students still border on different genders and recognize macho cultures. 2 Anti-discrimination is the task of the school and the authorities. This coopera-tion should include families in line with the goals of integration policy.