Recruiting immigrant students to the initial PE teacher education at the Swedish School of Sort and Health Sciences
Sweden is in many ways a multicultural society. Off all children living in Sweden around 20 % are themselves born or have parents who are born in another country. These children has also made an impact on Swedish sports. Today, research show that boys from immigrant families are as much a part of organized sports as children born in Sweden, while girls from immigrant families are less active in organized sports.
Whereas organized sports in general show a similar pattern as society as a whole when it comes to children born in other countries, with the exception for girls, initial education for physical education (PE) does not. Studies reveals that the typical student in initial teacher education for PE is born in Sweden, grew up in the countryside and comes from families with limited tradition of higher education. In The Swedish School of sport and health sciences (GIH), only 9 % of the students in the PE teacher education program where immigrants or came from immigrant families. In this regard, the initial PE teacher education in Sweden faces a huge challenge.
In our presentation we will discuss some of the strategies that GIH has adopted to recruit students with other backgrounds than the typical. We will also address some of the challenges that comes with this regarding different cultural backgrounds and basic knowledge of the Swedish sporting culture.