Maria Ahlholm & Irina Piippo & Päivi Portaankorva-Koivisto (eds.) Vastasaapuneet luokkahuoneissa: Ikkunoita valmistavaan opetukseen ja monikieliseen kouluun, Vastapaino, Tampere, 376 pp., ISBN 978-952-397-016-8, published 22.5.2023.
The popular science book titled “Vastasaapuneet luokkahuoneissa: Ikkunoita valmistavaan opetukseen ja monikieliseen kouluun,” (Newly arrived students in the classrooms: windows to preparatory education and multilingual school) published by Vastapaino, provides an accessible examination of the multilingualism in schools through illustrative examples and in-depth research. In addition to the introduction, the book contains twelve peer-reviewed chapters, four concrete pedagogical perspectives, and four educational policy perspective chapters.
The book is edited by three researchers from the University of Helsinki: Maria Ahlholm, Irina Piippo, and Päivi Portaankorva-Koivisto. It also features contributions from a total of 20 authors from the University of Helsinki, the University of Tampere, and the University of Turku. Many of these authors have experience both as teachers and researchers. The research in the book is situated at the intersection of educational science, subject didactics, and linguistics.
The research is based on two extensive datasets from preparatory education in basic schools. The first dataset primarily focuses on Estonian and Russian-speaking primary school students, while the second dataset concentrates on Arabic-speaking upper secondary school students. Additionally, data has been collected from individuals nearing the end of compulsory education who are learning to read and write, as well as from adult basic education students. The youngest newcomers in the video-recorded materials are seven years old, and the oldest are adults who have moved to Finland from different countries.