Students of Vietnamese Heritage: What are Their Academic Experiences in Icelandic Upper Secondary Schools?

Theoretical Background

We live in a time of accelerated globalization and many social theorists conclude that multiculturalism, driven by a globalized economic system, is now a global norm (Kalantzis & Cope, 1999; Parekh, 2006; Ragnarsdóttir, 2007). As Cope & Kalantzis (1999) articulate: “Global markets, global capital, global communications and global culture play on local diversity as much as they erase it. In every country of the world, cultural and linguistic diversity is emerging as one of the great political issues for the next century” (p. 247). As Ragnarsdóttir put it, Iceland was not “deprived of this development,” (Ragnarsdóttir, 2007, p. 109). A multicultural society calls for an educational system that is inclusive of a diverse student body.

Thus, for making sense of the data that describes the academic experiences of the immigrant students in the two upper secondary schools, the study is situated within the theoretical framework of multicultural education and culturally responsive teaching. Statistics Iceland (2016b) defines individuals whose heritage is Icelandic as having “no foreign heritage.” Individuals with foreign heritage are grouped into four categories. The first category is immigrant: individuals who are born outside of Iceland and have two foreign born parents and four foreign born grandparents. The second category is second generation immigrant: individuals born in Iceland but having two foreign-born parents and four foreign-born grandparents. The third and fourth categories are individuals with one foreign-born parent and at least one foreign-born grand-parent. These individuals can be born in Iceland or abroad.