Newly arrived youth and young adults meeting ‘Othering-practices’: A critical analysis of a teacher practice in Norway

Abstract

This study utilises ‘practice architectures’ as a theoretical and analytical framework to examine the arrangements that both enable and constrain teacher practice in an adult centre for newly arrived youth and young adults in Norway. The practice was explored through the use of video-stimulated recall, video observations, and subsequent interviews with a single teacher. A hermeneutical analysis was employed to identify the arrangement that governed the practice. The analysis revealed that existing discourses surrounding gender equality, teaching materials, time and organisation, and an understanding of equality as sameness served to restrict the teacher’s practice. Consequently, the students experienced ‘othering practices’. This article emphasises the need for increased attention to the ‘taken for granted’ knowledge that influences the interaction between teachers and newly arrived students.