Arabic heritage language education in Sweden: Opportunities and challenges

In international comparisons, the Swedish heritage-language education (HLE) system is often described as being at the forefront of HLE in Europe. Following recent right-wing shifts in national politics, HLE has now come under threat. This article investigates the current state of HLE in Sweden, focussing on Arabic, through a survey of the literature, statistics on HLE provision and attendance and two empirical studies. Arabic is by far the most taught heritage-language in Swedish schools; research on Arabic HLE is surprisingly scarce though. Study 1, based on questionnaires and interviews, investigates the attitudes and experiences of parents of 100 Arabic-speaking preschool and primary-school children, cross-sectionally and longitudinally (age 4−10 years). Interview-based Study 2 sheds light on the practices and experiences of 17 HLE teachers. Both parents and teachers express appreciation of state-funded HLE, but critique similar aspects of its implementation (e.g. scheduling, class duration). Arabic HLE attendance is high. Teachers report that children make progress despite time constraints and heterogeneous groups. They emphasise how they align their lessons with other school subjects and act as cultural mediators. Unlike some parents, teachers view exposure to different varieties of Arabic in the HLE classroom as beneficial for developing children’s linguistic repertoires and promoting pluralism.