Territorialised school space: how symbolic dimensions of territory influence educational practices in an ethnically and linguistically diverse neighbourhood

The article explores how students in a linguistically and ethnically diverse neighbourhood are constructed and positioned by school professionals, and how this influences teaching and other school practices. The neighbourhood is conceptualised as a territory; a socially and culturally invested space with an active and meaningful presence in social life. Data include semi-structured interviews with school professionals working in a compulsory school in Sweden. The results show a deficit construction about the territory and the students’ educational andsocial skills. The deficit construction also applies to parents, making it possible to position children and parents as a territorialised group needing compensatory practices. The compensation is defined as educational territoriality, a conscious process through which society, through school professionals, tries to intervene in supposed territorial deficits. Concerning this, the importance of educational territoriality that recognises the social and cultural assets of the territory and the students’ resources are highlighted.