In schools today, some staff members seem to play a key role in developing the learning environment. This study looks into the way these staff members – here refer to as visionaries - handle their professions and describe their roles in creating learning space that embraces social justice and inclusion, especially in immigrant education.

The study aims at answering the following questions: what are the characteristics of these visionaries? What kinds of practices do they engage themselves and promote? What are their importance in creating a successful study path for immigrant students?

Immigrant students do not form a coherent group of learners. Their characters as learners are not only affected by their age, language competencies and learning skills but also the cultural capital that they possess may act an asset or a disturbance to them. Immigrant children have varied backgrounds. They may have been born in the country of residence but still have strong links to their parents or grandparents home countries and speak these home languages. They maybe children of migrant workers or have refugee background. The immigrant children may either have just arrived recently or have arrived late in their school career. They may be visible or invisible immigrants. All these factors, amongst other personal characteristics, give their special impact on their learning paths. OECD report (2010) shows that on the average, pupils of immigrant background have weaker education outcome at all levels.  The report explains this with language barriers and socio-economics differences. Research also shows (Goodwin, 2002) that many immigrant children arrive in their host countries highly educated. However, a new and unfamiliar school environment may inhibit children from demonstrating their full potential.

The theoretical basis for the study is derived from Sen’s (2010) capabilities theory and Nussbaum’s (2011) partial theory of social justice as it represents the minimum requirements for a life lived with dignity. What Nussbaum’s list of capabilities offers is a political framework that represents the affective, emotional and psychosocial as well as the economic, political and cultural dimensions of social injustice and which can be used to hold governments accountable as regards their role and responsibility to ensure human dignity.

Inclusive education (Polat, 2011) aims towards full participation of all pupils regardless their background and abilities within a mainstream school. It means not only to increase the opportunities for participation but also guarantee it.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (Gay 2000, 2002, 2010) is described as approaching social justice through using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as means for creating more meaningful learning environment. It claims all teachers are able to work with students who are from culturally different backgrounds to their own. However, it requires that one is able to identify internalized biases and to accommodate the rich variety of students’ cultural experiences into teaching. Teachers can according to Groulx and Silva (2010) grow in their level of interest in culturally sensitive pedagogy over time.

Agee, J. 2009. Developing qualitative research questions: a reflective process. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 22 (4), 431–447. Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. New York & London: Teachers College Press. Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116. Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: theory, research, and practice. Multicultural education series. Teachers College Columbia University Goodwin, A. L. (2002). Teacher preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children. In Education and Urban Society, 2002; 34: 156. Downloaded from http://eus.sagepub.com/content/34/2/156. Groulx, J. G., & Silva, C. (2010). Evaluating the Development of Culturally Relevant Teaching. In Multicultural Perspectives, 12(1), 3-9. Nordic research project Learning Spaces for Inclusion and Social Justice: Success Stories from Immigrant Students and School Communities in Four Nordic Countries (2013-2015). http://skrif.hi.is/learningspaces/ Nussbaum, M. (2011). Creating Capabilities. The Human Development Approach USA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. OECD. (2010). Reviews of Migrant Education. Closing the Gap for Immigrant Students. Policies, Practice and Performance Polat, F. (2011). Inclusion in education: A step towards social justice. International Journal of Educational Development, 31(1), 50-58. Ryan, G.W & Russell Bernard, H. (2003). Techniques to Identify Themes. Field Methods, 15 (1), 85–109. Sen, A. (2010). The Idea of Justice. London, Penguin Books. UNESCO. (2014). Teaching and learning: Achieving quality for all. The 2013/4 Education for All Global Monitoring Report. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization