Research reveals different challenges the young with migration background encounter when navigating places and negotiating structural, social and symbolic boundaries in their educational pathways between and within the educational system (Lund, 2020). When people share a common meaning system shaping their feelings of belonging, boundaries are drawn between different groups in society (A. Lund & Voyer, 2019). As in many other European countries, migrants in Sweden are in a disadvantaged position when it comes to educational achievement (Heath et al., 2008).

                The complex process of educational trajectories of pupils with migration background suggests how localities interplay and interact with structural (e.g., the organization of the educational system), social (socio-economic status) and symbolic (e.g., we-ness and feelings of belonging) boundaries to shape educational pathways. Different types of boundaries are institutionalised at several levels of the school system and thus an important aspect to consider in understanding processes of inclusion and exclusion of various student groups. The school as an institution has a long history of dividing people and groups based on different social categorisations, (re)constructing boundaries that affect individuals’ educational pathways.

                This study focuses on institutional boundaries for pupils with migration background in one Swedish suburban municipality that has a large proportion of 1st and 2nd generation of migrants. In this study, the lower secondary school forms the institution we are focusing on.  Our empirical material involves interviews with civil servants, politicians and school personnel from the largest public school in the municipality. The aim is to examine how the participants articulate and handle institutional boundaries conditioning the educational trajectories of migrant pupils. We ask the following questions: What kind of educational challenges and opportunities are addressed in relation to migrant pupils’ educational pathways in their municipality? And What kind of institutional boundaries for migrant students’ educational pathways can be identified? 

                      We employ institutional boundaries as the main theoretical concept. Institutions are conceptualised as overarching systems comprising both formal regulations and symbolic elements, which define and structure social practices (Scott 2014; Strang & Meyer, 1993). Boundaries can be seen, on the one hand, stable distinctions and differentiations that define and separate people and groups that people create, cross and maintain, and on the other hand, permeable, dialogical spaces for change and learning (e.g., Kerosuo, 2006; Akkerman & Bakker, 2011). Lamont and Molnár (2002) emphasize that studying boundaries reveals ”the dynamic dimensions of social relations” (p. 168). The relationship between structural, symbolic, and social boundaries is dynamic and mutually reinforcing. Structural boundaries institutionalize symbolic distinctions, translating abstract ideas into material constraints, such as policies that segregate students by academic performance. Conversely, symbolic boundaries justify and sustain structural mechanisms by normalizing ideas about who "belongs" or is "deserving." Together, these boundaries create social divisions that appear natural but are, in fact, the result of institutionalisation. Thus, the connection with different boundaries is understood as follows : institutional boundaries are both structurally defined and symbolically embedded. 

The study followed a qualitative research strategy. Five public servants in the municipality were interviewed individually and four politicians participated in a focus group interview. In addition, personnel from a public school in the municipality were interviewed, two in an administrative/leading position, a counsellor and four teachers who also work as study tutors for newly migrated students. Altogether, 15 people participated in interviews, which were done digitally or face-to-face according to the participants' choices, and lasted between 27-60 minutes. All participants got information about the project in advance by mail. Furthermore, they signed informed consent or their consent was recorded during the interview. The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. The analytic process of meaning-making was iterative, inferential and can be described as abductive (Tavory & Timmermans, 2014). We applied a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2021), which offered us a flexible yet systematic approach to the empirical material. In the thematic analysis family, our analysis process followed between ‘a codebook’ and ‘a reflexive’ version of thematic analysis. In the first phase, all interview transcriptions were read carefully and two researchers talked about development of coding and possible themes based on their interesting observations in the interviews. In the second phase, systematic coding occurred individually. In the third phase, preliminary themes were identified and categorised as challenges and opportunities during migrant pupils’ educational pathway in relation to the municipality. Both researchers used the NVivo programme individually and identified preliminary themes in the interviews. In the fourth phase, we discussed and reviewed the themes to find consensus among us about the themes. The fifth phase included our theoretical concepts and reflection on the themes through the lenses of the theoretical concept of institutional boundaries.

Preliminary findings indicate that a common trend was that both migrant students’ challenges and opportunities were not talked about as individual aspects of the student or his/her family and history of migration. This was seen especially on civil servants’ and politicians’ talk. Even though it needs to be stated that they work on different areas of education. Challenges and opportunities raised in the interviews, were above all linked to the specific conditions of locality in terms of geographical location, inhabitants and organisation. In addition, national school policies framed their professional work within the municipality. This is how the connection between challenges and opportunities and institutional boundaries were manifested in the participants’ talk. School personnel, on the other hand, adopted a more individual-focused approach when discussing migrant students’ education, though they also addressed formal structures when speaking about challenges. Despite these differing perspectives, the same six challenges and six opportunities were generally highlighted in all interviews regarding the educational pathways of migrant students in the municipality. The challenges included school and residential segregation connected to socioeconomic status of the family, knowledge about the Swedish school system and especially the free school choice, social vulnerability of the pupils and experiences of migration, individual’s situation, the Swedish language skills and school performance of the pupils, especially absence from school. The opportunities involved resources, especially financial ones, various support structures like the language support, cooperation with the local community, good school history of the pupils, information meetings and especially handover meetings and support from the school personnel, especially principal’s support. Challenges and opportunities are manifestations of institutional boundaries. They are institutionalized within school practices, making these boundaries closely tied to the organization and functioning of schools. Limitation of the study is that migrant students were not interviewed.

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