Family–school relationships in immigrant children’s well-being: the intersection of demographics and school culture in the experiences of black African immigrants in the United States

This article explores the types of family–school relationships that promote academic, socio-economic, and social and emotional well-being of black African immigrant children in the United States. The data are ethnographic, drawing on one year of participant observation and interviews at two elementary schools. The findings are also set within the context of an analysis of data from the New Immigrant Survey. The article identifies mechanisms by which relationships between black African immigrants and schools are created and argues that intersections between demographics and school culture are central, particularly as related to the possibilities for relational power, which can allow parents and school staff to transcend persistent inequalities of race and discrimination.     

Youth sport and community segregation: a study of kids’ participation in Australian rules football and soccer clubs in an Australian community

ABSTRACT

This research addresses the appeal for more empirical-based research on exclusionary practices in local community sport that often go unchallenged within dominant discourses. By examining how organised community sport clubs can uphold systemic segregation of various ethnic, racial, linguistic, religious and socioeconomic groups, this study also draws attention to the importance of research on race, ethnicity, and education in primary school age children; a population group often ignored in both racism studies and studies of sport. Using interview and focus group data from school principals and students (aged 9–12), including students from refugee and asylum seeker migrant backgrounds, collected over 3 years from two schools in the same multicultural community in Melbourne, Australia, this paper challenges the depiction of sport as an uncontested inclusive space in national and educational discourse, and instead demonstrates the continued existence of exclusion through systemically mediated segregation in organised community youth sport.     

Educational performance of children of migrant parents in Ghana,Nigeria and Angola

There is no empirical research on the school performance of children who live separated from their parents in sub-Saharan Africa—a major migrant sending region in the world. This study uses survey data from junior and secondary school children and youths in Ghana (N?=?2760), Angola (N?=?2243) and Nigeria (N?=?2168) to examine how different transnational family formations such as internal or international parental absence accompanied by migration or divorce, who is the migrant parent and who is the caregiver, the stability of the caregiving arrangement and remittances relate with the school performance of children who stay behind. School performance is measured through an index of grades in language, mathematics and science. The results show that international parental migration (Ghana), the internal parental migration accompanied by divorce/separation (Nigeria) and migration of both parents (Ghana and Nigeria) are likely predictors for decreased school performance. No effects are observed when parents are abroad and divorced/separated, when only one parent migrates, when children are in a stable care arrangement or when children receive remittances or not. The analyses show that the overall relationship between parental absence and education varies by the transnational dimension being analysed and by context.     

Denying systemic inequality in segregated Chilean schools: race-neutral discourses among administrative and teaching staff

This article addresses the educational context in which ethnically segregated high poverty schools operate in Chile, and the ways that inequalities within these establishments are understood by members of their administrative and teaching staff. In particular we draw attention to the unwillingness of the majority of these employees to name or recognize specific forms of institutional inequality. Following critical pedagogy literature we argue that the Chilean education system reproduces a fear of talk among teachers working in areas with high density indigenous populations, which obscures unequal social structures and opportunities for specific (class, gender, ethnic) groups in school contexts. Based on data from 12 interviews with school staff and observations from four schools in southern Chile, we analyze how intersecting inequality is discursively reduced by predominantly white teachers to individual deficit, de-politicized geographical problems of access to schooling, and the normalizing of low achievement across schools with students from similar backgrounds.     

The Role of Family SES and Language Background in Shaping the Well-Being of Children of Asian Origin in the Context of School Mobility

Using a sample of children of Asian origin from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort (N ≈ 1,480), this study examines the relationship between school mobility and children’s well-being trajectories from kindergarten to fifth grade, paying particular attention to whether such relationships differ by child language status and family socioeconomic status. Considering a rich set of characteristics including family and school environments, the growth curve analyses indicate that children who had ever changed schools during these years performed worse on their reading and math scores, as well as being reported by teachers to have worse internalizing behaviors. This was only true when these children were from low-SES families or when their language background was predominately non-English-speaking. In contrast, children who changed schools at least once performed as well as, if not better than, their peers if they were from high-SES families or if they had a bilingual background (speaking both English and a non-English language). This study explores both the risk and the protective factors that help explain the well-being trajectories of children of Asian origins.     

现代文明背景下的传统文化传承——以“羌族文化进校园”活动在四川汶川县的实践为例

Modernization and globalization have already become the central themes of contem-porary China. As the carriers of traditional ethnic culture, ethnic minority villages and families have inevitably been involved in this development trend. After school-aged children in ethnic minority fami-lies enter schools, they are separated from their o-riginal cultural environment; meanwhile, the school curriculum is entirely based on the modern western education system. As a result, traditional culture inheritance among contemporary China’s younger generations has been facing unprecedented challenges and crises. The project of ‘Ethnic Culture Entering School Activities’ , which has been implemented in some ethnic minority regions in recent years, can be considered as a beneficial effort to realize the live transmission of ethnic intangible culture by means of school education. ‘Ethnic Culture Ente-ring School Activities ’ , was first initiated in Guizhou province, and later was gradually expand-ed to Yunnan, Guangxi, Hunan, and other prov-inces that have a number of ethnic minorities. Al-though Sichuan province is home to many Tibetan, Qiang , and Yi peoples, this project was implemen-ted in Sichuan very late, thus there is little rele-vant research. Based on the investigations on the status of ‘Qiang Culture entering School Activi-ties’ at three schools in Sichuan’s Wenchuan coun-ty, this article summarizes the characteristics and existing problems in different schools for the trans-mission of ethnic culture so as to provide a reliable reference for related projects in the future. With a survey analysis, the author discovers that ‘Qiang Culture entering School Activities’ at these three schools show differences in terms of the richness of course design, the awareness of its im-portance, and implementation effect; meanwhile, those exiting problems not only reveal the perva-siveness of this project throughout southwest Chi-na, but also show the individual particularities caused by geographical location, school level, and main tasks. Moreover, when investigating these is-sues more deeply, four ‘hidden’ features can be summarized as follows:First, there are structural differences between ordinary elementary and middle schools and voca-tional schools. Vocational schools emphasize more on the transmission of ethnic cultures. Second, the traditional culture of local ethnic minorities has been inherited more naturally in the marginal regions than those more urbanized re-gions. Third, although they are all recognized as in-tangible heritage, different types of traditional cul-ture have an unequal development. The performing type such as singing and dancing shows the most superior transmission ability in ethnic culture; the second superior type is traditional handicraft while ethnic language is obviously the most difficult one in terms of the transmission of ethnic culture. Fourth, the ‘Ethnic Culture Entering School Activities ’ project in different ethnic minority groups has the unbalanced development even in the same region. In the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Auton-omous Prefecture, the Qiang elites generally com-plain that their minority groups have received far less favorable national preferential policies and are viewed with less importance than Tibetan people. The compiling of Tibetan textbooks, Tibetan lan-guage curriculum, and bilingual examination sys-tem are more conducive to the transmission of Ti-betan culture. Concerning the above mentioned problems, this article puts forward the following suggestions:first, the relevant administration should further in-crease the capital investment, and promote the training of teaching staff and school-based text-books;second, local education departments should set up an efficient assessment and incentive mecha-nism, and promote the formation of a social envi-ronment wherein ethnic cultural study has useful applications;finally, schools in ethnic minority re-gions should strengthen cooperation and exchanges among themselves, and build connections with rel-evant education administrations and research insti-tutions. The fundamental difficulty in implementing the ‘Ethnic Culture Entering School Activities ’ project lies in the fact that traditional culture has not been included in the examination content of the modern education system. Therefore, in the ele-mentary and middle school education, the primary goal is to increase the enrollment rate of students, while the transmission of traditional culture is noth-ing more than a slogan. In order to achieve the goal of integrating traditional ethnic culture into the modern education system, we must rely on the co-operation among education administrations, schools, families, and society as a whole, and constantly improve corresponding assessment and incentive mechanisms, thus jointly creating a so-cial environment that ethnic culture has useful ap-plications. Meanwhile, intangible cultural carri-ers, intellectuals who desire to disseminate their ethnic culture, and the parents of the students should all be encouraged to participate; by doing so, we can accelerate the spread of ethnic culture into local schools step by step.     

The educational experiences of the second generation from refugee backgrounds

This paper draws on qualitative interviews to explore the educational experiences amongst the UK-born adult children of refugees from Vietnam, Sri Lanka (Tamils) and Turkey (Kurdish). Second generation from refugee backgrounds are characterised by diversity and as a group are increasing numerically. However, little is known about the specificity of their experiences as they have been either subsumed within or have fallen between the research agendas on new migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and the body of research on larger established minorities. This paper sets out to fill a gap in the literature by exploring the perspectives of second generation from refugee backgrounds. We examine the impact of policy – particularly dispersal and mobility – on education, the ways in which inter-generational relations and the aspirations of both parents and their children can be shaped by refugee histories, how schools fail to alleviate barriers to parental participation and racism within school settings, especially – though not exclusively – within schools that are less ethnically diverse. We conclude that the policy context and refugee backgrounds shape educational experiences and aspirations but also significant are the structural divisions that reproduce class and race-based inequalities.     

Impossible children: illegality and excluded belonging among children of migrants in Sabah,East Malaysia

This article makes a case for attending to the specificities of child illegality in migrant contexts. This is not simply because children have been left out of previous accounts, but also because their status as minors makes both their citizenship and their illegality different to that of adults. The analysis is based on research with children born to migrants in the state of Sabah, East Malaysia. I argue that such children are configured as Sabah’s impossible children, and that this configuration influences their experiences of illegality and exclusion in distinctive ways. From a young age, children are aware of document ‘checking’ raids and, as ‘foreigners’, are unable to attend Malaysian schools. However, informal documents from learning centres, as well as age and contingent circumstances, may give them a temporary, ‘liminal’ legality. Finally, given that irregular migrants experience both exclusion and inclusion in a host nation, the article describes children’s urban forms of belonging. These forms of inclusion demonstrate children’s engagement with Sabah as a home, as against their political construction as an impossible problem.     

Standardized testing and school segregation: like tinder for fire?

Recent research suggests that high-stakes standardized testing has played a negative role in the segregation of children by race and class in schools. In this article we review research on the overall effects of segregation, the positive and negative aspects of how desegregation plans were carried out following the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, and the de facto re-segregation that followed the dismantling of many desegregation plans, along with the increase of school choice plans. We then analyze these effects in light of the ways that high-stakes standardized testing has grown in importance and intensity in US education policy and practice, especially during the most recent period of school re-segregation. Based on the evidence we argue that the intrinsic features of high-stakes testing, combined with current systems of school choice, function as mechanisms used for racial coding that facilitate segregation and compound inequalities found in schools.     

‘I’m not being offensive but…’: intersecting discourses of discrimination towards Muslim children in school

This article examines forms of implicit discrimination towards Muslim children in children’s discourses of Otherness. Findings in this paper draw on qualitative data exploring the discourses of 17 children from a Year 6 class in a culturally diverse primary school in the East of England. Building on Critical Race Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis, this article shows that children’s discourses of Otherness acted in tacit discriminatory ways by constructing difference as problematic, which positioned Muslim children as the ‘bad Other’. These findings show the intersectionality of discrimination experienced by Muslim children in school, and offer a reflection on the role of multiculturalism in schools and the limitations of uncritical discourses of tolerance in fostering an understanding of difference and Otherness.     

An exploration of teacher attrition and mobility in high poverty racially segregated schools

The purpose of this study was to examine the mobility (movement to a new school) and attrition (quitting teaching) patterns of teachers in high poverty, racially segregated (HPRS) schools in the US. Using 2007–9 survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics, a multi-level multinomial logistic regression was performed to examine the contribution of teacher characteristics, school setting characteristics, and school climate with a focus on interactions between school climate variables. The findings demonstrated that school climate variables predicted increased odds of mobility and that teacher characteristics, school setting, and teachers’ perceptions of school climate predicted increased odds of teacher attrition. These findings suggest that teacher attrition and mobility from HPRS schools could be slowed by strategic placement of teachers based on their beliefs about students in poverty and students of color.     

中国朝鲜族农村教育改革和发展研究

均衡发展是新时期义务教育发展的新方向。目前,朝鲜族教育面临着前所未有的严峻挑战,生源锐减、教育经费不足、单亲和留守学生增多、流失生现象严重、大量朝鲜族学生上汉族学校等。朝鲜族基础教育改革和发展的重点在农村,难点也在农村。     

Gender and citizenship in academic career progression: an intersectional,meso-scale analysis in German higher education institutions

ABSTRACT

In tune with the fundamental shift in Germany’s skill-b(i)ased immigration policy since 2005, higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly becoming ‘magnets’ for a skilled migrant workforce. While ‘internationalisation’ is often understood as something to be celebrated and (further) accomplished, some observers speak of clear signs of discriminatory experiences among racialised and migrant academics. This is a new aspect, as social inequalities have by and large been considered in migration studies to be the sole terrain of labour mobility into less-skilled sectors of the economy. Meanwhile, abundant literature on gender and higher education shows that women academics have poorer access to career progression than men, demonstrating gender-based academic career inequalities. However, the insights generated in these two strands of scholarship have seldom been in conversation with one another. This paper takes stock of the lack of an intersectional perspective, focusing on citizenship and gender within HEIs as hiring meso-level organisations that are becoming increasingly transnationalised. It explores the intersectionality of citizenship and gender in accessing academic career advancement by examining three key career stages, that is, doctoral researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and professors, in two case-study HEIs.     

‘Colour-evasiveness’ and racism without race: the disablement of asylum-seeking children at the edge of fortress Europe

This article explores discriminatory discourses articulated by Italian professionals operating in educational, health and social services for refugees in Rome, in relation to the educational and social inclusion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children. It locates such narratives within the historical ‘concealment and invisibilisation of race and racism’ that have characterised Italy particularly since the end of the Second World War, while showing how they legitimate contemporary processes of disablement and over-representation of forced migrant children in the category of Special Educational Needs. A theoretical framework influenced by Dis/ability Critical Race Studies, Italian postcolonial studies, and Judith Butler’s notions of subjectivation and performative politics is used to discuss how a ‘colour-evasive’ racial ideology has seeped into various institutions in Italian society, and importantly into education policies and practices.     

New label no progress: institutional racism and the persistent segregation of Romani students in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The over-representation of Romani children in special schools in the Czech Republic is well documented and widely condemned. In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found the state guilty of discrimination against Romani children on the basis of disproportionate placement of children in remedial special schools. In 2015 high numbers of Romani children are still being misdiagnosed with special educational needs (SEN) and offered a limited and inappropriate education. This article explores the challenges which continue to hamper their successful inclusion in the Czech education system. Using critical race theory (CRT) as a lens to examine the Czech case, problems with the current policy trajectory are identified. The article shows that institutional racism persists in the Czech Republic, shaping attitudes and practices at all levels. Policymakers demonstrate little recognition of ingrained educational inequalities and Roma continue to be widely perceived as ‘others’ who must learn to adapt to Czech ways rather than as citizens who are entitled to services on their own terms.     

Migrants’ class and parenting: the role of cultural capital in Migrants’ inequalities in education

Although scholars consistently show that class-specific parenting, influenced by the resources parents have due to their socio-economic position, is one of the most important factors for children’s different life chances and outcomes as adults, migrants’ parenting is usually analysed with a focus on their ethnicity or country of origin. Building on cultural perspectives on class, this study demonstrates that migrant parents are differently endowed with institutionalised and embodied cultural capital, which shapes their parenting and therewith their children’s educational opportunities. Specifically, parents differ in their trust in school authorities, the way they define their own role in shaping their children’s education, and their self-esteem and confidence in assessing their children’s abilities and performance. This study is based on the accounts of parents who migrated from Poland to Germany and shows that due to their class position, middle-class parents possess robust forms of cultural capital that they can transfer to their children in the context of migration. This finding makes a case for the relevance of class in the context of migration and thereby adds an important perspective to the study of migrants’ inequalities in education, which tends to focus on ‘ethnic’ differences between migrants and ‘natives’.     

‘I want them better than me’: Pedagogical strategies employed by four immigrant parents in the face of perceived forms of exclusion by school authorities

In Australia, students from Chinese and Arabic language backgrounds form the largest minority language groups in the New South Wales (NSW) public school system. Yet the mainstream academic performance of students from these two communities show marked differences in their levels of attainment. This article explores the home literacy practices of two immigrant families – one from a Chinese background and the other of Lebanese heritage – in order to obtain insights into how parents support their children in the acquisition of mainstream literacies. It documents parents’ perceptions of their interactions with school authorities in relation to their children’s educational needs. Findings indicate that despite a plethora of inclusive policies adopted by the children’s schools, the families in our study perceived school authorities as exclusionary in their practices. The article chronicles the sense of powerlessness and alienation experienced by both families when confronted with the rigidity of a school system they neither knew nor understood. Despite the similarities in their experiences, the Chinese family succeeded in the acquisition of mainstream literacies while the Lebanese family continues to struggle with the demands of the school curriculum. We present the contrasting solutions adopted by the two families to meet the educational needs of their children and indicate how their culturally derived responses go part way in explaining the different levels of school achievement experienced by the two families.     

Labour and life in the global Asian city: the discrepant mobilities of migrant workers and English teachers in Seoul

ABSTRACT

Transnational mobilities are often conceived as interconnected with cities as ‘magnets’ for migrants, ‘nodes’ in mobility trajectories or ‘destinations’ for settlement. This paper frames the urban as critical to conceptualising the manner that mobility is actively and contingently assembled across the border and in the constitution of migrant lives. This argument builds on understanding the relationship between urban life and migration regimes in South Korea where the state and infrastructures of migration play a strong role in moulding the forms and outcomes of transnational mobilities in the everyday spaces of cities. The paper examines the urban lives of two differently positioned mobile populations in the Seoul Metropolitan Region: migrant workers in the manufacturing industries and English teachers working in schools, private academies and universities. Drawing on Said’s ‘contrapuntal’ analysis, the paper explores the ways in which these migrant lives overlap and diverge: in recent political-economic transformations and the regulation of migration, the urban geographies of labour and life, and the timing of migration. In doing so, the paper offers a window into Seoul’s emerging reliance on and differential incorporation of migrants and demonstrates the critical interlinkages between the governmental technologies of border crossing, everyday life and possibilities for the future.     

Dealing with racist incidents: what do beginning teachers learn from schools?

This article focuses on how schools respond to racist incidents, and what new teachers learn from their involvement in those processes. It analyses four incidents involving the pupils of four beginning teachers. The article suggests that in each case, schools either partly or wholly avoided addressing the incident, and that this avoidance can be understood in terms of the colour and power evasive discourse, which is the dominant discourse on race in Western societies, and in most schools. One aspect of this discourse is that racism is defined on the basis of individual intentions, not outcomes. The article argues that it may be possible to adopt a more race cognisant approach with student teachers and staff in schools, building on nascent understandings of institutional racism, which shifts the focus to outcomes rather than intentions. The article demonstrates this approach, analysing each incident in terms of its consequences for the learning of the new teacher, and for the promotion of race equality in the school. While the small number of incidents may initially appear heartening, their negative impact on both teacher confidence and children’s understanding may be significant. The findings suggest that in the changing context of initial teacher education in England, approaches to supporting both schools and new teachers in this often misunderstood area are much needed, and that one way forward may be to give teachers time and support to critically reflect on and discuss their experiences.     

School (non-)attendance and ‘mobile cultures’: theoretical and empirical insights from Indigenous Australia

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians are significantly and substantially less likely to be attending school on a given day than their non-Indigenous counterparts. This has been shown to have long-term consequences for the development of the mainstream literacy and numeracy skills associated with formal schooling, as well as later school and employment outcomes. Reducing this gap is a key focus of government education policy within Australia. Hampering the design of effective policy, however, is the lack of a robust empirical and theoretical framework to explain school (non-)attendance that not only builds on existing research, but also reflects the specific circumstances and aspirations of Indigenous students and their families. This article applies mixed-methods quantitative and qualitative techniques to explore what Indigenous student (non-)attendance in Australia might tell us regarding the relationship between highly marginalised student groups and formal education systems. A robust understanding of these geographically and socio-culturally situated school (non-)attendance patterns and processes allows us to build on and contribute to human capital, critical, resistance, and other behavioural theories of formal education and draw parallels for other population sub-groups globally, especially those that display ongoing patterns of high geographic mobility. Our analysis suggests that absenteeism amongst marginalised and/or highly mobile populations, may be most usefully conceived of as a manifestation of structural incompatibilities between formal schooling systems and the life projects and circumstances of these school-aged children and their families.