Reconceptualising refugee education: exploring the diverse learning contexts of unaccompanied young refugees upon resettlement

Abstract

This article explores unaccompanied young refugees’ participation in various learning contexts beyond school. Drawing from a qualitative study based on interviews with unaccompanied young refugees, educators and social workers in Norway, the findings emphasise the need for a holistic approach to refugee education in and across contexts of learning. The refugees originate from countries where access to formal schooling was difficult or disrupted. Many of them have been exposed to traumatic events prior to arrival. As the educational and psychosocial needs of resettled refugees are diverse and complex, it is unlikely that schools are able to meet them all. Participation in diverse settings, activities and practices beyond school may expand young refugees’ opportunities for meaningful learning as well as promote their social inclusion. Facilitating access to adequate learning contexts, along with supporting their own commitment to succeed, is decisive for young refugees’ educational achievement, psychosocial adjustment and inclusion in society. The paper emphasises the need for reconceptualising refugee education as inclusive of diverse learning contexts in and outside of school. Enhanced collaboration between schools, local community organisations and wider society will facilitate and support resettling young refugees’ opportunities to achieve their fullest potential.     

Transitioning from ‘outside observer’ to ‘inside player’ in social work: practitioner and student perspectives on developing expertise in decision-making

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a six-year qualitative study of social workers’ perspectives on factors influencing decision-making in children and families social work in England. Data collected between 2010 and 2016 reflect frontline practice during a period of substantial change and reform in UK social work. This paper builds on an earlier analysis with data from all three stages of the study capturing the lived experiences of practitioners ranging from student social workers to qualified advanced practitioners in management roles. Data from 9 focus groups comprising 51 participants were analysed using grounded theory. Data analysis generated four representative categories: developing agency in the social work role; troubling emotions; transitions in the development of expertise and the impact of organisational cultures in children and families social work services. An emerging theoretical framework is presented. This identifies the significance of transitions and threshold concepts in the development of the social work professional from the role of students as ‘outside players looking in’ through to the expertise of qualified practitioners as ‘inside players’ within organisations. Recognising periods of liminality, transitional learning and uncertainties in developing decision-making expertise may be of significant benefit to social work education and the profession.     

Making sense of collective identity and trauma through drawing: the case study of a Palestinian refugee student

Abstract

Identity construction can be very complex for refugee children, especially for Palestinian refugee children. For refugee children, organised violence and immigration are important parts of their life experience that can lead to trauma, which in turn influences how they construct their collective identity. Schools have to consider this specific experience as the development of a meaningful identity is an important factor in refugee students’ well-being and school adjustment. School-based activities centred on creative expression can help refugee students in expressing trauma and in making sense of their identity and migration experience. This paper presents the case study of a 9-year-old Palestinian refugee boy in Canada and explores how he expressed and made sense of his multiple identities in his drawings. Many features of the boy’s drawings evoked a wounded identity, especially spatial disorganisation and enmeshment. Data analysis revealed that the boy might have been experiencing collective identity trauma and that he used drawing and a peer as props to heal his wounded identity. Both drawing and the space offered by his teacher to safely explore and experiment with different identities contributed to the integration of his multiple identities into a meaningful whole, which contributed to his school adjustment.     

Voices rarely heard: Personal construct assessments of Sub-Saharan unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee youth in England

Unaccompanied refugee minors are particularly vulnerable to stress and risk during the journey to asylum-countries and in the post-migration environment. This study aimed to determine ways in which positive post-migration development and integration could be achieved for this group. Thematic analysis of interviews based on Personal Construct assessments reflected young asylum-seeking and refugee individuals' experiences of their social situation in England. Participants emphasised the importance of social support as a means for hope, as an escape from distress and as an opportunity to form relationships that resembled family bonds. They expressed their desire to move forward and to achieve their goals, as well as their fear of rejections and issues related to trust. The participants' voices illustrate areas where gaps remain to be filled in terms of providing sufficient support to unaccompanied minors and youth in England, with implications for future research, policy and practice. The importance of providing unaccompanied children and youth with an opportunity to engage in meaningful activities with peers and adults is demonstrated and the need to provide initiatives that seek to prevent discrimination is highlighted.     

Immigrants,Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Abstract

This article reviews policies and services related to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S. Definitions of immigration categories are provided to clarify the context in which services operate. Particular attention is given to issues that are unique to populations of the Southwest. Historical information on this region is offered; immigration trends and recent statistics are presented. The article is based on published data; field interviews with personnel in selected immigrant and refugee serving social agencies are used to compliment the literature. The authors highlight the social consequences of the global phenomenon of migration, whether motivated by economic or political realities. Recommendations for those who serve immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are offered.     

Collaboration patterns among Swedish professionals in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children: an explorative study

This study explores patterns of collaboration between Swedish professionals involved in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children. A qualitative case study methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 20 statutory social workers, social workers at care homes, police officers, Swedish Migration Board officers, and legal guardians. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. The results showed low levels of collaboration among the professionals and the use of different strategies by the professionals to manage their work tasks. Patterns were found among the professionals: some tended to isolate themselves from interaction and acted on the basis of personal preference, and others tended to behave sensitively, withdraw, and become passive observers rather than active partners in the repatriation process. These behaviours made it difficult for the relevant professionals to employ dignity and efficiency in the repatriation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking refugee children.     

Braided geographies: bordered forms and cross-border formations in refugee comics

ABSTRACT

This article offers a close analysis of a trilogy of ‘refugee comics’ entitled ‘A Perilous Journey’, which were produced in 2015 by the non-profit organisation PositiveNegatives, to conceive of comics as a bordered form able to establish alternative cross-border formations, or ‘counter-geographies’, as it calls them. Drawing on the work of Martina Tazzioloi, Thierry Groensteen, Jason Dittmer, Michael Rothberg and others, the article argues that it is by building braided, multi-directional relationships between different geographic spaces, both past and present, that refugee comics realise a set of counter-geographic and potentially decolonising imaginaries. Through their spatial form, refugee comics disassemble geographic space to reveal counter-geographies of multiple synchronic and diachronic relations and coformations, as these occur between different regions and locations, and as they accumulate through complex aggregations of traumatic and other affective memories. The article contends that we need an interdisciplinary combination of the critical reading skills of humanities scholars and the rigorous anthropological, sociological and theoretical work of the social sciences to make sense of the visualisation of these counter-geographic movements in comics. It concludes by showing how the counter-geographies visualised by refugee comics can subvert the geopolitical landscape of discrete nation-states and their territorially bound imagined communities.     

Children with disabilities in Swedish child welfare – a differentiating and disabling practice

ABSTRACT

Research shows that children with disabilities are victims of violence and abuse to a higher extent than other children and thus need support from social services. In Sweden, cooperation between two different social services units is required to support children with disabilities in socially vulnerable families. In this study, we have examined the intersection between children and disability in a Swedish social services context from the perspective of childhood studies and disability studies. The reasoning of the two units including the child perspective emerged during focus group interviews based on two vignettes. The results show two different rationalities, which has consequences for the disabled child. In spite of a social policy where the ‘best interests of the child’ are meant to prevail and disabilities are meant to be interpreted as barriers in society, children with disabilities seem to be reduced to individuals who are lacking in ability and competency and who are profoundly victimised by power structures that favour the adult perspective in social services.     

In favour of online counselling?

Abstract

A ‘surf on the net’ reveals that internationally, many organisations are providing a range of counselling services online including counselling via email, interactive ‘chat rooms’ and teleconferencing. Online counselling appears to be offered primarily as a ‘fee for service’ and many online practitioners work in the area of mental health. In Australia, KIDS Help Line offers ‘free’ counselling for young people using both email and chat rooms. Meanwhile, other organisations/professional groups are struggling to come to terms with this new form of service delivery. This paper begins with a brief explanation of where Relationships Australia (Queensland) is placed in terms of online counselling followed by some of the advantages and disadvantages of online counselling based on a literature search. Concluding statements lean towards favouring online counselling as it offers a new form of intervention that may suit many clients and organisations. The term ‘online’ counselling refers herein to e.counselling or email counselling     

Visual methodologies for research with refugee youth

Abstract

In the current moment of social, political, economic and environmental disquiet, unprecedented numbers of children have been forced to leave their homes and settle in new communities. As schools worldwide receive increasing numbers of refugee youth, there is a pressing need for thoughtful educational research that inquires into the unique individual needs and experiences of displaced learners. Given that students’ journeys are shaped by movements across physical, cultural and linguistic spaces, we suggest that related scholarship might benefit from Third Space theory. Within this theoretical framework, neither language nor culture is static. Rather, both are continuously shaped through interactions – including those that are non-verbal. For students who may be learning in an unfamiliar language, visual methodologies offer a means and venue for communication. To explore how refugee youth might benefit from Third Space theory and visual methodologies, we first review scholarship that examines how children and schools negotiate educational space. We then describe a series of methodologies that scholars might consider when conducting research with refugee youth, including photovoice, fotonovela, digital storytelling and quilting. Significantly, pairing a Third Space theoretical framework with visual and participatory methodologies may address issues of language, power, vulnerability and ethics.     

Minority parents’ coping efforts to improve their children’s academic achievement: the Tanodas in Hungary

ABSTRACT

Our paper is based on a study carried out among students of Hungarian tanodas – second chance educational institutions in Hungary – and their parents. The findings of the interview research did not support deficit models and suggest that schooling is a vital issue for both Roma/Gypsy families and their children. All families have limited resources and opportunities to achieve desired goals, and despite their strong intent and determination, they often seem to lack a clear vision of the steps to be taken. Our results show that children have to cope with negligence, stigmatization, exclusion, discrimination, etc. Turning to tanodas for help has become a sort of coping strategy in and of itself. We could identify, as common parental strategies, the ‘squeezing out’ of the maximum available scarce opportunities, building on social networks, and monitoring their children’s studies. Students’ coping mechanisms regarding identity-threats were more varied and ranged from confrontation via proxy control and social support, to disengaging from school and taking on a negative identity or, the opposite, taking up positive roles.     

Roma and the politics of double discourse in contemporary Europe

ABSTRACT

The article analyses the politics of ‘double discourse’ in relation to Roma that has evolved in contemporary neoliberal Europe. On the one hand, the double discourse promotes the integration, rights and equal opportunities of Roma, on the other, it denies recognition of, and ways to address, enduring structural violence and rising social insecurity. The article argues that the politics of ‘double discourse’, as a neoliberal approach towards Roma, is structured by two contradictory discourses that speak to different audiences, using duplicitous approaches to create anti-Roma consensus and maintain the critical difference and subordinated position of the racialised Romani populations in Europe. By studying the representation of Roma in the cases of so-called 'child theft' in Greece and Ireland, and in the recent ‘refugee crisis’, the paper identifies and discusses three dimensions of contemporary neoliberal double discourse: racialised de-Europeanisation, neoliberal undeservingness and (dis)articulation of citizenship.     

‘If I was a different ethnicity,would she treat me the same?’: Latino parents’ experiences obtaining autism services

This article reports on an ethnographic study with 12 Latino families of children on the autism spectrum related to obtaining autism services in Los Angeles County. Using critical discourse analysis of interviews, observations, and records, we consider the experiences of the Latino families in relation to: a discursively constructed ‘autism parent’ subject position that mandates ‘fighting’ service systems to ‘win’ autism services for children, originating from White middle-class parents’ socioeconomic resources and social capital; a neoliberal social services climate that assumes scarcity of available resources and prioritizes austerity in their authorization; and a media and institutional ‘cultural deficit’ discourse that attributes disparities in autism services for Latino children to their parents’ presumed culturally-based ‘passivity.’ We argue that parental discourse about fighting, or not fighting, for autism services is engendered by a tension between a parental logic of care, and the logic of competition of the economic market.     

Social support networks,instant messaging,and gender equity in refugee education

ABSTRACT

This paper addresses the role of instant messaging chat groups to support teacher training and gender equity initiatives in Kenyan refugee camps. Our findings are based on survey data with refugee teachers in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps (n?=?203), group interviews with refugee teachers in Kakuma (n?=?21), and interviews with international instructors of teacher training programs in Nairobi, Toronto, and Vancouver (n?=?14). In our analysis, we apply amplification theory, feminist science and technology studies paradigms, and considerations of transnational approaches to understand the use of instant messaging among refugee teacher communities. Our framework explores how social and cultural norms are amplified through transnational text and instant messaging related to teacher training and in support of gender equity. Peer-to-peer group chats draw on transnational learning opportunities and expand these engagements through group chats between men and women refugee teachers across camps as well as through community engagement about gender equity initiatives in education. International instructors identify both value and hesitation in navigating the quantity and content of these communications, such as learning more about refugee teachers’ daily lives in the camps and concern about following and managing the amount of communication that can ensue over chat groups. Our work has practical implications for transnational teacher training programs in refugee camps, illuminates how mobile technology and chat groups allow women and men in the community to engage and support girls’ education, and questions how text messaging affects the lived and day-to-day experiences of women refugee teachers.     

Letters from the future: an exercise with child welfare predictions

Abstract

The article presents an empirical exercise about predictions in child welfare. In the exercise, social workers imagined letters which they could receive from a child and his/her parents in five years’ time. The children had been in care for one year at the moment of letter-writing. When the social workers wrote the imaginary letters, they used their professional imagination, based on practice knowledge and experience, and were involved in a role-play. The analysis of the letters (34 from ‘children’ and 33 letters from ‘parents’) demonstrates four themes shared by the letters: ordinary life, family contacts and return home, social problems as shadows and assessment of the placement. Two narratives were performed: the narrative of future of ordinary life and that of the troubles. It is suggested that imaginary letters are helpful in highlighting practitioners’ sense of the future, professional imagination as well as the empowering and critical points in practice.     

Living with dying and disabilism: death and disabled children

This paper explores the ‘offensive presence’ death has sometimes represented in disability studies. The paper focuses on interviews with three mothers of children with the label of life‐limiting and life‐threatening impairments and positions their experiences within the current policy context for disabled children in England. The narratives are part of a wider on‐going study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council ‘Does Every Child Matter, post‐Blair? The interconnections of disabled childhoods’ (RES‐062‐23‐1138). Findings include: (i) families experience social isolation and poverty; (ii) support from services is lacking and/or inappropriate; (iii) families worry about the future and the (physical, social and emotional) costs of care. The paper concludes by suggesting that social oppression theories of disability have much to offer in terms of challenging the disadvantage disabled children and their families’ experience during life and in death.     

Teaching Note—Reification and Recognition in the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program

ABSTRACT

At an Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program course in a correctional facility, roughly half the students are from the university (outside students) and half are residents of the facility (inside students). I participated as a teaching assistant in an Inside-Out social work course on drugs and crime that was offered in a prison for men and interpreted the observed and reported experience of students using Lukács’ concepts of recognition and reification as discussed by Axel Honneth. This teaching note explores the implications of the Inside-Out course for outside students’ reification and recognition of people who are incarcerated, and by extension, members of groups that typically receive social work services. The pedagogical elements of Inside-Out courses that promote recognition and the limitations of the program are discussed.     

Towards an immature sociology

Sociological theory displays a tendency to depict the social world in terms of completed ‘beings’. The social, thus depicted, is a world of powers to ‘finish’(such as the power granted to convention to provide for social order), and finished products (such as agents and ethical points-of-view). As sociologists of childhood have attempted to bring children into sociological focus in their own right, the disciplinary concern with the ‘complete’ has required that children be attributed the properties assumed more normally to belong to adults. The sociology of childhood has thus preserved the privilege of the complete and the mature over the incomplete and the immature. In this paper the key sociological issues of convention, agency and ethics are given a theoretical interpretation that makes them fit for understanding childhood. The ability of convention to complete social order is questioned. Agency is portrayed as the emergent property of networks of dependency rather than the possession of individuals. An alternative to the ethics of ‘positions’ is offered in the form of an ethics of ‘motion’. Where extant sociologies of childhood have brought children into the ‘finished’ world of sociological theory, this paper uses childhood's ontological ambiguity to open the door onto an unfinished social world.