04. Inclusive Education
Paper
The Implications of Caring and the Ethics of Care on Inclusion: a Case-Study
Eleni Damianidou1, Helen Phtiaka2
1European University Cyprus, Cyprus; 2University of Cyprus
Presenting Author: Damianidou, Eleni
Providing care is a moral act. According to care ethics, provision of care aims to satisfy the needs and promote the well-being of vulnerable others. To this end, the one-caring takes decisions regarding the assumed best interest of the cared-for (Noddings 2002). Although the definition of care is closely related to cultural and contextual factors, care in general is considered both a labour and an ideal that guides normative judgement and action (Held 2006). Hence, care may be understood as a virtue or motive (Rachels 1999). Tronto (2005) suggests that care involves the following elements: a) attentiveness, aiming to recognize the other’s needs; b) responsibility as a behaviour that is different from obligation; c) competence, in terms of having the adequate knowledge to provide care; and d) responsiveness, as the outcome of understanding the vulnerability of the cared-for and the inequality in the caring relationship.
In the context of impairment, being cared for is sometimes inevitable, particularly when the impairment is severe. Thus, some disabled people may find themselves permanently dependent on others. According to Oliver (1989) though, disabled people’s dependency on non-disabled people is not a de facto situation; in contrast, it is created ‘not because of the effects of the functional limitations on their capacities for self-care, but because their lives
are shaped by a variety of economic, political, and social forces which produce this dependency’ (p. 17). Thus, in a context where caring for disabled people is considered a moral obligation of the non-disabled ones (Kittay 2011), particularly of mothers (Tronto 2005), and an act of welcomed philanthropy towards some allegedly pitiful, incapable, and less than human creatures (Oliver 1989), caring may eventually generate unequal power relations, stigmatize the cared-for as a weakling, and thereby reproduce disability
(Scott and Doughty 2012).
Even though being a disabled parent may be a challenging and fulfilling task, which may imply ‘recapturing’ a lost gender (Ganle et al. 2020), in the long-term the combination of parenthood and disability may entail receiving care from adult children (Ireland and Pakenham 2010). According to Heger (2017), adult children, daughters more often, seem to feel a social obligation to take care of their disabled parents. However, being the one-caring for a disabled parent is not always an easy task. Thus, elevated levels of anxiety and greater adverse caregiving experiences have been reported by some children of disabled parents compared to children of non-disabled parents (Shepherd-Banigan et al. 2020). In addition, likely negative caregiving experiences, coupled with lack of choice, seem to be closely related to poor adjustment to caring for a disabled parent (Heger 2017).
On the other hand, it is argued that caring for a disabled parent may result to benefits for the one-caring child, because of reaching higher levels of maturity and independence, as well as acquiring practical skills (Ireland and Pakenham 2010). Hence, it seems that there are contradictions regarding the literature around the impact of caring for disabled parents on non-disabled children, which need to be better explored.
Since simply imagining what life is like when a non-disabled person giving care becomes a disabled person needing caring, and the opposite, is not enough, it seems essential to go beyond the superficial, aiming to comprehensively understand the impact of an event like disability and its dimensions. However, observations made by outsiders may miss a large part of what disabled people really think and experience (Oliver 1990). For this reason, it seems essential to listen to the stories of disabled people, who had to switch roles, in the context of reality, within which an interpretation of care as a tool for (dis)empowerment and (in)dependence may occur. Thus, through a shared activity of meaning-making, a better understanding of care in the context of disability may occur.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe aim of this study was to explore and understand the experience of care in the context of disability. The main research questions were:
1. Why does the one-caring provide care to a disabled sibling and how is the received care experienced by the disabled care-for person?
2. How switching caring roles is experienced by the former and current one-caring and the former and current cared-for person?
3. What are the implications of the distorted power relations for the former and current one-caring and the former and current cared-for, at the personal and family level?
To answer the research question, a qualitative case study approach was adopted. The research was conducted in Cyprus, which is a member of the European Union and therefore has approved the European Disability Strategy and the United Nations’ Declaration for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. However, Cypriots are still prejudiced against disability and have negative stereotypes about disabled people, reflected in their tendency to interpret disability based on the medical and charity model.
The key informants were two women, with whom the researcher was acquainted. They were purposively selected to participate in this research, because they both had experience of being a) a disabled person, b) the one-caring, c) the cared-for, d) a woman and e) a member of a patriarchal society that considers caring as a virtue of women. Trying to gain a comprehensive understanding and to capture the participants’ insights and experiences, data was collected with two personal semi-structured interviews. The interviews were carried out nine months after the stroke that turned the one-caring mother to a cared-for disabled parent and the cared-for disabled child to the one-caring daughter.
Interview questions aimed at gathering information regarding the experience of disability as a disabled and non-disabled person, the perceived level of independence, the process of transition throughout oppositional roles, the subjective understanding of well-being and the efforts to adjust to the role of the one-caring and the cared-for.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsBased on the narratives of the two participants in this study, it may be concluded that effective care in the context of disability is closely related to Tronto’s (2005) suggestions about attentiveness, responsibility, competence and responsiveness. As evident in the above case study, there were shortcomings that prevented care from becoming a tool for the independence and empowerment of the disabled cared-for. Thus, Anna did not recognize Lena’s needs, nor understood the inequality in the caring relationship with her daughter, while Lena felt obliged to take care of her mother and tried to respond to her needs, albeit her lack of competence. As a result, interdependence between the two women continued, while it was enhanced by Anna’s denial to accept loss of power and independence, as indicators of dignity, on the one hand, and, on the other, Lena’s limited skills and readiness to become independent and take control of her own and her mother’s life, as indicators of empowerment.
Yet, switching the roles between the one-caring and the cared-for enabled self-reflection and paved the path towards the acknowledgement of the limitations and the harm that may occur because of the unequal power relations, such as the relationship of care in the context of impairment. Thus, the findings of the present study support the potential for overcoming the barriers to independence by moving out from the comfort zone of dependency and undertaking responsibilities, such as taking care of a disabled sibling. In this way, disabled children may be empowered and learn to pursue a higher level of independence, while parents may acknowledge the need to reframe care and encourage their children to act autonomously.
ReferencesGanle, J. K., R. R. Apolot, T. Rugoho, and J. Sumankuuro. 2020. “‘They Are My Future’: Childbearing Desires and Motivations among Women with Disabilities in Ghana – Implications for Reproductive Healthcare.” Reproductive Health 17 (1): 151–161. doi:10.1186/s12978-020-01000-y.
Heger, D. 2017. “The Mental Health of Children Providing Care to Their Elderly Parent.” Health Economics 26 (12): 1617–1629. doi:10.1002/hec.3457.
Held, V. 2006. The Ethics of Care. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Ireland, M. J., and K. I. Pakenham. 2010. “Youth Adjustment to Parental Illness or Disability: The Role of Illness Characteristics, Caregiving, and Attachment.” Psychology, Health & Medicine 15 (6): 632–645. doi:10.1080/13548506.2010.498891.
Noddings, N. 2002. Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy. Berkeley, CA: University of CA Press.
Oliver, M. 1990. The Politics of Disablement. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Rachels, J. 1999. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. San Francisco, CA: McGraw-Hill.
Scott, A., and C. Doughty. 2012. “Care, Empowerment and Self-Determination in the Practice of Peer Support.” Disability & Society 27 (7): 1011–1024. doi:10.1080/0968759 9.2012.695578.
Shepherd-Banigan, M., K. A. Jones, K. Wang, N. DePasquale, C. Van Houtven, and J. M. Olsen. 2020. “Mechanisms through Which a Family Caregiver Coaching Intervention Might Reduce Anxiety among Children in Military Households.” Maternal and Child Health Journal 24 (10): 1248–1258. doi:10.1007/s10995-020-02964-w.
Tronto, J. C. 2005. “An Ethic of Care.” In Feminist Theory: A Philosophical Anthology, edited by A. E. Cudd and R. O. Andreasen, 251–263. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
04. Inclusive Education
Paper
Pedagogical Encounters with Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Adolescents. A Case based Study
Kyriaki Doumas
Linnaeus University, Sweden
Presenting Author: Doumas, Kyriaki
Research questions
This study focuses on main aspects of the pedagogical encounter between teachers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents in introductory non-formal classes within the frame of a non-governmental organization (NGO) in a Greek island.
This NGO offers housing to about 100 hundred unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents as well as introductory non-formal teaching in a number of subjects as Greek and English language, mathematics, music and art. The students are from different countries for instance, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia and Morocco.
Specifically the research questions concern:
- Which are teachers’ main pedagogical and didactical challenges and concerns in this context?
- How do teachers approach the unaccompanied asylum-seeking students’ heterogeneity in introductory non-formal classes?
- How do the unaccompanied asylum-seeking students experience the pedagogical encounter with their introductory non-formal classes? Which are their main challenges and concerns?
Theoretical background
Research on the education of newly arrived refugee students is limited and mainly descriptive aiming at evaluating best practices (Nilsson Folke, 2017). Several researchers have emphasized the importance of a holistic model of addressing the refugee students’ social, emotional and learning needs (Arnot & Pinson, 2010). Moral issues such as a welcoming environment without racism (Candappa, 2019; Rutter, 2006), a caring ethos and giving of hope (Taylor & Sindhu, 2012), engagement in education Christie & Sidhu, 2006) and even compassion (Pinson, Arnot & Candappa, 2010) are signified. Devine (2009) have highlighted how the friendships that the refugee students develop at school are crucial for the sense of regularity and belonging. Specifically, during extended transition time that intensifies uncertainty and vulnerability (Dånge, 2022).
This study connects to the holistic approach highlighted by the referred previous research and investigates an unsearched area, the non-formal forms of education of unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents within the framework of an NGO in Greece. Although the educational activities of NGOs concern a transitory period, they are of great importance, as it is the first offer to unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents to be involved in an organised learning environment during a demanding, usually long period, of waiting for the outcome of asylum-seeking.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedMethod
Interviews with nine Greek teachers and one volunteer American professor as well as three group interviews with 15 unaccompanied asylum-seeking students have been conducted. Contextual analysis was used to analyze the material (Svensson, 2020; Svensson & Doumas, 2013). Contextual analysis is based on approaching phenomena rather than defining them beforehand. In this study the phenomenon under consideration is the pedagogical encounter between teachers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents in introductory non-formal classes within the frame of a NGO in a Greek island.
This approach involves two sides; one side is the analytic of delimitation of the whole of a phenomenon and of its parts and the other side is the contextual of discerning and delimiting this whole and the parts in and as dependent of their contexts. The delimitation and interpretation of the parts had to be made on the base of their referential meaning, in relation to the context from which they were brought out, as the same wordings may have different meaning in different contexts. Thus, the delimitation of the phenomenon is analytic and contextual at the same time.
After multiple readings, those parts within each interview that were relevant to the investigation were identified and marked. After systematic comparisons between the participants’ accounts, similarities and differences were discerned that constituted the basis for the delimitation and description of the phenomenon under investigation. The outcome of contextual analysis is relatively short descriptions in the form of categories or themes that represent the character (the content and the form) of the investigated phenomenon.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsResults
The following types of pedagogical encounter were identified after the analysis of the interviews: The “school” as the bridge between depressing privacy and community learning life and The “school” as double-sided open window. Besides students’ main concern was characterized by the category Uncertainty and vacuum.
The “school” as the bridge between depressing privacy and community learning life refers to teachers’ pedagogical and didactical approach as a continuous discovery of and adjustment of the lessons to the students’ needs, creating communities of friendship through common goals and giving hope.
The “school” as double-sided open window refers to teachers’ pedagogical and didactical approach as existential acceptance of the students’ personhood, engagement in the pedagogical relation and even love as the ground for all actors’ openness to the joy and challenge of the cultural dialogue.
Uncertainty and vacuum refers to students’ experience of a position in a frieze of life, waiting for long procedures with uncertain outcome.
Significance
This study pay attention to ethical aspects of teachers’ pedagogical didactical challenges in specific contexts of non-formal education within the frame of NGOs. This field is the first pedagogical encounter of the unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents and crucial for their mental, emotional and intellectual balance and development while waiting for the outcome of demanding decision procedures.
ReferencesReferences
Candappa, M. (2019). Border politics, the “hostile environment” for migration, and education in the UK. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, 9(3), 414-433.
Devine, D. (2009). Mobilising capitals? Migrant children’s negotiation of
their everyday lives in school. British Journal of Sociology of Education,
30, 521–535.
Dånge, L. (2022). Taking control and reorienting future aspirations: How young refugees in Denmark navigate life between integration and repatriation. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Ahead-of-print(Ahead-of-print), 1-18.
Nilsson Folke, J. (2017). Lived transitions: experiences of learning and inclusion among newly arrived students. (Doctoral dissertation), Stockholm: Stockholm University.
Svensson, L.G. (2020). Kontextuell analys: en forskningsmetodologi och forskningsansats. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Svensson, L. & Doumas, K. (2013). Contextual and Analytic Qualities of Research Methods Exemplified in Research on Teaching. Qualitative inquiry, Vol. 19 Issue 6, p. 441-450. DOI: 10.1177/1077800413482097.
Pinson, H., & Arnot, M. (2010). Local conceptualisations of the education of
asylum seeking and refugee students: From hostile to holistic models.
International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(3), 247–267.
Pinson, H., Arnot, M., & Candappa, M. (2010). Education, asylum and the
non-citizen child: The politics of compassion and belonging. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Rutter, J. (2006). Refugee children in the UK. Maidenhead: Open University
Press.
Taylor, S., & Sidhu, R. K. (2012). Supporting refugee students in schools:
What constitutes inclusive education? International Journal of Inclusive
Education, 16(1), 39–56.
04. Inclusive Education
Paper
Supporting Migration Background Students: Institutional Collaboration Between Internal and External Actors
Jeffrey B. Hall, Guri Skedsmo
University of Oslo, Norway
Presenting Author: Hall, Jeffrey B.
Inclusion of all students in a warm and welcoming school environment is a central goal of school districts and individual schools (Hilt, 2017). Moreover, as Fahey et al. (2019) point out, education is key to equity and inclusion in a diverse society of migration. In an Erasmus+-project, we investigated how primary and secondary schools in five European countries collaborated with other actors to support pupils with migration backgrounds. Focus is on inclusion and ensuring equivalence of opportunity for the migration background students. To succeed, schools cannot work in isolation, but requires the support of the local community, families, and professional networks (Ainscow, 2020). This paper aims to investigate what characterizes networks where leaders, teachers and other school professionals collaborate with external actors to support migrant students enrolled in introductory classes.
Theoretically, the paper draws on institutional theory, more closely the ideas of intra- and interinstitutional collaboration. As claimed by for example Eisenberg et al. (2010), organizations exist in complex, dynamic, and relatively unstable environments. To make meaning of a phenomenon in question, in our case the inclusion of students with migration backgrounds, multiple actors cooperate within and between heterogenous, institutional boundaries (Thornton & Ocasio, 2008). Through such dynamic forms of interaction, actors must moreover work together in both formal and informal meeting places, and through this both form and engage in various networks (Czarniawska, 2008).
In Norway, many young students in basic education coming from countries outside the EU arrive without their parents; often males aged 16-25 (Eide et al, 2017). In many cases, these migrants lack papers or documented formal education. To qualify for admission to main-stream upper-secondary programs or higher education, they must first acquire basic qualifications through a separate introductory program (“kombinasjonsklasser”), aimed at young, adult migrants. By law, all students are legally obliged to attend comprehensive school (Years 1-10); whilst most students complete upper-secondary education (Years 11-13/14), even though dropout rates are substantial (Education Act, 1998; Halvorsrud, 2017). To retain students, schools collaborate with a range of other public and private partners, such as healthcare facilities, youth clubs, local police authorities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Norwegian Red Cross. Such collaboration is focus of this report on the Norwegian case through zooming in on two separate networks.
Once young migrants arrive the country, and are granted e.g. asylum status, enrol into combination classes to acquire necessary basic education and Norwegian language skills. These classes are a collaboration between the county-run upper-secondary schools and the local, municipal authorities. Schools offering such programs were targeted in the case studies, since they handle most of the teaching and social-pedagogical work surrounding these students, in collaboration with other actors in their respective networks such as health services, social services, and the local police force.
Public upper-secondary schools are legally governed by one of the 11 counties, responsible for carrying out demands put forth in the Education Act (1998) and the National Core Curriculum (LK20). To oversee enactment of these responsibilities, County Governors’ Offices (CGOs) inspect schools on a regular basis. Official inspection reports are regularly published on CGOs’ websites (Author A, xxxx). In addition, each county must ensure that each school within their respective jurisdictions have a sound system for assessing and monitoring regulatory requirements in accordance with §13-10 in the Education Act (1998). Risk management is also an important part of such a quality system on the regional and school level.
In the study, two key questions are addressed; What characterizes collaborative processes in support of students with migration backgrounds, and what challenges do these actors experience?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedAs a first step, several promising networks were identified in various municipalities. Two upper-secondary case schools (S1, S2) in the south-eastern part of Norway were purposefully sampled (Patton, 2002). One of the schools has approximately 1.000 students and 200 staff members (S1), the other around 1.500 students and 250 staff members (S2). In both schools, approximately 30-40% of the student body are of minority and/or migrant background.
As Flyvberg (2016) and others have argued, case studies offer in-depth knowledge of specific social settings, here being two upper-secondary schools. Characteristics and size of the two networks enabled interesting data collection and are both highly relevant to the case study, as well as comparative analyses in the overall project. The Norwegian project team held preparatory meetings with leadership at each of the participating schools, and presentations of the overall scope of the project, ethical guidelines and case study focus were held to fully inform the case schools. Informants were then recruited through use of snowball sampling, initially by contacting the schools’ leadership teams (Parker et al., 2019). The leadership teams proposed a list of relevant informants and members of the networks, including for example school leaders, teachers, support staff and psychiatric nurses. Online interviews were conducted in both networks, excessive field notes were made, and the interview data was securely uploaded and stored in a separate, secure server. In all, 13 interviews were completed the fall of 2021 in the two networks. Content analysis of the interview data was then done, and local and national policy documents served as secondary data.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsIn the data, several themes emerged; a. network actors and experienced challenges, b. goals and effects of networks, c. activities and measures, d. building and maintaining a network, e. level of support during the COVID pandemic. Based on analysis of qualitative interviews with key actors in the two cases, findings suggest that within schools, teachers and school leaders collaborate formally and informally with a range of other professionals, for example health personnel and support staff. Externally, the same schools form networks with local actors and agencies, e.g. police, youth clubs and municipal refugee offices. Through collaboration taking place in these networks, findings also demonstrate several tensions arising in the effort to improve conditions for the migrant students in focus. Such challenges may jeopardize the common goal of such collaborative networks; fully supporting migrant students in their academic development and making them feel valued and cared for. Finally, during the period between March 2020 and February 2022, schools in Norway (as other countries) were subject to lockdown due the pandemic situation. This was highly challenging for many actors in and around schools and their networks, also for all students who overnight had to shift from a classroom to a home-schooling setting. Among the diverse student body in the two case schools, students enrolled in introductory classes were especially vulnerable and of great concern to the informants.
ReferencesAinscow, M. (2020). Promoting Inclusion and Equity in Education: Lessons from International Experiences. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 6(1), 7-16.
Author A. (xxxx). xxxx.
Czarniawska, B. (2008). A Theory of Organizing. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Directorate for Education and Training (2020). Core Curriculum – Values and Principles for Primary and Secondary Education. Accessed at https://www.udir.no/lk20/overordnet-del/?lang=eng
Eide, K. et al. (2017). Hjem eller Institusjon? Om Tvetydigheten i Omsorgsarbeid med Enslige Mindreårige Flyktninger Bosatt i Kommunene [Home or Residential Care? Ambiguity in Professional Care with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Resettled in Local Communities]. Tidsskrift for velferdsforskning, 20(4), 317-331.
Eisenberg, E. M. et al. (2010). Organizational Communication - Balancing Creativity and Constraint (6th ed.). Bedford/St. Martin.
Fahey, É., Russell, H., & Grotti, R. (2019). Diverse Neighbourhoods: An Analysis of the Residential Distribution of Immigrants in Ireland. Economic and Social Research Institute. Accessed at https://iris.unitn.it/bitstream/11572/328002/1/2019_Diverse%20Neighbourhoods.pdf
Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five Misunderstandings about Case-study Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219-245.
Government Act (1998). Act Relating to Primary and Secondary Education and Training (the Education Act). LOV-1998-07-17-61. Accessed at https://lovdata.no/dokument/NLE/lov/1998-07-17-61
Halvorsrud, K. (2017). Student Dropout in Upper Secondary Education in Norway: A Challenge to the Principles of the Welfare State?. London Review of Education, 15(2), 302-316.
Hilt, L. T. (2017). Education Without a Shared Language: Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion in Norwegian Introductory Classes for Newly Arrived Minority Language Students. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21(6), 585-601.
Parker, C. et al. (2019). Snowball Sampling. SAGE Research Methods Foundations.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Two Decades of Developments in Qualitative Inquiry: A Personal, Experiential Perspective. Qualitative Social Work, 1(3), 261-283.
Thornton, P. H., & Ocasio, W. (2008). Institutional Logics. In R. Greenwood et al. (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism (pp. 99–129). Sage.
|
