14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Paper
Beyond Ethnic Incongruence: How Minoritized Pupils Reflect on Student-Teacher Relationships in Mainstream and Supplementary Schools
Julia Steenwegen, Noel Clycq, Jan Vanhoof
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Presenting Author: Steenwegen, Julia;
Clycq, Noel
Studies have long emphasized the importance of the student-teacher relationship for the social adjustment, academic achievement, and overall wellbeing of students and pupils – particularly for those with a migration background (Bosman et al., 2018; Roorda et al., 2011; Suldo et al., 2009). Yet, this relationship is often under considerable strain for students with a migration background, as overall they assess the student-teacher relationship to be more negative (Agirdag et al., 2012). However, although classroom settings across Europe are becoming increasingly diverse, the proportion of teachers with ethnic minority background remains very limited (Overheid, 2021) Furthermore, teachers indicate that they often feel ill-prepared in building a strong relationship to their ethnic minority background pupils (Talis 2018).
Researchers have suggested that this incongruence in teachers’ and students’ ethnic background can negatively affect the student-teacher relationship (Thijs et al., 2012, 2018; van den Bergh et al., 2010). Studies on ‘ethnic congruence’ between students and teachers, or, put differently, studies researching the effect of having a teacher with a similar ethnic background, show a mixed image and many questions remain. First, we focus on the experiences of elementary school pupils with a migration background. Second, next to the mainstream schools there is a wide range of supplementary schooling. In these supplementary schools, which are organized by minority communities in the weekend, and which are widely attended by youth with migration background, minorized pupils usually share their ethnic-cultural backgrounds with the teachers. Here, we can explore the experience of minoritized children in varying educational contexts instead of comparing their experiences to those of majority peers. This enables us to explore if (and if so, how) ethnic congruence plays a role and how children perceive their relations with teachers in both contexts.
To ensure an extensive understanding of this relationship we consider insights from two different academic disciplines/domains. We build on social psychology research into the affective aspects of student-teacher relationships, exploring the notions of emotional bonding and security (Koomen & Jellesma, 2015). In addition, we rely on educational research emphasizing the academic aspects of the student teacher relationship, and we focus on the academic support and confirmation that pupils to receive from their teachers (Agirdag et al., 2012; Reddy et al., 2003). We understand the STR as two-dimensional, with an affective and an academic dimension and within these two dimensions we differentiate four characteristics that describe the quality of the STR from the students’ perspective: (1) closeness and emotional support, (2) conflict and negative experiences, both related to the affective dimension, and (3) academic support, and (4) teacher affirmation, both related to the academic dimension of teacher support.
In the European context there has not been a lot of research which focuses on the perception of minoritized pupils and the relationship to their teachers. Supplementary schools pose a unique to compare how the pupils view these relationships in one context where ethnic congruence is prevalent and one where it is not. These findings are of importance to practitioners and policy makers who aim to work at bettering minoritized pupils’ STR.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedWe conducted semi structured (group) interviews with 29 students in total. The students were free to decide to come to the interview alone, or together. Most of the students came in pairs, some came alone and sometimes three students came together. That the students could decide to take part and in which constellation was important to ensure that they would feel most comfortable. These type of openended interviews are best suited for explorative approach which includes the students’ nuanced perceptions. In working with minoritized pupils who have varying Dutch (reading) skills, an explorative qualitative approach is the most inclusive. The students were aged between 9 and 13 and all went to a regular Flemish elementary school throughout the week. Some students were relatively new to the supplementary school and other had been coming for years. In the interviews the students were asked about their experiences and their thoughts about teachers both in the supplementary and the mainstream school. The interviewer queued the students with different questions, asking about the affective as well as academic side of the relationship to their teachers. The interviews were transcribed and anonymized.
Coding tree
For the data analysis we used codebook thematic analysis (Miles and Haberman, 1994). We constructed our codebook deductively building on our theoretical framework. We distinguished two affective and two academic characteristics of the STR. The students talked about their perception of the STR both in their mainstream Flemish schools and their supplementary schools. Reading and analyzing the interviews we deduced different themes within these four codes which we then added as subcodes.
Affective: The student reflects on their affective relationship to the teacher
Closeness and emotional support: The student talks about their relationship to the teacher relating to security and the support they receive from their teacher
Negative experiences and conflict: The student recounts negative experiences or conflicts with their teacher. The student reflects on the ways in which the teacher responded in such situations
Academic: The student reflects on their academic relationship to their teacher/ relating to the role of the teacher as the monitor of their academic development
Academic support: The student talks about the ways in which the teacher (does not) help them to achieve their goals and tasks (positive/negative).
Teacher affirmation: The student reflects on the academic expectations their teachers hold for them and the feedback they receive (positive/negative).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsTo our surprise we found that the pupils in our study did not raise ethnicity or cultural background once when assessing the relationship to their teachers. Even these young children were able to pinpoint different aspects of the relationship that were important to them. Children emphasized emotional support and closeness for the quality of their relationships. Notably, the pupils we spoke to indicated that teachers in the mainstream school seemed less available. This impacted the assessment of the relationship both affectively and academically. Because of this, pupils felt that teachers in mainstream schools would not intervene in conflict situations which led to an overall more unpleasant atmosphere. Reflecting upon the academic support they receive from their teachers, pupils also differentiated between the two contexts. With teachers in the mainstream school being less approachable to ask for help whereas the supplementary schoolteachers would offer more help when needed.
Another important finding is the keen awareness of pupils of the (time) pressures teachers are often burdened by. Even young children are perceptive to this and are at the same time able to discuss what impact this has on them but also on the affective and academic support they receive from teachers. One way to ease the pressure on teachers could be to have smaller classes and especially in urban areas with a very diverse student population. Research indicates that minority students especially could profit from smaller classes (Rouse, 2005) and it would confront some of the worries that arose during our research.
ReferencesAgirdag, O., van Houtte, M., & van Avermaet, P. (2012). Ethnic School Segregation and Self-Esteem: The Role of Teacher-Pupil Relationships. Urban Education, 47(6), 1135–1159. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085912452154
Bosman, R. J., Roorda, D. L., van der Veen, I., & Koomen, H. M. Y. (2018). Teacher-student relationship quality from kindergarten to sixth grade and students’ school adjustment: A person-centered approach. Journal of School Psychology, 68(March), 177–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.03.006
Koomen, H. M. Y., & Jellesma, F. C. (2015). Can closeness, conflict, and dependency be used to characterize students’ perceptions of the affective relationship with their teacher? Testing a new child measure in middle childhood. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(4), 479–497. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12094
Overheid, V. (2021). NULMETING LEERKRACHTEN IN HET.
Reddy, R., Rhodes, J. E., & Mulhall, P. (2003). The influence of teacher support on student adjustment in the middle school years: A latent growth curve study. Development and Psychopathology, 15(1), 119–138. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579403000075
Roorda, D. L., Koomen, H. M. Y., Spilt, J. L., & Oort, F. J. (2011). The influence of affective teacher-student relationships on students’ school engagement and achievement: A meta-analytic approach. Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493–529. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311421793
Rouse, C. E. (2005). School Reform in the 21st Century: The Effect of Class Size and School Vouchers on African-American and Hispanic Students. In SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.234788
Suldo, S. M., Friedrich, A. A., White, T., Farmer, J., Minch, D., & Michalowski, J. (2009). Teacher Support and Adolescents’ Subjective Well-Being: A Mixed-Methods Investigation. School Psychology Review, 38(1), 67–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2009.12087850
Thijs, J., Keim, A. C., & Geerlings, J. (2018). Classroom identification in ethnic minority and majority students : Effects of relationships and ethnic composition. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12253
Thijs, J., Westhof, S., & Koomen, H. (2012). Ethnic incongruence and the student-teacher relationship: The perspective of ethnic majority teachers. Journal of School Psychology, 50(2), 257–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2011.09.004
van den Bergh, L., Denessen, E., Hornstra, L., Voeten, M., & Holland, R. W. (2010). The Implicit Prejudiced Attitudes of Teachers: Relations to Teacher Expectations and the Ethnic Achievement Gap. American Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 497–527.
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Paper
Don’t cry. You are strong.’ Supplementary Schools as a Social Force for Minoritized Communities
Noel Clycq, Julia Steenwegen
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Presenting Author: Clycq, Noel;
Steenwegen, Julia
Minoritized communities confronted with persistent structural inequalities are versatile in the ways they address these challenges and obstacles. Research reveals a wide array of strategies developed to better the opportunities of community ‘members’. One important strategy, which engages with the key issue of educational inequalities troubling many ethnic minority children, is the bottom-up organization of supplementary or weekend schools after the hours of mainstream/traditional schools or at the weekends (Steenwegen, et al. 2022). To many minoritized individuals and families, these schools are a key element in the search for maximal educational opportunities for their children. Supplementary schools have become very popular: around 20% of minoritized youth in the UK (Maylor et al., 2013) and as many as 45% in Flanders participate therein at some point (ongoing research author).
Crucially, these schools are often set up and managed by volunteers, and teachers are often parents or other (unpaid) community members, providing classes in support of pupils’ academic success, to teach heritage languages, and to nurture a sense of pride (Burman & Miles, 2018; Lan Curdt-Christiansen & Hancock, 2014; Lytra & Martin, 2010). Research up until now has mainly focused on the role these schools play in the lives of the pupils. However another main reason for the continuing importance of these schools is that they seem to have a much wider scope than ‘just’ focusing on youth. Given the schools’ inherently collective character, as set up by ethnic community members themselves, their role as a potential community force is central to the current paper.
We aim to understand what role these schools play for other community members, and as such potentially for the community as a collective. Our leading general research question is: what resources are made available in the supplementary school and how are these resources used by community members? We unpack how supplementary schools, while often starting from a pupil-centered approach, expand their scope to provide support to the ‘whole community’. Supplementary schools seem to function as spaces where valuable resources become accessible to a wide network of ‘community members’(Kim & Zhou, 2006; Lee & Zhou, 2017).
Therefore, we analyze the types of resources emerging in these spaces, building on the frameworks of Funds of Knowledge (Rios-Aguilar et al., 2011) and Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005). Through their work, these scholars have critiqued the persistent perception of ‘minority capital’ as deficient and the lack of recognition of power differences impacting minoritized communities (Valenzuela, 2005). In response, these frameworks offer non-traditional lenses to recognize and reveal the resources present in supplementary schools, and how these are strategically applied.
Sharing resources also implies creating relationships between people, and in the context of our research the notions of bonding and bridging relations are relevant. The former refers to relations between ingroup members (such a group can be based on various identity or other dimensions e.g., ethnicity, language, social class, but also participation in specific organizations), while bridging relations are ties with so-called outgroup members. We build on studies showing that supplementary schools give access to resources to both middle-class and working-class families, thus broadening the reach of community cultural wealth and enabling (upward) mobility for a larger group of community members (Kim & Zhou, 2006; Lu, 2013).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedResearch context and data collection
This research takes place in Flanders, the northern Dutch-speaking and semi-independent region in Belgium. In Flanders, ethnic inequalities have proved to be persistent in the past decade(s) and are often much more salient than in neighboring countries. In education, the labor market and housing, ethnic minorities experience many difficulties and obstacles (Corluy & Haemels, 2015; Costa & de Valk, 2018). In this context, we aim to understand how supplementary schools try to support the broader community.
Our interviews with twelve supplementary school leaders unexpectedly highlighted the role of supplementary schools as sites in which community cultural wealth is made accessible. We initially conducted interviews with school leaders and founders, to learn about the purposes the schools pursue with their pupils. However, throughout the interviews, another picture of the schools emerged showing the broader importance of these schools.
Gathering data
We use data from twelve semi-structured interviews with the school leaders of supplementary schools. These supplementary schools are organized by a diverse sample of communities, and each seeks to pursue different purposes with its pupils. The interviews took place between October 2020 and January 2021, in Dutch or English, depending on the preference of the interviewee. Each interview lasted between 35 and 75 minutes. Due to Covid-restrictions, 10 of the 12 interviews were conducted online.
Coding process and analysis
After the interviews were transcribed verbatim, we started the coding process using Nvivo software. In the first phase, we used open coding to make sense of the data, highlighting those instances where the interviewees described the schools’ purposes as not just concerning pupils. In these quotes, purposes referred to parents, teachers, or other members of the community. We labelled these different quotes with open categories referring to the ways in which they supported the community; for example, ‘providing information’ or ‘help translating’. After reading those codes several times, a second phase of axial coding connected the open categories. We chose one illustrative quote and connected it to other quotes that referred to a comparable way of providing support. Subsequently, in the open coding phase, we compared the different codes and used the community cultural wealth approach of Yosso (2005) with six distinct types of community capital to connect categories. Then, we circled back to the axial coding phase to compare our categories with the six forms of capital described by Yosso (2005).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe analysis made clear that school initiators support parents and children not only to focus on community level goals such as shared language development, heritage understanding and the nurturing of cultural pride and self-confidence, but that crossing differences and connecting with outgroup individuals and institutions is a fundamental part of how supplementary schools want to work.
Our analysis also revealed that these spaces actively engage with differences and the tensions that sometimes do exist. Often these tensions are related to inequalities and processes of exclusion experienced by parents and their children in mainstream education, on the labor market and in (‘outgroup’) society in general. Supplementary schools aim to create a space where these tensions can be addressed, and inequalities are challenged – and sometimes explicitly resisted – by empowering community members, offering them opportunities for self-development and expanding their expertise. At the same time, initiators show an awareness of the ‘ingroup’ tensions and aim to bridge these too within the context of their schools, often by explicitly naming these tensions and directly confronting the individuals and social groups involved.
Our research shows that supplementary schools are a space where many resources are present, various actors build relationships with each other and where actors aim for ‘success’ (however that is defined) as active participants in mainstream society. We tried to paint a more nuanced picture, based on the perceptions, experiences, and narratives of the initiators. Supplementary schools constitute a space where community members can strengthen the social ties that grant them access to the different forms of capital. The supplementary schools function as intermediaries, translating community wealth into functional resources. In these ways, the schools provide community members with wide access to the community cultural wealth by primarily investing in bonding relations, but with a view to participating in broader society.
ReferencesBurman, E., & Miles, S. (2018). Deconstructing supplementary education: from the pedagogy of the supplement to the unsettling of the mainstream. Educational Review, 72(1), 3–22.
Corluy, V., & Haemels, J. (2015). The labour market position of second ‑ generation immigrants in Belgium Working Paper Research. 285.
Costa, R., & de Valk, H. A. G. (2018). Ethnic and Socioeconomic Segregation in Belgium: A Multiscalar Approach Using Individualised Neighbourhoods. European Journal of Population, 34(2), 225–250.
Kim, S. S., & Zhou, M. (2006). Community forces, Social Capital and Educational Achievement. Harvard E, 76(1), 1–29.
Lan Curdt-Christiansen, X., & Hancock, A. (2014). Learning Chinese in diasporic communities: Many pathways to being Chinese. In John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam.
Lee, J., & Zhou, M. (2017). Why class matters less for Asian-American academic achievement. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(14), 2316–2330.
Lu, W. (2013). Confucius or Mozart ? Community cultural wealth and upward mobility among children of Chinese immigrants. Qual Sociol, 36(303), 303–321.
Lytra, V., & Martin, P. (Eds. ). (Eds.). (2010). Sites of Multilingualism. Complementary schools in Britain today. Stoke-on-Trent.
Maylor, U., Rose, A., Minty, S., Ross, A., Issa, T., & Kuyok, K. A. (2013). Exploring the impact of supplementary schools on Black and Minority Ethnic pupils’ mainstream attainment. British Educational Research Journal, 39(1), 107–125.
Steenwegen, J., Clycq, N., & Vanhoof, J. (2022). How and why minoritised communities self-organise education: a review study. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 1-19.
Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69–91.
14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Paper
Dialogic Co-creation of Educational Needs Assessment to Address Integration Challenges of Refugee and Migrant Children in Spain
Maria Vieites Casado2, Carme Garcia Yeste1, Laura Natividad Sancho1
1Rovira i Virgili University, Spain; 2University of Barcelona, Spain
Presenting Author: Vieites Casado, Maria
This paper presents the results of the dialogic co-creation of the educational needs assessment of refugee and migrant children in Spain conducted under the framework of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research project REFUGE-ED: Effective Practices in Education, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for the integration of Refugee Children. REFUGE-ED carries out 3 multisite pilot actions across 6 European countries, developing a first phase that consists of a dialogic co-creation and consultation with end-users (children, families, communities, teachers, practitioners) and stakeholders (NGOs, policymakers) to identify needs and how these can be successfully met by for piloting evidence-based practices. This paper presents the educational needs of refugee and migrant children identified in 6 Primary Spanish schools and the dialogic co-creation process that has allowed the engagement of all actors.
Data from January-September 2021 shows that more than 23% of refugees and migrants hosted by European countries in reception centers or other accommodation arrangements were children (UNICEF, 2022). Since the start of the war in Ukraine, two million refugee children have fled the country. According to Save the Children (2022), a child from Ukraine has become a refugee every single second of the war. The UNHCR estimates that the average period that refugee people spend in exile is approximately 20 years (SIRIUS, 2015).
Recent available data regarding the schooling of forcibly displaced children presents a disturbing situation. According to worldwide data from the UNHCR, 37% of primary school-age and 76% of secondary education age refugee children are out of school. Further, only 3% of refugees attend university compared to 37% globally (UNHCR, 2019). There is limited official data regarding schooling in different parts of Europe due to the complexity of the phenomenon.
Since 2013 the EU has granted children of asylum seekers and unaccompanied minors' access to the education systems of the member states in similar conditions as the nationals of the respective countries, with the Directive 2013/33/EU, or the Council Directive 2011/95/EU concerning minors who have refugee or subsidiary protection status. In Europe, despite the legislation regarding the right to education for all children, there are demographic, psychological, economic, legal and sociological constraints that prevent the materialization of this right, particularly affecting children from refugee families (Essomba, 2017).
The barriers to education faced by refugee children are multifaceted, interlinked and complex and, according to UNESCO, can be summarized into three categories: household (actual capacities to afford education, how relevant they consider it to be, and how accessible education is for them), systemic (characteristics of the education system that can prevent migrant/refugee/asylum- seeking children from receiving a quality provision) and functional (how the system works for these children and what outcomes they get from it) (UNESCO, 2019). The Joint Working Group seminar on the integration of migrants points out some of the most important challenges faced by policymakers and practitioners in the integration of newly arrived migrants and refugees in the educational system: (1) the need to coordinate different levels of government, types of actors and policy areas; (2) the insufficient training for educators in the skills and competencies needed for the integration of newly-arrived migrants (e.g. to deal with diversity, mental health and psychosocial problems and language barriers); (3) the difficulties in assessing and recognizing the prior learning of migrants as well as of giving an adequate response to previous educational deficits; and, (4) the need to tailor general approaches to individual cases and specific needs, and to engage with the groups furthest away from education and employment (European Commission, 2017).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedREFUGE-ED is identifying, implementing, and testing effective practices in education and MHPSS that promote the educational success, well-being and sense of belonging of children (0-18 years old- ISCED 0-3) from recent migration cohorts, refugees and asylum seekers, and unaccompanied minors. The methodology used in the project is the communicative methodology (Gómez, Puigvert, & Flecha, 2011), which adds the dialogic dimension to the co-creation pillar of the project.
For this communication we will present the development of the first phase of the project and, specifically, the results of the analysis of the needs identified in Spanish Primary schools that are part of the project pilots. We collected information about the needs experienced by end-users (considering both those professionals working in the pilot settings, e.g. teachers, educators, psychologists, volunteers etc.), and those to whom the actions will be directed, e.g. families, children, unaccompanied minors) and stakeholders (those with decision-making capacity in the planning and management of actions (policy makers, NGOs).
Six primary schools were selected from different geographical areas of Spain with a diversity of students and high percentages of refugee, migrant or asylum-seeking students. For each center, five communicative life stories with end-users (minors and families), five interviews with end-users (professionals, families and minors), five interviews with stakeholders (volunteers, NGOs, public workers, policymakers), and two focus group discussions have been held. In most centers an informal presentation to teachers, professionals, and the whole community has also taken place.
The data collected has been analyzed using a bottom-up approach, meaning that the knowledge has been built looking through the eyes of the interviewed people, summing up their own analysis. In this process, shared mental health and psychosocial support and educational challenges and needs, in the light of the main guiding thematic issues of the project (academic achievement, well-being and sense of belonging), have been identified.
The primary schools are small centers (from 450 to 700 students and 30 to 50 teachers). They are Learning Communities or implement Successful Educational Actions identified in the FP6 Integrated Project: INCLUD-ED (2006-2011) such as Interactive Groups or Dialogic Literary Gatherings. They are in particularly disadvantaged economic and socio-cultural backgrounds and in high migration zones, specially from Morocco, South American countries, and Roma families. The pilot sites are outstandingly participative schools and are conscious of the inclusive potential of opening schools for families and volunteers.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsRegarding integration, representation and visibilization of all cultures, teachers, families and stakeholders identify a lack of comprehension and integration of diversity in society. Language is one of the first barriers to communication and, therefore, for integration, for wellbeing and for academic achievement. The challenge, however, manifests especially in parents or legal guardians, as children have higher abilities in retaining new words and language structures. Connected to communication problems, families find there is a lack of information about services and tools for attending to mental health and other needs.
The professional’s view on new-comers affects their projections, which translates into low expectations of their life’s development: their goal finishes to be restricted to finding a job, worthy or not, and so their interaction and integration in the host community reduce to this.
One of the main gaps in schools is the MHPPS approach and attention to emotional issues. Most teachers feel they don’t have enough training to address some problems their students might have, that they cannot give convenient advice or appropriate actions. Some families feel that not all teachers are and act the same way: some of them put effort in their job, and others do just the minimum it is expected from them.
There are certain barriers for migrant families to actively participate in the schools. These are related to work, transportation, and communication (or lack of information about these activities).
One of the main challenges at the stakeholders/surrounding community/policy makers’ level
is the need for flexibilization of integration protocols and curriculums without decreasing educational quality standards. Likewise, over bureaucratization of administrative processes hinders users’ ability to successfully navigate socio-educational systems. The administration should facilitate the integration through non-bureaucratical processes, by giving basic life services as residence or working licenses easily.
ReferencesEuropean Commission (2017). Joint Working Group seminar on the integration of migrants. https://education.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document-library-docs/2017-report-migrant-integration_en.pdf
Essomba, M. A. (2017). The right to education of children and youngsters from refugee families in Europe. Intercultural Education, 28(2), 206-218. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2017.1308659
Gómez, A., Puigvert, L., & Flecha, R. (2011). Critical Communicative Methodology: Informing Real Social Transformation Through Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 17(3), 235-245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410397802
SIRIUS. (2015). No ‘back to school’ for ‘lost generation’ of refugee children in Mideast: Europe must respond. https://www.nolostgeneration.org/
UNHCR (2019). Stepping up. Refugee education in crisis. https://www.unhcr.org/steppingup/
UNESCO (2019). Enforcing the right to education of refugees A policy perspective. Paris: UNESCO.
UNICEF (2022). Refugee and Migrant Crisis in Europe. https://www.unicef.org/media/112256/file/2022-HAC-Refugee-and-migrant-crisis-Europe.pdf
Save the Children (2022). Every Second, Another Child Becomes a Refugee. https://www.savethechildren.org/us/what-we-do/emergency-response/refugee-children-crisis/ukrainian-refugees
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