Conference Agenda

Throughout history and across regions, human mobility has shaped the cultural and linguistic composition of education systems worldwide (International Organization for Migration [IOM], 2024). Reflecting this trend, the share of students with migration biographies has risen across OECD and EU systems in recent decades, leading to increasingly multilingual classrooms (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2019; OECD, 2018). Consequently, meeting the needs of linguistically diverse learners and ensuring that parents and legal caregivers can engage meaningfully in their children’s education has become a core priority for education systems globally (Martin et al., 2025).

In recent years, research has consistently shown that students with migration biographies encounter substantial barriers to educational success (e.g., OECD, 2018) and that their parents or legal caregivers face obstacles to meaningful engagement in school processes (e.g., Antony-Newman, 2019; Kim et al., 2020). Moreover, research shows that many parents of students with migration biographies are unable to fully leverage the rich resources available at home due to limited information about the school system, language barriers, and insufficient teacher preparation for inclusive family engagement (Antony-Newman, 2019).

While growing research addresses structural barriers reproducing inequalities for students with migration biographies and their parents or legal caregivers (e.g., Öztürk et al., 2025), studies are still needed that foreground hindering factors across system levels: policy (macro), school/organization (meso), and classroom/teacher practice (micro). This symposium advances that agenda by interrogating barriers at each level, including monolingual language-of-instruction policies and administrative hurdles (macro), class placement and tracking (meso), and teacher language ideologies, professional identities, and intercultural expectations (micro), to inform durable changes in education policy and practice.

The first contribution, in the U.S. context, examines in-service teachers’ bilingual perspectives on parental involvement with Latine families and finds a shift from English-centric views to relational, multilingual partnerships. Teachers recognized home multiliteracies, reframed children’s language brokering as leadership, and adopted bilingual practices, while families called for trust, consistent outreach, high expectations, and barrier-reducing structures. Progress was constrained by accountability systems and English-only metrics, highlighting the need for organizational and policy commitments alongside pedagogical redesign..

The second contribution, situated in Austria, examines how educators and parents with migration biographies negotiate parental involvement in the context of German Language Support Classes (GLSC), a policy that segregates language learners. Using Auernheimer’s intercultural communication heuristic, it finds pronounced power asymmetries, constrained parental access to information, deficit-oriented teacher assumptions, and prescriptive language norms. Parents report exclusion but also enact agency by contesting classifications and advocating for transparency and individualized support. Implications point to asset-based reframing, culturally responsive communication, and teacher preparation for diverse family norms.

The third contribution sheds light on the German context and examines whether attending separate refugee classes versus regular classes in lower secondary schools is linked to adolescents’ attitudes about the importance of speaking German. Using longitudinal data on adolescents with refugee backgrounds, it finds that these attitudes are already very positive and remain stable over time, with no meaningful differences between students in refugee classes and those in regular classes. Modeling of change over time shows similar trajectories across both settings, and these patterns hold when accounting for basic student characteristics and academic self-assessments. Overall, the findings suggest strong, resilient beliefs in the value of learning German that are largely independent of short-term institutional placement.

Collectively, these contributions show that durable equity for students with migration biographies requires aligned change across policy, organizational, and classroom levels. Taken together, the findings argue for replacing deficit frames with relational, bilingual partnerships, ensuring family access to information and decision‑making, and monitoring school structures for exclusionary effects, so that policy commitments and everyday pedagogy reinforce one another to expand participation and belonging.

This qualitative study examines how in-service bilingual teachers reconceptualize “parental involvement” when they engage directly with Latine families’ multiliteracies in and beyond the home. Grounded in Funds of Knowledge (Moll et al., 1992), multiliteracies (New London Group, 1996; Kalantzis et al., 2016), and linguistic bricolage (Murillo, 2012), and read through a translanguaging stance (García & Wei, 2014), the project centers family practices as epistemic resources rather than peripheral supports. Nine practicing teachers in a graduate bilingual education course in a Midwest US institution conducted ethnographic-style case studies with Spanish-speaking households (semi-structured interviews, artifacts, and reflective memos). Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) was used to trace shifts in teachers’ language ideologies and professional identities. Findings showcase four intertwined transformations. First, teachers broadened “involvement” from school-visible, English-centric tasks (e.g., event attendance, email responsiveness) to relational, multilingual labor: coordinating routines, stewarding culture, and sustaining cross-language communication. Second, teachers documented rich home-based multiliteracies across print, oral, digital, musical, and religious practices (e.g., Bible reading in Spanish; WhatsApp voice notes; gaming/YouTube across languages), recognizing these as consequential spaces for biliteracy development and belonging. Third, families positioned bilingualism as a shared project and ethical commitment, with children’s language brokering reframed as cognitively demanding, identity-forming leadership rather than deficit or burden. Fourth, families articulated concrete recommendations for schools: trust-building, consistent bilingual communication across accessible channels, rigorous learning expectations, and structures that mitigate immigration-related chilling effects on participation. Teacher writing displayed polyvocal features (reported speech, code-switching, “we-statements”) that indexed shifting stance and responsibility, suggesting identity movement toward co-education with families. Importantly, teachers also encountered structural frictions: accountability policies, privileged English-only metrics and campus-auditable behaviors often render invisible the multilingual work occurring at home. These tensions emphasize that transformation requires organizational commitments (language access, flexible meeting formats, community-hosted events) alongside pedagogical redesign. The study contributes a practice-anchored account of how experiential, family-engaged preparation catalyzes movement from token acknowledgment of home practices to redesign of assessment, instruction, and communication (e.g., bilingual reading logs that accept audio/voice notes; student-family co-reflections as evidence of learning). This paper offers a US perspective on voice, authority, and partnership: Who gets heard, by which metrics, and to what institutional ends? By foregrounding family knowledge and multilingual ecologies, the author invites dialogue on reimagining “parental involvement” as equitable collaboration that sustains languages, identities, and learning.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. SAGE Publications. García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism and Education (1st ed.). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765 Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & González, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849209543534 Murillo, E. G. (2012). Bilingual bricolage: Bridging linguistic and cultural worlds in dual language classrooms. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 14(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v14i2.556 New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.66.1.17370n67v22j160u Kalantzis, M., Cope, B., Chan, E., & Dalley-Trim, L. (2016). Literacies (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This study investigates how educators and parents with migration biographies in Austria perceive and negotiate parental involvement through Auernheimer’s (2013) heuristic model of intercultural communication, focusing on power asymmetries, collective experiences, stereotypes, and differing cultural scripts. Situated in the context of German language support classes (GLSC)—a policy introduced in 2018/19 that segregates learners of the language of instruction for up to 15 hours per week—the study highlights structural dynamics that position parents outside key decisions and shape home–school relationships. The study draws on three sub-studies comprising 20 primary teachers, 14 school principals, and 13 parents. Data were analyzed using framework analysis following Goldsmith’s (2021) five-step process (familiarization, theme development via Auernheimer’s (2013) model, charting into educator/parent matrices, and mapping/interpretation), with an explicit search for asset-based views to identify counter-perspectives. Representation levels were assigned by word-count bands (0, 1–50, 51–150, 151+ words) and adjusted through contextual weighting to capture depth and significance within units of analysis (educators and parents). Findings indicate pronounced power imbalances, including schools’ control over processes and outcomes, constrained parental access to critical information, and the extension of institutional authority into families’ language practices. Parents reported exclusion driven by language barriers and opaque GLSC decisions, while some exercised agency by contesting classifications and advocating for equity, transparency, and individualized support. Educator accounts reflected deficit-oriented assumptions about parental interest and engagement and prescriptive expectations regarding home–school language use, underscoring stereotype-driven interpretations of family practices. Parents emphasized differing cultural scripts for roles and responsibilities, frequently viewing school as the primary site for learning and homework and calling for more collaborative, frequent communication. Overall, the findings indicate that institutional control over information and expectations structurally sustains asymmetries: educators define parental roles, set language norms (including guidance on home/first-language use), and delimit decision-making boundaries that parents are expected to accept—patterns also documented in prior research (e.g., Eliyahu-Levi, 2024; Martin et al., 2025). At the same time, parents’ demonstrated agency—challenging classifications, questioning testing practices, and advocating for individualized support—signals a capacity for more reciprocal partnerships if schools create transparent, participatory decision-making channels (Chen & Miao, 2024). Implications include reframing parental involvement through asset-based perspectives, enhancing culturally responsive communication, and preparing teachers to recognize diverse family norms and systemic barriers (Alisaari et al., 2019).

Alisaari, J., Heikkola, L. M., Commins, N., & Acquah, E. O. (2019). Monolingual ideologies confronting multilingual realities. Finnish teachers’ beliefs about linguistic diversity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 80, 48–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.01.003 Auernheimer, G. (2013). Interkulturelle Kommunikation, mehrdimensional betrachtet, mit Konsequenzen für das Verständnis von interkultureller Kompetenz. In Interkulturelle Kompetenz und pädagogische Professionalität (pp. 37–70). VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-19930-6_3 Chen, J., & Miao, X. (2024). Beyond Hukou-Based Exclusion: Revisiting Rural Migrant Parents’ Active Agency in Educational Involvement and Impacts on Their Children’s Educational Trajectory. Chinese Education and Society, 57(1–2), 104–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/10611932.2024.2378659 Eliyahu-Levi, D. (2024). Parental Involvement of African Migrants in Multicultural Israeli Education Settings. Education Sciences, 14(4), 348. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14040348 Goldsmith, L. (2021). Using Framework Analysis in Applied Qualitative Research. Qualitative Report, 26(6), 2061–2076. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.5011 Martin, S., Horgan, D., & Looney, E. (2025). Migrant parents’ school involvement: extent, barriers and opportunities. Educational Research, 67(3), 385–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2025.2529240

Learning the language of the host country is regarded as a prerequisite for educational participation and social integration (Cerna, 2019). Previous research has linked language attitudes to language learning outcomes (Masgoret & Gardner, 2003); however, less is known about how such attitudes develop over time or whether they are shaped by institutional arrangements within receiving education systems. In Germany, adolescents with refugee background may attend separate refugee classes or be integrated into regular classes (Winkler & Carwehl, 2025), raising questions about whether institutional placement is associated with differences in attitudes toward the German language. Using longitudinal data from Refugees in the German Educational System (ReGES) (Will et al., 2021), this study examines attitudes toward the importance of speaking German among adolescents with refugee background attending lower secondary schools in Germany. The analyses draw on two survey waves collected in 2017/2018 and 2019 among adolescents aged 14 to 16 (N ≈ 1,700). Five research questions are addressed: (1) What is the overall level of language attitudes among adolescents with refugee background? (2) Do attitudes differ between students attending refugee classes and those who do not? (3) Do attitudes change over time? (4) Do attitude trajectories differ by refugee-class attendance? and (5) Do these patterns persist when controlling for individual characteristics and academic performance? Descriptive results show that attitudes toward the importance of speaking German are already very high at baseline (M = 4.71, SD = .92) and remain high over time (M = 4.62, SD = .98), with no mean differences between students attending refugee classes and those in regular classes. Longitudinal change and group differences were examined using linear mixed-effects models with random intercepts for students and repeated measurements across waves. The analyses revealed no statistically significant main effect of refugee-class attendance (F ≈ 0.30–0.80, p > .35), no significant overall change over time (F ≈ 2.60–3.30, p > .05), and no significant interaction between time and refugee-class attendance (F ≈ 0.20–0.40, p > .50), indicating similar attitude trajectories across institutional contexts. These findings remained robust when controlling for gender, age, and self-assessed general school performance; among the control variables, only perceived school performance showed a small but statistically significant positive association with language attitudes (F = 9.86, p = .002). Overall, the findings suggest that adolescents with refugee background hold strong and stable beliefs about the importance of speaking German, largely independent of short-term institutional placement, pointing to shared and resilient language-related orientations.

Cerna, L. (2019), “Refugee education: Integration models and practices in OECD countries”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 203, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a3251a00-en. Masgoret, A. M., & Gardner, R. C. (2003). Attitudes, motivation, and second language learning: A meta‐analysis of studies conducted by Gardner and associates. Language learning, 53(S1), 167-210. Will, G., Homuth, C., von Maurice, J., & Roßbach, H.-G. (2021). Integration of Recently Arrived Underage Refugees: Research Potential of the Study ReGES – Refugees in the German Educational System. European Sociological Review 37(6): 1027–1043. https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcab033 Winkler, O., & Carwehl, A. K. (2025). Institutional conditions and acquisition of language skills among young refugees: Investigating the German context. Acta Sociologica, https://doi.org/10.1177/00016993251351531