Children, language and access to schools in the global South: The case of migrants in Ghana

Kyereko, Daniel Owusu; Faas, Daniel

doi:10.1111/chso.12454

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Many teachers did not think lower proficiency in English was peculiar to only migrant children considering the multilinguistic and multicultural Ghanaian context where students were taught in a language other than their mother tongue. This phenomenon is not limited to Ghana but a common feature of postcolonial countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Kyereko and Faas 2021). This finding is in stark contrast from most research (see Arnot, Schneider, and Welply 2013;Rodríguez-Izquierdo and Darmody 2019) on migrant education in countries in the global North.…”

Section: Teaching Migrant Children In Ghanaian Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Integrating marginalised students in Ghanaian schools: insights from teachers and principals

Kyereko

Faas

2021

Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education

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This article focuses on deepening the understanding of the factors affecting migrant students' integration in Ghana's educational system. Research on migrant education has primarily centred on northern destination countries. Using the case of West African migrant children in a multiethnic and multilingual Ghanaian setting, the article examines the complex and interplaying factors affecting migrant students' integration into Ghanaian schools. Analysis from 40 semi-structured interviews with teachers and principals drawn from 30 schools offers insights into the challenges faced by schools in trying to help migrant students succeed. The study offers practical insights into the advantages of having teachers with a migrant background, especially the extent to which they use their intercultural competencies in helping migrant students overcome school-related challenges. While the fieldwork was carried out in Ghana, the implications are also of interest to other jurisdictions where schools are faced with migration-related diversity.

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Section: Teaching Migrant Children In Ghanaian Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Integrating marginalised students in Ghanaian schools: insights from teachers and principals

Kyereko

Faas

2021

Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education

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“…Further factors that have been shown to influence migrant children's schooling experiences and outcomes include teachers' lacking pedagogical competency to teach in diverse classrooms, language differences between teachers and students (McGinnity, Darmody and Murray, 2015;Ní Dhuinn and Keane, 2021), the lack of migrants' identification with host cultures (Sheikh and Anderson, 2018) and "the lack of psychological support available for students and parents who experience racists incidents and bullying" (Stylianou, 2017, p. 997). The relevance of language competency for academic achievement was also demonstrated in a Ghanian study (Kyereko and Faas, 2021) which found that francophone migrant students in an anglophone Ghanian school were placed in lower-age grades due to their poor comprehension of English.…”

Section: Migrant Families' Transitions In/to New Education Systems -I...mentioning

confidence: 83%

“…These challenges are not peculiar to the Irish context. Evidence shows that migrant families in other countries in the Global North and Global South encounter similar challenges (Baysu et al, 2021;Gabrielli and Impicciatore, 2021;Kyereko and Faas, 2021;Ngo, 2008). We, therefore, argue for specific support programmes and policies to assist migrant families and their children as they settle in Ireland.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Perspectives on Transitions in Refugee Education

2022

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The use of third party material in this book does not indicate that it is also subject to the Creative Commons licence mentioned. If the material used is not subject to the aforementioned Creative Commons licence and the action in question is not permitted by law, the consent of the respective rights holder must be obtained for further use. Trademarks, company names, generally descriptive terms etc. used in this work may not be used freely. The rights of the respective rights holder must be observed and use is subject to the rules of trademark law, even without separate reference. This book is available as a free download from www.budrich.eu (https://doi.org/10.3224/84742626).

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“…Further, a number of articles consider the shaping of language by sociocultural context and psychosocial processes (Crafter & Iqbal, 2021; Phoenix & Faulstich Orellana, 2021; Romero‐Moreno & Vargas‐Urpí, 2021). Articles are drawn mainly from the Global North; Kyereko and Faas (2021) in describing their Ghanaian research suggest some similar issues in the Global South but highlight the complex nature of linguistic barriers in the post‐colonial world.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, many of the authors share an interest in policy implications, entering into educational debates on how to support indigenous languages, the potential of place‐based and language‐awareness approaches (Cohen & Rønning, 2021), translanguaging (Peace‐Hughes, 2021), and on the impact of ineffective language policy on educational outcomes (Horgan et al, 2021; Kyereko & Faas, 2021).…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies

Peace-Hughes¹,

Cohen²,

Jamieson³

et al. 2022

Children & Society

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This special issue brings together scholars from a range of disciplines and contexts concerned with children, 1 childhood and bilingualism; that is the ability to communicate in two or more languages with any degree of proficiency, from minimal to advanced (Grosjean, 2010). Language is fundamental to human culture and personhood and a key part of identity at an individual, family and community level. However, language may also be used at a national level as a tool for building nationhood and empire in ways that create power hierarchies. State-sponsored language polices have often marginalised minority languages, whether these are long-established and termed indigenous to the area 2 or associated with more recent migration. Equally, bilingualism may be undermined in settings built on monolingualism. As seen in this special issue, national education policies in some countries now offer more support to minoritised indigenous languages but have been slower to recognise the linguistic resource offered by more recent migrant or ethnic language communities, whose languages are still too often treated as an impediment to educational achievement and social integration (Pavlenko & Blackledge, 2004).Research points to important advantages of bilingualism in child development and education. Cognitive science research shows the benefits of early bilingualism on language and cognition, including children's better understanding of language structure, an earlier appreciation of others' perspectives and enhanced attentional control and mental adaptability (Bialystok et al., 2009;Costa & Sebastian-Galles, 2014;Kroll & Bialystok, 2013). Language-awareness approaches in education highlight the value of linguistic diversity in developing metalinguistic skills and in preparing children for a globalised, multilingual and multicultural world (Hawkins, 1984;Hélot et al., 2018). Therefore, bilingualism, can be both individually and collectively advantageous.However, research to date has insufficiently attended to the experiences and perspectives of children themselves, which limits, in turn, the understanding of bilingualism (Peace-Hughes et al., 2021;Wilson, 2020). The perspective of childhood studies that highlights children's participation in the construction of their day-to-day lives and the world around them (James & Prout, 1997;Spyrou, 2018), offers one route to insightful and nuanced understandings. In this special issue, authors use different lenses and framings to examine the ways in which languages and childhoods articulate and are implicated in children's senses of self, ways of seeing and feeling, imagined solidarity, local-national-and-transnational belonging, agency and aspirations.The collection contributes to theorising intersectional power dynamics between children, young people and adults. The theme is foregrounded in the discussion of children as language brokers and translators for parents/carers

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Children, language and access to schools in the global South: The case of migrants in Ghana

Cited by 6 publications

References 24 publications

Integrating marginalised students in Ghanaian schools: insights from teachers and principals

Integrating marginalised students in Ghanaian schools: insights from teachers and principals

Perspectives on Transitions in Refugee Education

Children, childhoods and bilingualism: Exploring experiences, perspectives and policies

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