Going beyond academic support; mental well-being of newly arrived migrant pupils in the Norwegian elementary reception class

Norozi, Sultana Ali

doi:10.1080/02643944.2019.1618378

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…As newly arrived migrant and refugee learners constitute a vulnerable group in many school settings, there is an expanding body of research exploring the role of schools in providing care and support for migrant and refugee learners (Borsch et al, in press;Hek, 2005;Kia-Keating & Ellis, 2007;Schachner et al, 2018). Teachers have been noted as well-placed to identify and refer vulnerable migrant and refugee learners to mental health services within and outside of school (Baak et al, 2020;Fazel, 2015;Fazel et al, 2016), and they have been observed to engage in substantial care work (Hos, 2016;Matthews, 2008;Norozi, 2019) often with limited support from school leadership or external support services (Häggström et al, 2020). This research highlights the importance of physical school spaces, with newly arrived migrant and refugee learners often relying on teachers' alternative means of communication to express care, and to read distress signals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s difficult to help when I am not sitting next to them’: How COVID-19 school closures interrupted teachers’ care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners in Denmark

Primdahl

Borsch

Verelst

et al. 2020

Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies

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Teachers play a critical role in providing social and emotional support for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners. Such care ordinarily takes place in the classroom, raising questions about the impact of the 2020 COVID-19 school closures on their care work. In this article we analyze qualitative data from phone interviews with eight teachers in Danish preparatory classes, paying particular attention to the challenges they faced staying in contact with, and supporting, migrant and refugee learners during the school closure. The interviews were coded and thematically analysed, revealing significant changes in the teachers' care work. We draw on the concepts of caringscapes and carescapes to unravel how the shifts in space, from physical copresence in the school classroom to distance learning, affected their care work. Despite many efforts, teachers reported difficulties staying in contact with the learners remotely due to their limited access to virtual communication platforms and language barriers. These communication difficulties and the lack of bodily copresence not only made teaching highly challenging, but interrupted their care work, including maintaining daily schedules and facilitating social closeness between learners. Furthermore, the teachers expressed concern about their inability to link and refer the most vulnerable learners to external support services, which were temporarily closed due to the societal lockdown. Our study highlights how COVID-19 induced school closures constrain the care work of teachers of migrant and refugee learners. The concerns and struggles raised in this article not only stress the importance of the physical school space and closeness in facilitating care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners, but signal the vulnerabilities of this group of children during times of crisis.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘It’s difficult to help when I am not sitting next to them’: How COVID-19 school closures interrupted teachers’ care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners in Denmark

Primdahl

Borsch

Verelst

et al. 2020

Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies

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“…In Norway, newly arrived immigrant students often start their schooling in special classes called reception classes (Hilt, 2016;Skrefsrud, 2018;Norozi, 2019). For newcomer students, reception classes are the first contact with the host culture, school system, and socialization; Dewilde and Skrefsrud (2016) call these transition classes the "contact zones" for newcomer students.…”

Section: Newcomer Students In the Norwegian Education Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Education Act (sections 2.8 and 3.12) identifies Norwegian language learning as the most pressing need of newcomers. Consequently, the holistic needs of individual newcomers may not be fully recognized in reception classes (Norozi, 2019). Psychological and emotional support for newcomers is often nonexistent in Nordic countries (Nordic Welfare Center, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The important building blocks of newcomer immigrant students’ education in the Norwegian context

Norozi

2023

Front. Educ.

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The education of immigrant students, particularly newcomers, must be considered from a holistic framework. The conceptual article aims to highlight other important aspects of newcomers’ education, in addition to language and subject content learning. The three overlooked yet most important components of holistic education for newcomers are the following: (1) well-being pedagogy, (2) positive and comprehensive collaboration with newcomer parents, and (3) teachers’ positive ideology of newcomers and their families. This article begins with a brief presentation of the issue in newcomers’ education demonstrating an emphasis on some important yet overlooked elements in newcomer education. Consequently, in Norway, despite educational efforts aimed at supporting immigrant students, they continue to perform poorly compared with ethnic Norwegian students. Then, the paper defines what well-being pedagogy is and why well-being should be included in the comprehensive and successful schooling of newcomers. Here, well-being pedagogy is not limited to newcomer students’ well-being; rather, it includes teachers (who work with newcomers) and newcomer parents’ well-being. The why and how of comprehensive and successful collaboration with newcomer parents is discussed as a second important component. The third building block is teachers’ positive ideology of newcomers and their parents. The paper establishes that the positive ideology and perceptions of newcomer students and their families are the core of the holistic education of immigrant students. This paper contributes to knowledge development for the education of newly arrived immigrant students by engaging in a discussion that can foster teacher motivation and commitment, resulting in greater support for newcomer students. Second, even though this paper is framed in the context of Norwegian society, the aim is to inspire the international community of educators and researchers committed to an equitable learning environment for immigrant students to consider the topic for further exploration. The article concludes with teachers’ practice recommendations for schools and some directions for future research.

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“…For example, most of the parents cannot speak the host country's language. Many newcomer parents have either no formal education or are less-educated with limited marketable skills (Suarez-Orozco et al, 2010;Sibley and Brabeck, 2017;Norozi, 2019). Immigration tends to have a destabilizing effect on the family (Suarez-Orozco et al, 2010;Norozi, 2019), and parents are confronted with the simultaneous tasks of adapting to new land while still fulfilling traditionally expected familial roles.…”

Section: Why Parent-teacher Collaboration In Welcoming/reception Clas...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Teachers' positive attitudes toward families, their invitations to parents, and effective communication strategies contribute to a successful collaboration (Willemse et al, 2016). If teachers are motivated and have a pluralistic ideology of diversity, then they think of minority parents as resources (Horenczyk and Tatar, 2002;Tatar and Horenczyk, 2003;Cummins, 2014;Dubbeld et al, 2017;Norozi, 2019). Some research (Cummins, 1986;Mena, 2011;Lea, 2012) shows that even illiterate parents can support their children's education.…”

Section: The Teacher's Pluralistic/positive Perceptions Of Newcomer P...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The teacher’s self-constructed approaches to collaborate with newcomer parents in the Norwegian elementary reception class

Norozi

Moen

2022

Front. Educ.

Self Cite

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In Norway, newly arrived immigrant children often start their schooling in special groups called reception classes. This study aims to examine one Norwegian reception teacher’s perceptions and practices of collaborating with the children’s parents. The empirical analyses are based on a qualitative approach with interviews and video observations of the teacher. Affirming earlier research about parent–teacher collaboration in Norway, the study shows that the teacher has developed her own practices of parent–teacher collaboration. Contradicting earlier research, the findings highlight that despite challenges, the teacher experiences collaboration with newcomer parents positively. This article presents activities the teacher engages in within and outside the classroom to foster mutual learning and parental involvement. In the discussion, the teacher’s approaches are not judged as right or wrong, perfect or imperfect, but rather appreciated as self-constructed and self-initiated approaches to collaborating with newcomer parents. The main result is that despite challenges, if the teacher appears to be motivated and has positive/pluralistic perceptions of immigrant pupils and their parents, then s/he finds ways to collaborate with newcomer parents. This article concludes with teachers’ practice recommendations for schools and some directions for future research.

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Going beyond academic support; mental well-being of newly arrived migrant pupils in the Norwegian elementary reception class

Cited by 9 publications

References 33 publications

‘It’s difficult to help when I am not sitting next to them’: How COVID-19 school closures interrupted teachers’ care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners in Denmark

‘It’s difficult to help when I am not sitting next to them’: How COVID-19 school closures interrupted teachers’ care for newly arrived migrant and refugee learners in Denmark

The important building blocks of newcomer immigrant students’ education in the Norwegian context

The teacher’s self-constructed approaches to collaborate with newcomer parents in the Norwegian elementary reception class

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