Newly arrived migrant students in German schools: Exclusive and inclusive structures and practices

Abstract

Newly arrived migrant students in German schools are currently the centre of attention. In 2015 and 2016 the incoming number of migrant children and adolescents of school-age has risen. Schools, the education administration as well as politics need to take action with regard to this. In the on-going debate on new immigrant students in school, German media and the public focus have been predominantly on asylum seekers from conflict zones such as Syria or Afghanistan. For schools, the increasing number of newcomers with no or little proficiency of German currently poses a challenge, even though new immigrant students at school are not a new phenomenon, but rather a permanent one. From a theoretical point of view, social participation can be discussed within the division of inclusion and exclusion. In this article we examine the potential of a theoretical framework of social inclusion and exclusion in the case of new immigrant students and establish a connection between the organisation of schooling and practices in class. The analysis of a scene of multilingual classroom interaction, held in a separate class for newcomers only, shows how a complex interplay of including and excluding effects structure the situation of newly arrived migrant students.

Language introduction as a space for the inclusion and exclusion of young asylum seekers in Sweden

“…Nilsson Folke, 2017 ; Sharif, 2017 ; Skowronski, 2013 ), and in other countries (cf. Terhart & Devitz, 2018 ; Torbjørnsen Hilt, 2016 ). We can relate here to how, in his study of newly arrived students in Sweden, Sharif ( 2017 ) describes the formation of ethno-cultural spaces in the school, whereby newly arrived students are excluded, both physically and mentally.…”

“…As illustrated in previous studies on young migrant students in Sweden (cf. Jepson Wigg, 2008 ; Nilsson Folke, 2017 ; Sharif, 2017 ), as well as in other countries (Pinson & Arnot, 2010 ; Terhart & Devitz, 2018 ), the educational space becomes highly important to them, not only in terms of learning the language, but also as a social space. In this space, there are opportunities to meet other students, with different backgrounds, as well as to receive various kinds of support, from teachers and students alike (Rodríguez-Izquierdo & Darmody, 2019 ).…”

Daily life and school engagement: An empirical study privileging the first-person perspectives of unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents in a Danish context

“…Literature on integration and the educational practices of asylum-seeking children and adolescents concentrates attention on schooling as a means to successful resettlement of refugee minors, and newly arrived refugees' language and literacy skills were found to be of critical importance to social inclusion (e.g. Mendenhall et al, 2017;Miles and Bailey-McKenna, 2016;Taylor and Sidhu, 2012;Terhart and von Dewitz, 2017;Wofford and Tibi, 2018). This was also predominant when the adolescents talked about school.…”

“…Recent international research literature has addressed the pedagogical needs and challenges of supporting the integration and educational practices of asylum-seeking children and adolescents (e.g. Bodon and Votteler, 2017;Mendenhall, Bartlett and Ghaffar-Kucher, 2017;Miles and Bailey-McKenna, 2016;Nilsson and Bunar, 2016;Terhart and von Dewitz, 2017;Thommessen and Todd, 2018;Wofford and Tibi, 2018).…”

You Have to Start from Scratch and You Need Someone by Your Side”: Perspectives of Parents and Teachers on Immigrant Students’ Adaptation to School

“…Immigrant student-teacher interactions may be challenging and entail misunderstanding and conflict. A student's knowledge may even be overlooked due to the language barrier, differences in academic expectations, and teacher's perceptions of cultural diversity (Vedder et al, 2006;Geiger, 2012;Terhart and Von Dewitz, 2018;Dubbeld et al, 2019).…”