School-family-community collaborations: the contribution of the intercultural worker in accompanying newly immigrant parents to school

Abstract

Families who immigrate with school-aged children face two particular challenges: the practice of parenting in general and the practice of parenting in an unfamiliar or acculturating school environment. It is on these challenges that an emerging professional group is working in Quebec. Specifically, it is the group of intercultural community workers in schools (ICSI). This group supports the social and educational experiences of immigrant families, facilitating collaborations between schools, families and communities. This article explores the practices of ICSI that stimulate the effective accompaniment of parents of recent immigrant students. Through a qualitative exploratory approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three ICSIs from different administrative regions. The results show the relevance of implanting a welcome protocol to better accompany these parents. They also help understand the evolution of the relation between these parents and school, according to the adjustments of their family project and the challenges raised by their settlement in the host society. 

Soutenir la collaboration avec les familles d’élèves issus de l’immigration : analyse de récits de pratique au préscolaire et au primaire en contextes scolaires québécois

“…Lorsque nécessaire, les ressources qui permettent de collaborer davantage doivent aussi être sollicitées : médiateurs ou intervenants interculturels, traducteurs, interprètes, etc. (Booth et Ainscow, 2002 ;Charette et Kalubi, 2016) Pour réaliser cet article, nous avons choisi d'employer le cadre théorique que nous venons de présenter afin de brosser le portrait de pratiques d'enseignants et d'autres acteurs scolaires visant à collaborer avec des familles d'ÉII pour soutenir la réussite éducative de ces derniers.…”

Relations Between School and Immigrant Families in Albertan Francophone School: Perspectives of Settlement Workers in Schools — A Secondary Publication

“…Thus, in mediation, it is a question of taking contexts into account and bringing into line the private and public spheres of identities and assigned roles, expectations, and reciprocal recognition of each of the actors involved in the mediation process. To respond to this need for mediation, several Canadian provinces have called on the services of community interveners, from Intercultural School Community Interveners (ICSI) [11] in Quebec to SSWs in Alberta. As Charette et al [12] reminded us, it sometimes seems easier for recent immigrant parents to consider actualizing their role through community spaces rather than at school.…”

“…The researcher pointed out that the majority of these interpreters supported the biomedical discourse, at the expense of an attempt at dialogue between the two cultures. In this collaboration, the community interpreter has both a cultural and a social mediation role, creating a bridge between the immigrant's culture and that of the host province [9,11] , while at the same time matching the needs of the family with those of the school.…”

Quand la perception teinte la relation : regards d’acteurs et d’actrices scolaires sur des familles d’immigration récente ayant un∙e enfant considéré∙e en situation de grand retard scolaire

“…Ainsi, afin de soutenir cette collaboration, le rôle d'agent•e•s école-famille-communauté a vu le jour. Sous diverses dénominations, ces personnes assument un rôle qui se situe à la croisée des milieux familiaux, communautaires et scolaires (Audet et Potvin, 2013 ;TCRI, 2011 ;Charette et Kalubi, 2016 ;Audet et al, 2023) et qui peut se décliner de diverses façons et prendre des saillances différentes selon les contextes où il se déploie. Charette (2018) a dégagé cinq principales déclinaisons, en lien avec les familles immigrantes : 1) accueillir les familles immigrantes dans le milieu scolaire et soutenir leur appropriation de celuici, 2) sensibiliser le personnel scolaire aux réalités des familles immigrantes, 3) dans certains cas, assurer de la médiation entre l'école et les familles immigrantes, 4) développer des liens entre l'école et la communauté et 5) favoriser la circulation des informations entre l'école, les familles et la communauté.…”