Welcoming mobile children at school: institutional responses and new questions

Abstract

Switzerland, like other countries in Europe, has long depended on migration and mobility for its economy. Facilitating the integration of migrant children in school, primarily through the acquisition of the local language, has therefore been a priority for policymakers. In recent years, mobility has been on the increase and mobility trajectories have become more diverse. A growing percentage of families arriving in the country have experienced repeated mobility and may not plan to settle in Switzerland for good. This paper examines institutional responses to the increasing number of mobile children in Swiss public schools, in particular, the manner in which such children are welcomed. It presents the main findings of an exploratory research project focused on children in repeated mobility, defined as having lived in multiple countries before their arrival in Switzerland, regardless of family background or legal status. Adopting a sociocultural psychological approach, the paper examines the macro-social level of cantonal educational policies regarding welcome processes, the meso-social level of local school policies, and the microsocial level of teachers’ practices and interactions in classrooms that welcome mobile children. Data include documentary analysis, interviews, and observations. Our analysis shows that a deficit view of mobile children and the preoccupation with language proficiency dominate policies and practices, resulting in the diversion of mobile children into special integration classes (so called “classes d’accueil” in the French speaking region, and “Integrationsklasse” in the Swiss German-speaking region). Mobility is conceptualized by Swiss policymakers, school directors, and teachers in terms of its challenges. In particular, school directors and teachers conceptualize mobility as increasing heterogeneity of the classroom. However, the situation varies greatly according to the personal orientations of school directors and teachers’ personal engagement. The paper emphasizes the ambiguous role of the integration classes: while they may impair the long-term chances of educational success by reducing academic expectations for non-native-speaking mobile children, they may also be used as “third spaces” which afford pedagogical freedom for dedicated teachers, potentially of benefit for children. The paper examines these propositions in the light of sociocultural educational literature and draws upon the case of welcoming mobile children to question a series of assumptions about the ultimate purposes of public schooling in Europe today.

What Is the Nexus between Migration and Mobility? A Framework to Understand the Interplay between Different Ideal Types of Human Movement

“…The Chinese hukou system of household registration ties the social rights of a person to their municipality of origin and allows cities to permanently exclude non-native populations from essential services by categorising them as internal migrants (Meng and Manning, 2010). Institutional support programs sometimes target 'migrants' and render invisible 'mobile' persons: in Switzerland, school 'integration' programs are designed for 'migrant' children and are not adapted to the needs of children who experience recurrent mobility (Levitan, 2019;Kloetzer et al, 2021). Similar dynamics can be observed for spouses (Cangià, 2019;Tissot, 2020).…”

Educational practice in Switzerland: Searching for diversity-engaged leadership

“…In Europe, and specifically in Switzerland, increased (and intersectional) diversity resulting from racially and linguistically heterogeneous migration patterns, unfolds prominently in the education sector. Unfortunately, teachers and school leaders are inadequately prepared to tackle the resulting difficult conversations and interactions and to confront their own positionality and subjectivity vis-à-vis newcomer students (Gómez-Hurtado et al, 2016;Kloetzer et al, 2021;Polat and Ogay Barka, 2014). 1 Because of the speed of change toward heterogeneity as a consequence of migration and new conversations sparked by social justice movements, this study was undertaken to capture the perspectives of current secondary school leaders in one canton in Switzerland.…”

“…In Europe, and specifically in Switzerland, increased (and intersectional) diversity resulting from racially and linguistically heterogeneous migration patterns, unfolds prominently in the education sector. Unfortunately, teachers and school leaders are inadequately prepared to tackle the resulting difficult conversations and interactions and to confront their own positionality and subjectivity vis-à-vis newcomer students (Gómez-Hurtado et al, 2016; Kloetzer et al, 2021; Polat and Ogay Barka, 2014). 1…”