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Western University

Teacher Education and Professional Development

Refugee

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Full-Text Articles in Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education

Building Intercultural Capacity In School Teams To Support Refugee Students, Heather A. Young Aug 2022

Building Intercultural Capacity In School Teams To Support Refugee Students, Heather A. Young

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

In a period of globalization and forced migration, refugee numbers are increasing exponentially, and unprepared school systems embrace students as families settle in unfamiliar territory. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores the experiences of a school team at Calluna Elementary School (CES, a pseudonym) in Southern Ontario, where staff strive to build their collective intercultural capacity in order to best serve an influx of newcomers who have survived war and significant loss. The Problem of Practice (PoP) involves addressing staff struggles with trauma-informed pedagogy, early literacy instruction, and maintaining an asset-focused perspective, through a refugee critical race theory lens. To …


Parental Support For Newcomer Children’S Education In A Smaller Centre, Xuemei Li, Antoinette Doyle, Maureen Lymburner, Needal Yasin Ghadi Dec 2016

Parental Support For Newcomer Children’S Education In A Smaller Centre, Xuemei Li, Antoinette Doyle, Maureen Lymburner, Needal Yasin Ghadi

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This study explored the issues around parental support for newcomer children’s transition to school in a smaller urban centre in Atlantic Canada where newcomer support is relatively limited. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with 11 newcomer parents, five children, and one settlement worker. The findings revealed newcomer parents’ difficulties in understanding the school system, limited engagement with the school community, isolation from other parents, and barriers to understanding and connecting with other parents. Among these newcomers, refugee parents are particularly challenged. We conclude that newcomer children’s parental involvement need to be viewed multi-dimensionally, and that the creation of a …