Dr Sonya Woodward
Educational needs of refugees in Wales.
This research investigated how schools and staff in Wales were able to respond to the needs of refugee learners and their families during Covid-19. Refugee learners often have significant and additional needs compared to other ethnic minority or disadvantaged groups; many have missed large chunks of basic education, some have not attended school for years, if at all. They have experienced the upheaval of forced migration and needing to find a place of refuge and learn new languages. (Arnot, M. and Pinson, H., 2005, Arnot, M; Pinson, H.; and Candappa, M., 2009) Schools play a central role in helping refugee learners to adapt to life in the UK (Baak, M. 2016)..
Ethics was obtained to conduct semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample (n=14) of professionals working with refugee learners in primary and secondary schools across Wales, including headteachers, class teachers, English as an Additional Language (EAL) specialists, and bilingual teaching assistants. The aim was to find out what strategies were employed before, during, and after Covid-19, and the key challenges involved in supporting these learners.
Thematic analysis provided insights into the ways in which staff try to meet the complex needs of refugee learners, often with limited resources and very little knowledge about their backgrounds or experiences. The findings show that schools are trying to provide social, emotional, and pastoral support in addition to intensive language teaching and academic skills development.
Recommendations were made for an increased budget allocation to provide adequate language support when refugees first arrive, combined with a reduced timetable, and alternative qualifications, where possible, to meet the needs of those who are arriving too late to sit GCSEs and A-levels. Staff training and specific policies for working with refugee learners are needed, as well as improved communication between schools and refugee families, to share vital information and assist in the early identification of additional needs.
Dr Donna Gaywood
Pedagogy of welcome: ways to support refugee children in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).
This presentation shares a pedagogy of welcome which can be utilised by early childhood practitioners to enable refugee children to participate fully in early education. It was developed through a small-scale doctoral research project, which investigated the lived experience of four Syrian refugee children in ECEC. The pedagogy builds on the work of Freire (1970), Natural Inclusion Theory (Rayner 2017) and notions of hospitality (Gabi 2021). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory helped frame the children’s wider context as refugees in England. An intersectional theoretical lens was developed which included Social Identity Theory (Tajfel: 1979); Orientalism (Said: 1978); and Social Learning Theory (Vygotsky: 1978) which was used to interrogate issues of power and positionality. This qualitative research employed a hybrid praxeological and polyvocal methodology (Formosinho and Formosinho, 2012; Pascal and Bertram, 2012; Tobin et al:2016). To elicit the children’s experiences, original multi-modal methods were developed inspired by Theron et al 2011; Clark and Moss, 2011; Carr et al 2002. The invisibility of refugee children’s experiences, taken-for-granted norms and negative conceptualisations all informed the ethics of the research. A dynamic, responsive approach was developed alongside critical analysis and deep reflection of self to ensure participant voices were amplified. Despite inclusive practices, refugee children tend to remain marginalised in ECEC but positive pedagogy offers a protective factor for refugee children (Buchmuller et al, 2020). The essential elements of the pedagogy of welcome include: professional positionality, making visible the invisible, creating open dynamic spaces of welcome, and attention to wider concerns These findings offer early educators opportunity to reflect on self, examine praxis and consider more ethically sensitive ways to include refugee or other marginalised children through welcoming practices. The pedagogy of welcome is transferable beyond the early years and can be applied to other contexts as transformative inclusive practice.
Dahab Jihar
School Attendance in Secondary Schools. Policy, practice, and implications for whole school approaches
The presentation will focus on the first stage of a qualitative study and explore changes in policies related to school attendance to understand how schools address attendance problems within the context of well-being. This study is part of a larger mixed-method research project in England, Germany, Japan, and Sweden. It explores the lived experiences of staff and students of the support, strategies, and interventions to improve attendance.
Absence rates have increased since 2019, and are higher among secondary school students, students with special educational needs and with mental health problems (gov, 2023; John et al, 2022). Schools in England are required to record, monitor, and improve student attendance (Ofsted, 2022). School absence has been seen as a safeguarding issue with reference to Children Missing Education, but this is changing with recent DfE policies outlining the roles of stakeholders in understanding risk and protective factors, developing a whole school culture, and government ambitions to improve mental health support and provisions for young people. School Attendance and Mental Health Support Teams are introduced to work with schools (DfE, 2022b; Ellins et al, 2021), signifying a shift from a procedural and punitive approach to a more supportive and integrated one.
The focus is on research questions such as: What are the changes in policies related to attendance, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic? How do policies inform school practice and how are they informed by evidence? How does the school culture promote attendance, especially for vulnerable children? How are schools supported to implement sustainable change?
Government and school policies related to student well-being, welfare and school attendance and school inspection reports will be reviewed. School policies and procedures will reveal contextual approaches of schools and inform subsequent interview questions.
Educational needs of refugees in Wales.
This research investigated how schools and staff in Wales were able to respond to the needs of refugee learners and their families during Covid-19. Refugee learners often have significant and additional needs compared to other ethnic minority or disadvantaged groups; many have missed large chunks of basic education, some have not attended school for years, if at all. They have experienced the upheaval of forced migration and needing to find a place of refuge and learn new languages. (Arnot, M. and Pinson, H., 2005, Arnot, M; Pinson, H.; and Candappa, M., 2009) Schools play a central role in helping refugee learners to adapt to life in the UK (Baak, M. 2016)..
Ethics was obtained to conduct semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample (n=14) of professionals working with refugee learners in primary and secondary schools across Wales, including headteachers, class teachers, English as an Additional Language (EAL) specialists, and bilingual teaching assistants. The aim was to find out what strategies were employed before, during, and after Covid-19, and the key challenges involved in supporting these learners.
Thematic analysis provided insights into the ways in which staff try to meet the complex needs of refugee learners, often with limited resources and very little knowledge about their backgrounds or experiences. The findings show that schools are trying to provide social, emotional, and pastoral support in addition to intensive language teaching and academic skills development.
Recommendations were made for an increased budget allocation to provide adequate language support when refugees first arrive, combined with a reduced timetable, and alternative qualifications, where possible, to meet the needs of those who are arriving too late to sit GCSEs and A-levels. Staff training and specific policies for working with refugee learners are needed, as well as improved communication between schools and refugee families, to share vital information and assist in the early identification of additional needs.
Dr Donna Gaywood
Pedagogy of welcome: ways to support refugee children in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC).
This presentation shares a pedagogy of welcome which can be utilised by early childhood practitioners to enable refugee children to participate fully in early education. It was developed through a small-scale doctoral research project, which investigated the lived experience of four Syrian refugee children in ECEC. The pedagogy builds on the work of Freire (1970), Natural Inclusion Theory (Rayner 2017) and notions of hospitality (Gabi 2021). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory helped frame the children’s wider context as refugees in England. An intersectional theoretical lens was developed which included Social Identity Theory (Tajfel: 1979); Orientalism (Said: 1978); and Social Learning Theory (Vygotsky: 1978) which was used to interrogate issues of power and positionality. This qualitative research employed a hybrid praxeological and polyvocal methodology (Formosinho and Formosinho, 2012; Pascal and Bertram, 2012; Tobin et al:2016). To elicit the children’s experiences, original multi-modal methods were developed inspired by Theron et al 2011; Clark and Moss, 2011; Carr et al 2002. The invisibility of refugee children’s experiences, taken-for-granted norms and negative conceptualisations all informed the ethics of the research. A dynamic, responsive approach was developed alongside critical analysis and deep reflection of self to ensure participant voices were amplified. Despite inclusive practices, refugee children tend to remain marginalised in ECEC but positive pedagogy offers a protective factor for refugee children (Buchmuller et al, 2020). The essential elements of the pedagogy of welcome include: professional positionality, making visible the invisible, creating open dynamic spaces of welcome, and attention to wider concerns These findings offer early educators opportunity to reflect on self, examine praxis and consider more ethically sensitive ways to include refugee or other marginalised children through welcoming practices. The pedagogy of welcome is transferable beyond the early years and can be applied to other contexts as transformative inclusive practice.
Dahab Jihar
School Attendance in Secondary Schools. Policy, practice, and implications for whole school approaches
The presentation will focus on the first stage of a qualitative study and explore changes in policies related to school attendance to understand how schools address attendance problems within the context of well-being. This study is part of a larger mixed-method research project in England, Germany, Japan, and Sweden. It explores the lived experiences of staff and students of the support, strategies, and interventions to improve attendance.
Absence rates have increased since 2019, and are higher among secondary school students, students with special educational needs and with mental health problems (gov, 2023; John et al, 2022). Schools in England are required to record, monitor, and improve student attendance (Ofsted, 2022). School absence has been seen as a safeguarding issue with reference to Children Missing Education, but this is changing with recent DfE policies outlining the roles of stakeholders in understanding risk and protective factors, developing a whole school culture, and government ambitions to improve mental health support and provisions for young people. School Attendance and Mental Health Support Teams are introduced to work with schools (DfE, 2022b; Ellins et al, 2021), signifying a shift from a procedural and punitive approach to a more supportive and integrated one.
The focus is on research questions such as: What are the changes in policies related to attendance, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic? How do policies inform school practice and how are they informed by evidence? How does the school culture promote attendance, especially for vulnerable children? How are schools supported to implement sustainable change?
Government and school policies related to student well-being, welfare and school attendance and school inspection reports will be reviewed. School policies and procedures will reveal contextual approaches of schools and inform subsequent interview questions.
