Czech elementary school teachers’ implicit expectations from migrant children

Abstract

The article explores the implicit expectations of teachers regarding the paths of integration of migrant children from various cultural backgrounds. Drawing on qualitative interviews with teachers the findings suggest that the school experience of migrant children is shaped by the concealed assertion of values linked with the dominant ethnicity. In the eyes of teachers, a successfully integrated migrant is stripped of ethnical specifics. The key mechanisms of this assimilatory process are a focus on host country language acquisition, neglect of the skills a migrant child may have acquired before immigration, and the individualisation of success. The analysis calls for a broader reflection on the implicit conditions involved in architecturing migrant integration policies and practices in education.