Immigrant School Students Research Articles

A framework for investigating immigrant students’ attitudes towards science, exemplified with data from Turkish families

In this article, we draw on sociocultural, cognitive and affective perspectives to investigate the factors lying behind immigrant school students’ attitudes and aspirations towards science. We combine Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory and Bourdieu’s theory of cultural and social capital to produce a new theoretical framework for understanding how these factors operate. One part of our framework focuses on students’ cognitive and affective resources, such as enjoyment, self-efficacy, engagement and intrinsic motivation. Another relates to students’ sociocultural resources, such as gender, class, home language, parental expectations and perceived teacher encouragement, which are filtered through notions of field and students’ immigrant status. We then exemplify this framework by exploring the attitudes towards science of two Turkish immigrant secondary school students in England, as revealed by questionnaires that they completed and interviews with them and their parent(s). Our tentative conclusion is that our theoretical framework, in its combination of a Bourdieusian perspective and Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, may help make sense of why some immigrant school students continue with science and others do not.

Intercultural training and attitudes of physical education teachers towards immigrant students in Chile: A multi-stakeholder perspective

The number of immigrant students has significantly increased in Chile over the past decade; this has posed new challenges for teacher education in the field of Physical Education (PE), especially in the southern macrozone of the country, where there have historically been tensions related to the recognition of cultural diversity within schools. The present study was conducted in three university campuses in the southern macrozone of Chile. The study aimed to answer the following questions: (a) What are the attitudes towards immigrant K-12 students of pre-service PE teachers, their university professors and the PE teachers who guide their practicum experiences in the placement schools?; (b) What are the perceptions of immigrant K-12 students and their parents regarding the attitudes toward foreign pupils of pre-service (who undergo practicum experience in schools) and PE in-service school teachers (who guide and give feedback on the practicum)?; (c) What are the differences and similarities between the perceptions of all stakeholders (PE in-service and pre-service teachers, their professors, immigrant K-12 students and their parents) about the effectiveness and appropriateness of university strategies preparing future PE teachers to engage with in intercultural contexts? University professors, pre-service PE teachers, and in-service PE teachers display positive attitudes towards interculturality, defined as the presence of K-12 immigrant students in schools. However, significative differences in attitudes exist between those responsible for their teacher education (university professors and in-service PE school teachers). Some K-12 immigrant students and their parents hold a critical perspective toward in-service PE school teachers (both pre-service and in-service), primarily because they perceive a lack of cultural inclusion within the classroom. There is a consensus among the majority of participants regarding the necessity to enhance teacher education concerning interculturality.

Relationship Between Socio-Demographics, Study Skills and Distress Among Pakistani School Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The increasing prevalence of distress among students is of global concern. Several factors such as school and family environment and ineffective study skills could influence mental health. The study explored the rate of distress symptoms among school students' and its relationship with their study skills, stressors and demographic factors. In this cross-sectional analytical study, a sample of 215 students from a community school participated in the study. Three questionnaires, demographic questionnaire, Study Skills Inventory and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Student's t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient and stepwise linear regression. Response rate was 70% (n = 150). A high proportion of respondents (75%) was distressed (mean 27.28 ± 8.77). Correlation analysis showed that distress (K10 score) was negatively related to study skills (SSI total score) (r = -0.247,p = 0.002). The rate of distress symptoms was higher among female students (79%) compared to their male counterparts (72%). The factors associated with distress included negative association of teachers' level of help to develop competencies (p = 0.000, β = -0.278, R2 = 0.249), unfavorable school environment (p = 0.000, β = 0.285, R2 = 0.123), inability to cope with studies (p = 0.005, β = 0.205, R2 = 0.038), family problems (p = 0.014, β = 0.184, R2 = 0.173) and lower study skills (p = 0.031, β = -0.164, R2 = 0.270). The overall regression analysis explained 33.6% of the variance (corrected R2 = 0.336). Higher than expected levels of distress (75%) was found in immigrant school students. Poor study skills have a significant relationship with distress. Learning environment and related stress factors were associated with distress among students. Based on the findings, it is recommended that stakeholders in education address the hidden curriculum, as it is usually unacknowledged and might affect students' wellbeing, and move from student centered to an interpersonal relation-centered education.

Supporting Immigrant Students in Schools: A Qualitative Investigation

ABSTRACT Immigrant students experience multiple challenges, and school counselors are at the forefront of professionals who can support them. School counselors are vital in ensuring that students are included and feel safe in the school community. This study explored school counselors’ perceptions of their work and involvement in advocacy with immigrant students. The guiding research question was: What are the perceptions and experiences of school counselors supporting and advocating for immigrant students? Themes included multiple priorities for students, best practice recommendations, and enhancing competence. Implications for school counselors are discussed.

Counselling of immigrant students in schools – the development of shared understanding between advisers and students

ABSTRACT Careers advisers in schools are of great importance. In order for the counselling to be effective, a social capital-intensive relationship must be built up between adviser and student, characterised by trust and shared understanding of roles and expectations. The aim of this quantitative study is to investigate the influence of a student’s immigration status on the judgement of counselling by both adviser and student as well as its influence on the concordance between these judgements and on the development of this concordance over time. The results show that in general the judgement of counselling by both advisers and students was positive. However, there was a lower level of concordance between advisers and first-generation students than between advisers and native students.

Inclusion of immigrant students in schools: the role of introductory classes and other segregated efforts

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper was to investigate structural aspects of inclusion of immigrant students in Norwegian multicultural schools and, more specifically, their experiences of introductory classes and other segregated efforts. Due to their need for Norwegian language education, newly arrived immigrant students are not necessarily physically integrated into mainstream classes during their first two years of schooling, and they are also often taken out of their classes after they have been assigned to mainstream classes. This study had a qualitative design, and semi structured interviews are used to gather the data. The sample consisted of six immigrant boys, six native Norwegian boys and six teachers in secondary schools. The immigrant students had lived in Norway for two to four years. The results showed that introductory classes seemed not to be sufficiently adjusted to the students’ need for inclusion but operated more as a fixed structural measure for second language learning. As the introductory classes and other segregated efforts often diverged from ordinary subjects and class times, it is possible that introductory and segregated efforts contribute to maintaining segregation more than they result in inclusion experiences.

O estado da arte da Educação para Imigrantes

Neste artigo analisamos o campo teórico da Educação para Imigrantes através da produção acadêmica relacionada à área com o objetivo de desvelar quais os principais desafios, as barreiras e as possibilidades que a presença imigrante desperta no debate educacional. A pesquisa exploratória foi realizada em repositórios de teses e dissertações de universidade paulistas, sendo selecionadas seis dissertações, cujos conteúdos foram analisados. O resultado desse levantamento é capaz de desvelar aspectos como: a trajetória da conquista do direito à educação, as práticas xenofóbicas, as relações entre os estudantes imigrantes e os nacionais, a perspectiva dos professores. São trabalhos que capturam as pequenas permanências e rupturas promovidas pela presença de estudantes imigrantes nas escolas.

Bias-motivated Victimization of Immigrant Students in Schools: Incidence, Impact, and Intervention

Background: Bias-motivated victimization is common among school-age youth and is associated with negative academic and emotional consequences. Few studies have looked at the incidence of various forms of bias-motivated victimization for first- and second- generation immigrant-origin students even though these students represent an especially vulnerable population for experiencing bias. Objective: The present study investigated whether immigrant-origin students reported higher incidences of bias-motivated victimization relative to their nonimmigrant-origin peers. For students who experienced bias-motivated victimization, we examined the impact of these experiences on levels of distress and examined perceived social and community support between immigrant-origin and nonimmigrant-origin students. Methods: Participants completed the Youth Bias Victimization Questionnaire (YBVQ), a questionnaire designed to capture information about how often youth experience different types of bias-motivated victimization. Results: Approximately 60% of youth in the full sample reported experiencing one or more types of bias victimization in their lifetime and this rate was generally equivalent across immigrant- origin and nonimmigrant-origin participants. For those students who reported at least one lifetime event of bias victimization, immigrant-origin youth were more likely than nonimmigrant-origin youth to experience victimization related to peers’ perceptions of their country of origin or immigrant status. There were no significant differences in reported levels of distress or perceived social and community support between immigrant-origin and nonimmigrant-origin youth, regardless of whether they experienced bias-motivated victimization during their lifetime. Conclusion: Clinicians working in school settings should be aware of the high incidence of students who experience bias-motivated victimization and when indicated provide targeted intervention services to those negatively impacted by these experiences.

Collective stories: the application of sociodrama with high school immigrant students

ABSTRACT Immigrant students often deal with a great deal of trauma not only from home country challenges but also with immigration and resettlement issues. The provision of therapeutic work in school settings comes with a number of challenges. In many cases, school systems can make it difficult to implement appropriate interventions due to logistical constraints such as time, space, and academic pressures, or more complex fears of re-traumatizing a student or lacking appropriate socio-emotional support staff. Informed by the author’s experiences working in a high school for newly arrived immigrants as a psychotherapist, creative arts therapist and psychodramatist, this article outlines how using the aesthetics of sociodrama provides a way to balance in-depth trauma work with enough distance that a student can reengage with the classroom following sessions.

Language Inclusiveness in Education: Implications for Immigrant Students in France and New Zealand

Since 2016, educational environments all over the world are being precipitated towards change and adaptation, in response to mass global immigration and increasing numbers of newly-arrived plurilingual children in schools. France and New Zealand provide two examples of populations that are highly linguistically diverse, yet take differing approaches to the inclusion of immigrant languages in the educational environment. This article compares the effects of language policies in a francophone/anglophone context on the inclusion of plurilingual immigrant children in schools, on three tiers: the language of schooling (French/English), second language options in schools, and the treatment of immigrant languages. Two main questions are explored: (1) How inclusive are language education policies in France and New Zealand? (2) How are educational environments responding to greater numbers of newly-arrived plurilingual students in schools, as well as the demand for language inclusiveness from established immigrant communities? A number of similarities emerge (school systems essentially dominated by monolingualism in the language of schooling), as well as differences (visible trends towards language inclusiveness in policy and practice in 2020). Findings support the argument that plurilingual approaches to teaching and learning improve educational outcomes for immigrant students, and therefore that educational environments that cultivate “language inclusiveness”, particularly during the newly-arrived phase, are better equipped to support learning for immigrant students in schools.

Critical Affect Literacy: A Call to Action in a Trump Administration

ABSTRACT Political discourses and practices surrounding the current presidential administration are propagating familiar stereotypes of immigrants as “diseases,” “criminals,” and questionably “American.” Emergent research and the news media are also reporting stories of hostility toward immigrants in schools and broader society that has been incited by such rhetoric and practices. This article proposes teacher educators concerned with social justice for immigrant youth should teach meaningfully about the controversial emotions surrounding immigration. More specifically, the authors hypothesize how critical affect literacy may be instructive for helping pre-service teachers address the polarized and controversial emotions swirling around immigration. After providing a brief overview of the current national context of schools, the authors discuss the literature on teacher education for immigration. They then describe critical affect literacy and highlight its promise for helping pre-service teachers understand and counter-act negative emotions directed at immigrant students in schools. The authors also provide examples of instructional activities that might engage critical affect literacy practices in teacher education classrooms. In doing so, the authors hope to advocate the power of emotion in teaching for social justice in an increasingly uncertain and combative political climate.

The Open Studio: Exploring Immigrant and Refugee Youth Experiences of Belonging through Community-Based Arts Practice

The Open Studio is a publicly accessible art-making space grounded in ideals of collaborative community development, Adlerian theory, social justice, and feminist thoughts. Our project involved visual art-making and exploring high school immigrant students’ experiences of inclusion and belonging. The purpose was to help immigrant and refugee youth to adapt to a city in Newfoundland, where newcomers often face an insider/outsider dynamic of disconnection. The Open Studio was structured along seven parameters: focus on intentional art-making; no judgmental commentary (positive or negative); non-evaluative in nature; no forced participation, including witnessing and sharing; and as importantly, participatory involvement of facilitators. The participant-planned and hosted final school exhibit contributed to learning, sharing, and group cohesiveness. A plain language needs assessment, semi-structured interviews, and focus group, were also used to generate data on how an Open Studio informs cultural experiences and feelings of integration and belonging. Keywords: Immigrant and refugee youth, art-making, belonging, integration

Gender and racial differences in peer effects of limited English students: a story of language or ethnicity?

There is a perception among native born parents in the USA that the increasing number of immigrant students in schools creates negative peer effects on their children. In North Carolina, there has been a significant increase in immigrants, especially those with limited English language skills. Recent data suggests that North Carolina has the eighth largest English-language learner (ELL) student population and over 60 % of immigrants are from Latin America and the Caribbean. While past research suggests negative though negligible peer effects of Limited English (LE) students and black students on the achievement of other students, potential peer effects of students from Latin America in general have not been considered. In this paper, we attempt to identify both LE student and Latin American (LA) student peer effects by separately utilizing fixed effects methods that allow us to deal with the potential selectivity across time and schools. On average, we find no evidence of negative peer effects of LE students on females and white students but note small negative effects on average on males and black students. We also find that, holding constant other factors, an increase in the share of LA students does not create negative peer effects on native students’ achievement. Rather, it is the limited English language skills of some of these students that lead to small, negative peer effects on natives.JEL Classification: I20, I21, J15, J24.

A comparison of financial literacy between native and immigrant school students

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the gap in Financial Literacy (FL) between native and immigrant 15-year-old school students using data from the 2012 PISA Financial Literacy Assessment. The size of the gap is about 0.15 standard deviations, going up to 0.3 for first-generation immigrants. This is partly because immigrants have poorer economic background, parents that work in lower-skilled jobs, do not speak the test language at home and are placed in later student cohorts. Controlling for this via OLS or matching reduces the unexplained gap, but it still remains significant and displays considerable country-level heterogeneity. It ceases to be significant when the Math score is partialled out.

Native Student Attitudes towards Equal Rights for Immigrants. A Study in 18 European Countries

The present study investigates the determinants of native student attitudes towards equal rights for immigrants giving particular attention to the effect of immigrant share in the classroom and the extent to which it can be generalized across country contexts. The contribution sheds some new light on the validity of the contact hypothesis, which suggests that mixing native and immigrant students in schools and classrooms can contribute to higher levels of support for immigrants’ rights. The analyses were conducted across 18 countries participating to the ICCS survey in 2009. For the analyses we applied a three-level multilevel model controlling for individual, classroom, and country characteristics. We tested a random slope for immigrant share in the classroom at country level, and we modeled both linear and quadratic effects of immigrant share. The overall pattern suggests that in most countries there is a small positive effect of immigrant share, which does not change dramatically in direction or size at higher immigrant share levels.

Gender and Racial Differences in Peer Effects of Limited English Students: A Story of Language or Ethnicity?

There is a perception among native born parents in the U.S. that the increasing number of immigrant students in schools creates negative peer effects on their children. In North Carolina there has been a significant increase in immigrants especially those with limited English language skills and recent data suggest that North Carolina has the 8th largest ELL student population with over 60 percent of immigrants coming from Latin America and the Caribbean. While past research suggests negative though negligible peer effects of Limited English (LE) students on achievement of other students, potential peer effects of student from Latin America in general has not been considered. In this paper we attempt to identify both LE student and Latin American (LA) student peer effects separately utilizing fixed effects methods that allow us to deal with the potential selectivity across time and schools. On average we find no evidence of negative peer effects of LE students on females and white students but note small negative effects on average on males and black students. We also find that, holding constant other factors, an increase in the share of LA students share does not create negative peer effects on native students' achievement. Rather, it is the limited English language skills of some of these students that leads to small, negative peer effects on natives.

Intercultural education in the European context: key remarks from a comparative study

The article focuses on some findings of a comparative study carried out by a network of scholars and researchers who are active in the field of intercultural education in the European context in the main ‘old immigration countries’ (United Kingdom, France and Germany), ‘new immigration countries’ (Italy, Spain and Greece) and some northern European countries (Netherlands and Sweden). The scholars involved in the study highlight that a structural ‘segregation’ of students with different cultural and social backgrounds can be largely observed in European schools. In fact, the long tradition of cultural and language homogeneity in several European education systems has in many cases led to the isolation of immigrant students in schools when they are placed in the contexts of lower social and economic opportunities. Another issue highlighted by the study relates to social equity as a major challenge for intercultural education. Inequalities between immigrant students and their native peers must be addressed by an intercultural approach that is able not only to promote cultural understanding but can also provide effective opportunities for immigrant students, challenging the problems of lack of achievement among immigrant students. A gap between statements of intercultural principles and assimilationist practices has also emerged from the study. Principles on intercultural perspectives in Europe often appear to be very innovative and exist on a progressive and democratic level. However, in the European context, real practices are often implemented under ‘assimiliationist’ and ‘compensatory’ viewpoints. Finally, the study raises fundamental questions about the critical revision of the project of European society. Indeed, one of the major current challenges in European education systems will be overcoming a persistent Eurocentric setting, building effective responses for all the students and providing all the pupils with skills that are indispensable for full active citizenship in an interdependent and pluralistic Europe.

Prácticas docentes y actuaciones educativas en el aula para la mejora del aprendizaje y la convivencia en los centros educativos de primaria y secundaria con alumnado inmigrante

En los centros educativos donde hay un elevado porcentaje de alumnado inmigrante se constata un aumento del fracaso escolar en este colectivo y problemas de convivencia, con respecto a los centros sin alumnado inmigrante. En este sentido, los resultados presentados en este artículo muestran parte de los resultados de la investigación: La mejora de la convivencia y el aprendizaje en los centros educativos de primaria y secundaria con alumnado inmigrante (Plan Nacional I+D+I, 2008-2011), y destacan las prácticas docentes y de aula que actúan como barreras en la promoción del éxito educativo y en la mejora de la convivencia en centros con elevada presencia de alumnado inmigrante, así como aquellas que promueven el éxito educativo y la mejora de la convivencia.

Immigration in Italy: Between Economic Acceptance and Political Rejection

Italy, especially in its richer regions and cities, is experiencing a profound contradiction in its relationship with the immigrant component of its population: it is becoming even more multi-ethnic in terms of the number of residents (5.3 million), participation in the labor market (more than 3 million), transitions to self-employment (213,000 business owners), and immigrant students in schools (about 670,000). In their cultural representations, Italians tend to deny this reality. They do not want multi-ethnic cities. Faced with the widespread use of a workforce of regular and irregular immigrants, in families and enterprises of the urban economy, the prevailing opinion rejects the idea of giving a place to immigration in the nation’s social organization, and this position is strengthened by political forces and media that reflect and exacerbate the reaction. Immigrants seem to be accepted, perhaps, on an individual plane, where they have a name and a definite place in society—helpful, modest, possibly invisible. They are frightening when they become visible communities, when they settle in urban settings, when they look for places and opportunities for socialization. Italian society, as a result of tensions between markets, politics, and culture on the issue of immigration, is facing a dilemma: how to reconcile interests and feelings, head and heart, individuals and communities: how to rebuild sufficient social cohesion in a society that is increasingly differentiated and heterogeneous.

Middle School Immigrant Students Developing Mathematical Reasoning in Spanish and English

Language is the means through which mathematics is learned and mathematical reasoning is developed and expressed. Students' development of mathematical knowledge is dependent upon their codevelopment of language competencies. This study sought to understand the intersection of language acquisition and mathematical reasoning in a multigrade, dual-language mathematics classroom. The focal research question was: In what ways do immigrant middle-school students use L1 and L2 to communicate and to reason mathematically? The students who participated were first- and second-generation immigrants from Mexico. Data included (1) ethnographic field notes, (2), videotape and audiotape of small-group work, (3) interviews with the bilingual mathematics teacher, and (4) student work. Findings suggest that (1) nonroutine mathematical problem posing is useful for eliciting productive talk and encouraging reasoning; and (2) when given the opportunity, ELLs are likely to draw productively upon their linguistic resources in L1 and L2 to support high-level mathematical reasoning.