Supplementary Schools Research Articles

Anti-Asian Hatred and Japanese Parents' Support of Their Children's Acculturation to the United States.

This ethnographic study explores how Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents support their children's acculturation to U.S. society. Anti-Asian hatred is a neglected social justice issue with a long history extending to hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the U.S. population includes an increasing number of Asian immigrants. Some of them, such as recent Japanese immigrants and temporary residents, are from majority groups in their countries of origin, and do not have cultural socialization practices to protect their children from racism and xenophobia. This article focuses on in-depth, individual interviews with 14 Japanese immigrant and temporary resident parents of children attending U.S. local schools. Parents described their cultural socialization as centering on developing a Japanese cultural self, for example, through participation in a Japanese supplementary school. Parents also reported experiences of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia, including social exclusion. However, they typically did not describe preparing children directly for responding to and coping with anti-Asian bias. Rather, they and their children took responsibility for bias directed against them, and avoided drawing attention to their differences. Authors discuss implications for how social workers can recognize distress in Japanese children and effectively support them and others experiencing similar acculturation challenges.

Black boys matter – A Black supplementary school’s approach to supporting SEMH needs

The birth of Black Supplementary Schools (BSSs) in the 1960s was a socio-political movement. They sought to reduce the failings of Black children in the mainstream education system by offering them additional learning spaces. However, there is limited research on their functionality and how they support children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), such as Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH). This study sought to shed light on the role a BSS played in supporting Black boys who had been labelled with challenging behaviour by their mainstream educational provision and were at risk of or had been permanently excluded. The research adopted a single case-study design, employing qualitative data collection using semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data; five main themes found were ‘Education is more than academia’, ‘Strong sense of belonging’, ‘People empowerment through unique opportunities’, ‘Knowing and growing thy self’ and ‘Supporting systemic strategies’. The recent insurgence of ‘Black Lives Matter’ highlighted that racial inequalities remain deeply embedded within the structural mechanisms of society. This research sheds light on the ways in which BBS’s support Black children to succeed educationally. Moreover, there are further implications for education settings, educators and other education professionals including Educational Psychologists.

Ludic Heritage: Supplementary School Plays, Museum Collaborations, and the Futurity of Histories in Migration

This article introduces the term "ludic heritage" to describe how people relocate histories in migration through play. In a collaboration between the Museum of London, an Albanian supplementary school, and the researcher, play became a point of intersection between adults' and children's worlds, the museum and minority communities, and imagination, memory, and reality. UK supplementary schools set up by migrant communities teach children their cultural heritages not taught in mainstream schools or represented at the museum. Despite an estimation of 3,000-5,000 supplementary schools in London alone, they exist on the periphery of public life. In school plays performed in museum festivals children embodied the past whilst improvising cultural representations on stage, redirecting the future of heritage in migration. Framing time as technique (Bear 2016) and as an embodied mental capacity (Da Silva Sinha 2019), I observe how people construct the temporalities they inhabit through a praxis (Munn 1992) in which play—as an adaptable and malleable form of cultural heritage—reconfigures cultural identities and mobilizes a new community in diaspora. I draw attention to how different partners approached play, as research method, embodied memory, pedagogy, or museum engagement or through transient cultural artifacts that open temporal possibilities.

Actors’ discourses on language supplementary schools: diaspora practices and emerging ideologies

ABSTRACT Drawing on interviews with staff from Language Supplementary Schools (LSS) in Manchester (UK), we discuss the emergence of makeshift ideologies whereby actors seek to legitimise choices and policies of heritage language transmission in the diaspora setting. Actors discuss the use of regional and vernacular varieties, the consideration given to pupils’ multilingual repertoires, and the use of the majority language (English) as ‘scaffold’. Conscious that such practices potentially clash with the schools’ expected mission statements and prevailing ideological dispositions, actors seek to justify them. They do this with reference to changes in setting and attitudes, which they position along time and place axes, comparing origin countries with the diaspora reality, thereby forging new language narratives as a ‘diasporic stance’. We consider the discursive tools and actions of talks that constitute descriptions, explanations, justifications, and their interplay in actors’ efforts to share their perspective on practices and the attitudes that accompany them. The study shows how ideologies regarding the particular diasporic situation are shifting, and the relevance of pluralistic language repertoires within it. Methodologically, the study suggests that ideologies are not just discursive dimensions, rather they are constructed and communicated discursively, allowing us to trace their emergence using semiotic and discourse-analytical tools.

Gry cyfrowe wkraczają do kanonu lektur szkolnych (Recenzja: „This War of Mine”, prod. 11 bit studios, 2014)

This War of Mine, a critically acclaimed game by 11 bit studios, is the first game to be on the list of supplementary school readings in Poland. The game released in 2014 is an anti-war narrative built around the story of a group of civilians trying to survive the war in Pogoren, city based on wartorn Sarajevo. The game is unique in its mechanics as well as in its serious treatment of death and suffering, but can also be played for pleasure and in that matter is not moralistic, but entertaining. It is an ideal game to offer young people, both as a means of developing their sensitivity and as an encouragement to seek pleasure in experiencing narratives. However, it also fits with other school readings on the cruelty of war, and thus there is a risk it will be used as other texts have been — as a story to make teenagers think about war as a formative experience which makes one a true Pole.

Language skills in Greek-English bilingual children attending Greek supplementary schools in England

ABSTRACT Many parents in the UK enrol their children in Greek supplementary schools so the children can learn and maintain the Greek language and culture in parallel with English mainstream education. Despite fears about the effects of this heritage language (Greek) use on children’s skills in the majority language (English), research on these somewhat hidden schools to date is limited and qualitative in nature. The current study is the first quantitative study which examines the effect of attending a Greek supplementary school on the vocabulary and grammar scores of Greek-English bilingual children. We administered a battery of language tests in both languages to 31 Greek-English bilingual children, aged 5–13 years, and closely looked at the participants’ language history using parental questionnaires. Using multiple regression analyses we examine the relationship between relevant variables, such as language use and years in supplementary school and we find that the higher the use of Greek, the higher the scores in the Greek language tasks, although no significant relationship was detected between years in supplementary school and the development of language skills. Crucially, the use of Greek does not negatively predict scores in the English language tasks. Implications of our results and future directions are discussed.

‘We must name ourselves’: ERI construction within the supplementary schooling context

ABSTRACT Ethnic and racial identity (ERI) has long been considered a central component of psychological wellbeing, particularly for adolescents and young people from Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. Supplementary schools are geared towards the cultivation of positive group identification and a sense of belonging; central components of ERI. These institutions therefore have a potentially vital role to play in facilitating the wellbeing of the BME young people they serve. Within current literature, there has been very little direct reference to this promotion of wellbeing within supplementary schooling. This paper addresses this dearth by exploring the identity work carried out by a diverse cohort of supplementary schools in the UK. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interview data gathered from the leaders of 16 schools, representing several different BME groups. The data was analysed using thematic analysis and revealed that schools facilitate positive group identity and a sense of belonging through several means, namely: the preservation and perpetuation of emblematic identity traits, the counteraction of negative identity discourses, the transformation of community social standing and the recovery of depleted or lost identities.

The Impact of Learning Kurdish ‘Mother-Tongue’ in London on Mainstream Education

This study investigates the impact of a group of Kurdish children learning their mother-tongue, in two Kurdish Saturday schools in North London, and particularly the impact on the children’s integration into mainstream schooling. There are some historical issues surrounding ethnic minority children’s education that have been labelled as problematic towards their educational achievements in the United Kingdom. The responsibility of teaching the mother-tongue to those children takes place formally in supplementary or Saturday schools in their community rather than in mainstream schools. Many researches have revealed that learning their mother tongue is beneficial for children in general. In particular, this research focuses on the impacts on Kurdish children in mainstream education, since the number of children from diverse backgrounds is increasing, including the number of children from the Kurdish community. Mixed method research has been undertaken to examine this issue, including a semi- structured questionnaire and group interview used to collect data, as this research depended on students’ as well as parents’ views in integrating their child in some state schools. The findings revealed that learning the mother-tongue is beneficial for children from diverse backgrounds and that supplementary schools play a vital role in learning the mother-tongue on children’s attitude in mainstream education.

History pedagogic practices in Greek supplementary schools in England, past and present

ABSTRACT This study was conducted at an important chronological turning point with regard to the structure of the Greek community and Greek supplementary schools in the UK. This paper, following a mixed-methods methodology, aims to examine whether pedagogic practices and norms of the past that took place in Greek supplementary schools continue to exist today, in a word of continuous socio-political changes. This is undertaken with a retrospective examination of the education of Greek immigrant children in the UK in the past, an examination of how pre-existing, primordial notions of culture and ethnicity influence pedagogic practices and how these influence students’ motivation and identity development at present. The findings call for a revisiting of policies, as well as curricular and pedagogic practices in Greek supplementary education, in order to reflect the current fluid and constantly changing context.

Acculturation and a sense of belonging of children in U.S. Schools and communities: The case of Japanese families.

The population of immigrants in the U.S. continues to grow, with more than one million immigrants arriving every year. This study examines the acculturation of new immigrant and temporary resident children and their parents from Japan, as they navigate two cultures and seek a sense of belonging. Acculturation to a new culture poses various psychosocial challenges, including a loss of a sense of belonging, which can result in social isolation and withdrawal. Examination of the experiences of families from Japan, where group belonging is highly valued, can illuminate the role of belonging in acculturation. We examined individual interviews with 14 Japanese parents in U.S. southern cities. During the interviews, they described the experiences of a total of 23 children from preschool to 9th grade. Parents indicated an absence of a place for children where they feel a sense of belonging (i.e., Ibasho) in their local schools, which resulted in social isolation, psychological exhaustion, and a reluctance to seek support. Children, however, found their Ibasho at a Japanese Supplementary School, where they attended weekly to receive academic instruction in Japanese, enjoyed playing with Japanese friends, and gained energy to navigate challenges at their local schools. The Supplementary School also served as parents' Ibasho where they exchanged information to navigate cross-cultural experiences. This study has implications for how we can better support acculturation of new immigrant and temporary resident families including those from other cultural groups.

Black supplementary school leaders: Community leadership strategies for successful schools

Long established in the United Kingdom, Black supplementary schools are valued by Black parents for their ability to nurture the academic potential of Black students and achieve positive educational outcomes where mainstream schools sometimes fail. Through exploratory qualitative interviews conducted with a small group of African-Caribbean supplementary school leaders, this article seeks to understand Black supplementary school leaders’ perceptions of educational leadership and supplementary school success. Utilising Yosso’s perspective on ‘community cultural wealth’, in particular the ways in which Black communities provide and are rich in cultural/educational resources, the article examines the extent to which the leadership perceptions of Black supplementary school leaders are rooted in notions of community and serving, along with the leadership strategies they employ in creating successful schools. Such insights are especially important at a time when mainstream education continues to deliver poor educational outcomes for Black students.

Supplementary schools with connections to religious organisations in the United Kingdom: A heuristic device for school leaders and researchers

Many supplementary and complementary schools operating in the United Kingdom and other countries have connections and relationships with religious organisations. However, there is considerable variety and complexity in these links and connections. Amidst some public concerns about these schools and as so little is known about them compared with other school sectors, a new heuristic device is offered to support leadership practice in supplementary and mainstream schools, and to encourage research particularly in the areas of governance, leadership and management. The need for this heuristic is made all the more urgent because of the disengagement of the state, at various levels, from appreciation of and support for the work of these schools, compounded by the lack of knowledge and understanding of their governance, leadership and management in particular. The exclusion of supplementary schools with religious links from future research and school partnerships needs to be avoided.

Leadership in non-mainstream education: The case of complementary and supplementary schools

Leadership in non-mainstream education: The case of complementary and supplementary schools

The impact of teacher entrepreneurial behaviour: a timely investigation of an emerging phenomenon

PurposeThis study aims to understand of the role that teacher entrepreneurial behavior plays in developing teacher professional capital. The extant concepts around school leadership mostly encompass the transformative and instructional roles of school leaders in managing, mobilizing and supporting teachers for student achievement. However, school leadership has not focused strongly on promoting innovation and risk-taking for schools in a knowledge economy. As a timely promising response to the increasingly demanding and competitive school context, teacher entrepreneurial behaviour (TEB), which emphasizes teachers' willingness to take risks and be daring, has started to gain recognition in the school leadership literature, yet a nuanced understanding of TEB's potential impacts on schools is lacking.Design/methodology/approachBased on a combined consideration of institutionalized recognition and expert judgement, this study identified three innovative entrepreneurial teachers/teacher groups that had won the most competitive teaching award in Hong Kong. Employing a multiple-site case study design, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 informants and collected supplementary school documents and records.FindingsThis study found that TEB enables the implementation of innovation and promotes cross-subject alignment. It cultivates trusting and coherent relationships among teachers. Teachers with TEB scaled up innovation among other teachers. Furthermore, entrepreneurial teachers enhance school attractiveness by creating competitive advantages.Originality/valueThis analysis showed that TEB enables formal and informal school leaders to bring forth critical school outcomes. This study elaborates how TEB enhances teachers' professional capital through building trusting and coherent relationships. It also adds to the research on school innovation by demonstrating that TEB fosters teachers' capacity for bottom-up innovation in the community.

独日国際児の現地校・補習校の宿題遂行過程 : 親子の共同行為という視点から

独日国際児の現地校・補習校の宿題遂行過程 : 親子の共同行為という視点から

If you can’t say it, take a puppet

Using puppets in language learning is unusual in secondary or higher education but has agreat potential to allow students to develop their language skills and creativity. Shy students can learn to engage in open discussions – a requirement for the oral exam – by speaking through the puppet. I wanted to investigate whether young adult learners are willing to engage in such rather unusual but promising method and record their experiences. This article gives an overview of the approach and summarises the student feedback received. I love to watch puppet shows. And I am a language teacher. Having used hand puppets and shadow puppets in a supplementary school, teaching German to 8 to 9-year-old children, I could immediately see their interest rising when I introduced the puppets. The children were mesmerised, focused and happy to engage in activities. But usually I am teaching German to young adults. I have been a German teacher at King’s College’s Modern Language Centre for 15 years now, and my students are undergrads and postgrads in language courses from A1 to C2 level of the CEFR. I was wondering whether puppets would spark the same interest and engagement in such young adults as it did ...

Negotiating language ideologies in learning Putonghua: Myanmar ethnic minority students’ perspectives on multilingual practices in a borderland school

ABSTRACT This case study investigates how a cohort of Myanmar ethnic minority students’ language ideologies shape their Putonghua learning and educational trajectories at government schools and Chinese supplementary schools in the borderland next to China. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and from the participants’ autobiographies on their language learning experiences. The findings indicate that Myanmar ethnic minority students are often linguistically and culturally excluded in government schools because of their lack of proficiency in the Burmese language. Yet having access to Putonghua and other Chinese-related resources provides them with an agentive strategy and capital to reposition themselves from being a disadvantaged ethnic minority group in a peripheral region to moving towards full inclusion and empowerment as part of China. The paper highlights the multiplicity and contested nature of language ideologies that mediate between learners’ language practices and social structures during socio-economic transformations. It also sheds light on Myanmar’s language policy-making and the expansion of China’s soft power through the increasing capital of Putonghua in the borderland of neighbouring countries.

Weekend Islamic schools in Europe: Challenges and means of development

Many educational centers for instructing Muslim children in the principles of Islam and the Arabic language have been established in Europe. These centers are called weekend schools; students attend these schools on the weekend to learn the Holy Qur’an in addition to Arabic language skills. The current study aimed to examine the nature of these schools and their instructional focuses. The study used a qualitative method for data collection and conducted interviews based on semi-open questions. A total of 26 participants were interviewed during the Annual Conference of the Islamic Organization Union in France in 2012. The results indicate that there is no detailed database that shows the total number or overall percentage of Muslim students who attend weekend schools in Europe. The results also show that the rate of enrollment is increasing. The results of the study confirm that most of the students are primary school students who attend these schools for only 3 to 4 hours every week. The findings show that these weekend schools face several challenges. The most important of these challenges are the weak qualifications of the teachers, inadequate curriculum, an inconvenient instructional environment, and other challenges that will be covered in this research. The researcher argues that the efforts exerted by mosques and Islamic centers to maintain the identity represented in the supplementary schools and classes called weekend schools are insufficient due to the numerous challenges that these schools are facing.

An evaluation of Polish supplementary schools in Ireland

Since 2004, in response to the growth of the Polish community in Ireland, a number of Polish schools and organizations have been opened across the country. Some of them have become centres of cultural life and language transmission for the members of local Polish communities. This article provides an overview of Polish supplementary education in Ireland. Questionnaires were administered to teachers, parents and students of Polish supplementary schools in an effort to gain insight into the operation of Polish schools in Ireland. The findings highlight positive attitudes towards the Polish culture, willingness participate in the local community and an awareness of the significance of bilingualism for the younger generation. The paper also draws on the potential benefits of attending supplementary schools for children of migrant background.

Social Movements, Collective Action and Activism

Collective action and oppositional political activism are firmly established features of any society and pose a challenge to inequality, exclusion and injustice rooted in the oppression of people. Oppressive practices and exclusionary policies are often the catalyst for participation in collective action to generate a conscious move towards social, cultural and political change. Over 100 years ago the suffragette movement in the UK and the nationalist movement in India employed peaceful tactics (viewed as law breaking) with spectacular outcomes and impact which could not have been foreseen. To acknowledge the history of movements globally is crucial in the understanding of new social movements which is the focus of this special issue. Viewed from the perspective of political sociology, the range of interests of social movements is reflected in the articles published in Sociology since the 1960s to the second decade of the twenty first century, with terms such as ‘collective action’, ‘networks’ , ‘democracy’, ‘power’, ‘resistance’, and ‘citizenship’ in their titles. Furthermore, the concept ‘social movements’ has been applied to new areas such as education, for example in the article by Mirza and Reay (2000, included in our collection) which considers supplementary schools as a new social movement. This requires us to reconsider or rethink social movement theory commensurate with contemporary collective action (Ryan 2006, included in our collection). Indeed, a range of theories has been developed over time to understand the rise of social movements and their achievements. This special issue brings together a range of articles with particular ideas about social movements that have developed over a number of decades.