The integration of foreign students in a School Grouping in the 1st Cycle of Basic Education
Author(s):
Ana Paula Cardoso (presenting / submitting) Catarina Sofia Nunes João Manuel Rocha Susana Fidalgo
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

07 SES 10 A, Diversity and Belonging. Different Research Methodologies

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-04
15:30-17:00
Room:
B004 Anfiteatro
Chair:
Dana Moree

Contribution

We live in a world characterized by globalization and accentuated migration flows among countries. In the last decades, Portugal, which was traditionally a country of emigration, has also become a country of immigration (Peres, 2011). According to data from the Bureau of Foreign Service and Borders (SEF), we realise that, from 1980 to 2011, the number of immigrants grew considerably.

The arrival of people of different nationalities brings students from diverse ethnic/cultural backgrounds to school. Thus, the challenge of studying the integration of foreign students emerged, focusing on the specific context of a school grouping in the municipality of Viseu (central region of Portugal), since the schools of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education include many foreign students, which, for the purpose of this study, we understand as being students from other nationalities, except the Portuguese.

The outlined research aims at understanding the difficulties experienced and the existent relationships both between the class teacher and the foreign students, and between the foreign students and their classmates, with the sole objective of their full integration. It has as main purposes:

  1. To realize if the foreign students feel themselves integrated both into the school and the 1st Cycle classes of a particular school grouping;
  2. To identify the main difficulties encountered by students concerning their class integration;
  3. To characterize the relationship between the class teacher and the foreign students;
  4. To characterize the relationship between the foreign students and their classmates.

Method

We carried out an exploratory investigation of a descriptive nature, which has as direct source the natural environment (McMillan & Schumacher, 1989). This study adopts a qualitative methodology, oriented to the understanding of the phenomena from the point of view of the participants, in this case the students who attend the 1st Cycle of Basic Education school. A variety of techniques for gathering information was used (documental research, semi-structured interviews and the sociometric test), with the objective of the triangulation of data. This enables the validation of information, insofar as it addresses the subject of study by the use of different methods of data gathering and so it allows for greater confidence in the results (Cohen & Manion, 1989). The study took place in 2013, in a context of a School Grouping in the municipality of Viseu. This school grouping has four 1st Cycle of Basic Education schools, of which three are attended by 17 students, whose parents have a nationality different from the Portuguese. From this set we selected 12 students who have a nationality different from the Portuguese. The 12 students were interviewed and, later, a sociometric test was performed within the 9 classes they belonged to. Considering the participants involved, 9 are male and 3 female, aged between 7 and 12 years old. In terms of their nationalities, 5 students are Romanian, 4 are Chinese, 2 are Ukrainian and 1 is Bulgarian.

Expected Outcomes

The analysis of the main educational guidance documents (Curricular School Grouping Project, and Educational Project), reveals that there is a reference to a project for the integration of foreign students, which aims at "gradually integrating students into the regular curriculum, so that they succeed at the end of each academic year "(Curricular School Grouping Project X, 2007-2010, p. 43). This project was created to meet the needs of integration of a large number of students coming mainly from Eastern Europe and China. Content analysis of the interviews reveals that, in general, foreign students feel integrated into the classes of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education, since they claim they feel well in the class they belong to, but there is one student who says he feels not that well. Nevertheless, the analysis of the respective sociograms, doesn’t corroborate this situation, in its majority: we found that two foreign students are far below the probability or average; six are below the probability or average, and only four students are above the probability or average, according to the classification indexes obtained following Northway and Weld’s classification (n.d). In short, foreign students tend to give a more positive perspective of their integration in school/class through the interview, since, in general, they claim they feel well, happy and accepted within the class they belong to. However, the sociometric tests data analysis tends to reveal a less favourable “picture”, as most sociograms show that they don’t have get along much with a their classmates. This situation highlights the need for more careful attention on the part of the various educational interveners and also for the development of strategies that can effectively help foreign students to feel more welcome at school/in their classes.

References

Bardin, L. (1977). Análise de conteúdo. Lisboa: Edições 70. Bogdan, R., & Biklen, S. (1994). Investigação qualitativa em Educação: Uma introdução à teoria e aos métodos. Porto: Porto Editora. Cardoso, C. (1996). Educação multicultural: Percursos para práticas reflexivas. Lisboa: Texto Editora. Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (1989). Research methods in education. New York: Routledge. Conselho da Europa (2008). Livro Branco sobre o diálogo intercultural: Viver juntos em igual dignidade. Estrasburgo: Conselho da Europa. De Ketele, J. M., & Roegiers, X. (1999). Metodologia da recolha de dados. Lisboa: Instituto Piaget. Delors, J. (1996). Educação um tesouro a descobrir: Relatório para a UNESCO da Comissão Internacional sobre Educação para o século XXI. São Paulo: Cortez Editora. Estrela, A. (1994). Teoria e prática de observação de classes: Uma estratégia de formação de professores (4.ª ed.). Porto: Porto Editora. Fonseca, L. (2003). Integração dos imigrantes: Estratégias e protagonistas: Conferência efetuada no I Congresso Imigração em Portugal – Diversidade, Cidadania e Integração. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (1989). Research in education: A conceptual introduction. Glenview: Scott, Foresman and Company. Milagre, C., & Trigo-Santos, F. (2001). A escola multicultural: O olhar de professoras do 1.º Ciclo. Revista de Educação, 9 (1), 21-30. Northway, M. L., & Weld, L. (n. d.). Testes sociométricos – Um guia para professores. Lisboa: Livros Horizonte. Peres, A. (2011). Educação intercultural e cidadania. Chaves: Associação Portuguesa de Animação e Pedagogia (APAP). Rocha, C. (2006). A escola e a diversidade étnica e cultural. Dissertação de Mestrado. Porto: Universidade Aberta.

Author Information

Ana Paula Cardoso (presenting / submitting)
Escola Superior de Educação de Viseu
Psicologia e Ciências da Educação
Viseu
Catarina Sofia Nunes
Escola Superior de Educação de Viseu, CI&DETS, Portugal
João Manuel Rocha
Escola Superior de Educação de Viseu, CI&DETS, Portugal
Susana Fidalgo
Escola Superior de Educação de Viseu, CI&DETS, Portugal

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