The aims of the research are to describe the dialectical tensions between cultural-educational codes of the families of migrant children in a kindergarten and the cultural-educational codes of the receiving society, and to examine ways of dealing with migrants considering these tensions.

The kindergarten described in the research is homogeneous and multi-lingual, designated only for four and five-year-old children from migrant families. Considerable resources have been invested in the kindergarten and its activities contribute to strengthening the children’s self-image, aiding in the acquisition of the Hebrew language, granting the children social and cultural knowledge of the receiving society while maintaining the cultural values of their origin.

The government of Israel, like many others in the world, attaches great importance in enabling an education for children of migrant families: work migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees, regardless of their legal status (Yonah & Kemp, 2008; Kemp and Reichman, 2008; Shapira, 2010; Green, 2014).

Most children of migrant families are integrated in educational frameworks in their area of residence. In some places, there are separate kindergartens and classes, and in others, the children are integrated in schools where the local Israeli children learn (Moshe, 2014).

Many studies which have investigated migrant families throughout the world have dealt with the ability of parents to educate and to raise their children. These studies have found that involved parents who have been in communication with schools, have volunteered, have had meetings with educators and have provided learning activities with their children at home and outside the school framework, have aided or positively influenced their children’s education (Aldous, 2006; Glick & Hohomann-Marriott, 2007).

One of the difficulties for educators in the receiving society is the ability to guide parents. This stems from the parents’ inability to speak the language, their cultural and

society, the problem of dealing with the transition to a Western society by parents who lack basic education and, at times, don’t even know how to read or write in their native language (Eliyahu-Levi and Ganz-Meishar, 2016; Pérez, Drake & Barton, 2005).

Parental involvement is especially important in socially marginal groups suffering from poverty and distress as, if parents do not speak the language and are not involved in the school experience, the educational development of their child may suffer. Migrant parents lack the knowledge, skills and social support to cope with the difficulties and the barriers posed by the receiving society. The migrants must deal with a new life in a new society, operating according to norms that they are not acquainted with. In order to be good, supportive and successful parents, they must develop a new understanding of the receiving society’s realities and adopt new social, educational and cultural processes and skills, and they must even to stand up for the right of their children to a good education (Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2001).

The contribution of the research – This research adds a new level and enriches accumulating global knowledge about children of migrant families and about kindergartens. The research, for the first time, exposes the personal voices of parents from migrant families and describes the cultural-educational codes of their country of origin and the gap between these and the accepted codes of the receiving society. In addition, the article presents the role of the kindergarten teacher in the kindergarten, discussing the integration and assimilation of migrant family children in the receiving society.

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