Equal Educational Opportunities for Immigrant Children - Insight to the Czech and Norwegian Education Policy

Author(s):

Klara Zaleska (presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES C 12, Culture and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-21

11:00-12:30

Room:

W4.21

Chair:

Janinka Greenwood

Contribution

By equal opportunities it is understood that personal and social circumstances such as gender, ethnicity or family background, do not pose obstacles in achieving maximum of educational potential (MSMT, 2016). Equal opportunity doesn’t mean the same as the same treatment to everybody. So that everybody has the equal educational opportunities, it is necessary to favor some pupils. Children with immigrant background need such a special treatment so that they can attend school in the new country, they or their parents have moved in. What kind of special measures countries chose, it is task for policy makers. In this contribution I will show what the politics (legislation and strategical documents) of equal opportunities for immigrant children in education looks like. The main research question is: What is characteristic for the Czech and Norwegian legislation and strategical documents for ensuring equal opportunities for immigrant children in education? The main aim of the contribution is to introduce global and European tendency in immigrant children education, and on examples of two contexts (Czech and Norwegian) to show similarities and differences in the legislation, highlight these points and explain them by using political, historical, social and economic context of these countries (Bereday, 1964).

The most crucial of theoretical framework is firstly literature on equal opportunities in education, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which sais in the Article 26 that (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children (UN, 1948). If there are not given an equal opportunities to immigrant children, we speak about ethnic (racial) discrimination (Ochodek, 2014) or religion discrimination (Bobek, Bouckova, 2007). Those concepts are also theoretical basics for my study.

Secondly, I am using legislative documents dealing with equal opportunities and education of immigrant children on the global and European level (OECD, 2015; UNICEF, 2013; CRC Committee, 2012; EURYDICE, 2009; Abramovic et al, 2011; Equal Educational Opportunities Act, 1974) and on the country level: Czech crucial documents (School Education Act - especially paragraphs §16 and §20; annual Concept of immigrant integration; Drbohlav, 2011) and Norwegian ones (School Education Act – especially paragraph §2-8; Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2007; Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2006).

Thirdly, I am working with the models of integration by Giddens (1997) (also in Berry, 1994, Belohradsky, 2009, Jensen, 2007). Those are essential theoretical framework for deciding what are the nowadays strategies in explored countries. Model of assimilation was visible in the Czech Republic till 1989 (the end of the communism era), when there were no special respect or treatment for national or cultural differences. Model of assimilation is no longer supported and is recognized as undesirable. Today’s tendency and goal of modern, democratic countries is the way of integration (Giddens, 1997). Main idea of this model is cohabitation of different cultures, where those cultures are equal, minorities are allowed to keep their cultural and traditions but in the same time they are ready to participate in the cooperation in the major society based on the principles of equality.

Method

This contribution is a part of the dissertation thesis dealing with Immigrant Children Adaptation Process into the Czech and Norwegian School. Comparative case study is a research design of the whole thesis where there are used three techniques of data collection: 1) content analysis of documents, 2) interviews with teachers and 3) observation in the classroom. This contribution will answer following question: What is characteristic for the Czech and Norwegian legislation and strategical documents for ensuring equal opportunities for immigrant children in education? To answer this question, I will use results from the part of content analysis of the documents. I am using interpretative content analysis of the law and strategical documents dealing with the topic of immigrant children education and their equal opportunities in the Czech and Norwegian elementary schools. Interpretative content analysis examines in addition to the basic framework of the text and its surface and explicit content also implicit meanings hidden in the text or its form (Plichtova, 1996). Because teachers are crucial actors in education and for children with immigrant background they are the bridge builders between their home and major society, it is important to train teachers well with the aim of train them for working in multicultural classes. Due to the current migration situation it is more than likely to think that more and more teachers will end up in multicultural classes teaching children with immigrant background. That’s why I will also analyze documents regarding teacher training for multicultural classrooms. Content analysis is according to Silverman (2001), an important technique in comparative studies, because researchers need to get know and understand the regulations that go from above (from the policy makers), so that they can understand the reality. Interestingly, it is also ask whether and how the policy making practice is reflected in the schools and whether these reflections reach back the policy makers. That’s why I will add to this contribution results from interviews with teachers (10 teachers in CZE and 10 teachers in NO).

Expected Outcomes

The tendency of European countries policies on immigrant children education is to create environment that is supporting multicultural and integration approaches to immigrant children education. Concepts of assimilation is no longer the “right choice” for the modern and democratic countries. All those countries have the same goal: try to be inclusive, integrated and multicultural. Therefore we can expect that the documents of two examined countries will be quite similar and will follow the global and European tendency on multiculturalism and integration (even though that the reality could be pretty different). The Czech Republic is a country with communism experience and was isolated for forty years. The borders were opened in 1989 and still the Czech society is more homogenous. On the other hand, Norway is a country with longer tradition with immigration, both economical and asylum seekers. We can expect that Norway policy will put more focus on the legislation on immigrant children education and will have more strategical plans and documents than in the Czech context. We can also expect the difference among teachers´ statements. Czech teachers experience the legislation only as a theoretical prescription, but reality looks differently. Teachers call for making the support, which is stated in the documents and legislation, real. Norwegian teachers are more positive about policy makers and are more satisfied with the reality at schools and the measurements they can offer to immigrant children. One of the reasons why there are differences in the practices is 1) the financial support which Czech and Norwegian schools have, 2) experiences and different tradition with migration, 3) the general public discussion on immigration in both countries. All those similarities and differences will be described and explained in the presented contribution.

References

Abramovic et al (2011). The Rights of Children, Youth and Women in the Context of Migration. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_58377.html. Berreday, G. Z. F. (1964). Comparative Method in Education. New York: Holt. Berry, J. W. (1992). Acculturation and Adaptation in a New Society. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1992.tb00776.x/abstract Bobek, M., Bouckova, P., Kühn, Z. (eds.). Rovnost a diskriminace (Equality and discrimination). Praha: C. H. Beck. Bray, M., Adamson, B., Mason, M. (2007). Comparative Education Research. Approaches and Methods. The University of Hong Kong: Springer. CRC Committee (2012). The Rights of All Children in the Context of International Migration - Background Paper. . Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_66420.html Demeuse, D., Frandji, D., Greger, J., Rochex (ed.). (2012). Educational Policies and Inequalities in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan: London. EURYDICE (2009). Integrating Immigrant Children into Schools in Europe. Retrieved from http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/101EN.pdf Gibson, M. (1988). Accommodation without assimilation: Sikh immigrants in an American high school. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press. Goodrick, D. (2014). Comparative Case Studies. In Methodological Briefs Impact Evaluation 9, Florence: UNICEF Office of Research. Hauge, A. M. (2014). Den felleskulturelle skolen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Kunnskapsdepartementet (2007). Likeverdig opplæring i praksis! Retrieved from http://nafo.hioa.no/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/UDIR_Likeverdig_opplaering2_07.pdf Loona, S. (2014). Barn paa flukt og i krise – tiltak i skolen. In Ryen, E., Standnes, G. (red.), (2014). NAFO. 10 aar for flerkulturell barnehage og skole. Oslo: Oplandske bokforlag. Masery, D. (1993): Theories of International Migration. Retrieved from https://cis.uchicago.edu/outreach/summerinstitute/2011/documents/sti2011-parks-theories_of_international_migration.pdf. Rumbaut, R.G. (1997). Paradoxes (and orthodoxies) of assimilation. In Sociologial Perspectives. 40(3), pp 483-511. MSMT (2016). HEALTH, MINORITIES, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES. Retrieved from http://www.msmt.cz/areas-of-work/social-programs/health-minorities-human-rights-and-sociological-issues NAFO (2015). Styringsdokumenter. Retrieved from: http://nafo.hioa.no/grunnskole/planer-styringsdokumenter-og-veiledere/ OCHODEK, T. (2014). Rasová profilace. In Wintr, J., Antoš, M. Rovnost a zákaz diskriminace v právní teorii a praxi. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, Právnická fakulta, pp 137 - 141. OECD (2015). Helping immigrant students to succeed at school – and beyond. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/education/Helping-immigrant-students-to-succeed-at-school-and-beyond.pdf Plichtová, J. (1996). Obsahová analýza a jej možnosti využitia v psychológii. In Československá psychologie, 4, pp 304-314. Taguma, M., Shewbridge, C., Huttova, J. and Hoffman, N. (2009). OECD Reviews of Migrant Education Norway. Retrieved from www.oecd.org/edu/migration. UN (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html UNICEF (2013). International migration & generation 2025. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/socialpolicy/index_68852.html Utdanningsdirektoratet (2006). Lærerplanverket for Kunnskapsløftet. Oslo: Utdanningsdirektoratet. Øzerk, Kamil (2013). The Norwegian Educational System, the Linguistic Diversity in the Country and the Education of Different Minority Groups. In International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 6(1), pp 43- 60.

Author Information

Klara Zaleska (presenting / submitting)

Masaryk University

Department of Educational Sciences

Brno

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