This proposal is based on the initial findings from a small-scale exploratory study carried out in England to support migrant children with special educational needs (SEN). This study built upon the outcomes of a workshop conducted at ECER in 2019 and a subsequent literature review of migrant children with SEN in Europe (Jørgensen et al., 2020) and project report (Jørgensen et al., 2021).  The present study aims to develop these by exploring the information needed to support migrant children with SEN. The study concentrates on English school settings and explores how best to collect it from the perspectives of a range of key professionals working in the field of SEN. The findings are explored ecologically as it is argued that this framework provides practitioners with a way to understand these needs and the context from which they arise. This research has recently used by a leading international charity. The next phase of this work is to work alongside this body to look at information needs from the perspective of parents and carers with the intention of creating an information gathering tool for schools in Europe and elsewhere.

Migrant children constitute approximately 4% of the under-15 population in Europe (Janta & Harte, 2017) and an average of 4.4% of all European children have an official identification of Special Educational Needs (SEN)(European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, 2018). In England 16.6% of children have been identified with some form of SEN (Office for National Statistics, 2022) highlighting differing national approaches to identification and assessment (Jørgensen et al., 2020). Across the UK, it is estimated that 6% of children under the age of 18 were born abroad (Fernández-Reino, 2022). However, both in the UK and internationally, little data exists on children who are both migrants and have SEN. This intersection between migration and SEN is an under-explored area in educational research, as well as in school practice. Migrant children with SEN are a highly heterogeneous group of children, due to their differing family and cultural backgrounds, social and community networks, experiences of school systems, type of SEN and reasons for migration (Jørgensen et al., 2020, 2021). They may experience particular and/or additional challenges when arriving in the educational system in the receiving country, especially if their schooling has been disrupted due to migration. These difficulties can be further augmented by a lack of common language and if there is paucity of information accompanying the children (Oliver & Singal, 2017). This highlights the importance of context in relation to the country of origin, the receiving country, and any potential journey between the two.

Context is an important theme within the work of Bronfenbrenner (2005) and its educational derivatives  i.e., Anderson et al. (2014) who argue that children should be understood holistically through the different environments - or ‘ecologies’ - in which they are raised. For children who are migrants, these ecologies shift in line with the children’s immersion in differing cultures and school systems, which may vary significantly in relation to identification and understanding of SEN and degrees of inclusion. For practitioners, understanding the complex ecologies of migrant children who also have a special educational need are thus key to supporting them in schools and more broadly.

Building upon the review and the subsequent project report, this study aims to the questions:

• What would be the best methodological approach to collect better data and facilitating better understanding of migrant children with SEN?
• What information do practitioners need in order to respond to the needs of migrant children with SEN?

Three groups of key professionals within the English education system were selected to participate in focus groups. Selections were based on relationships with both children and parents and included 1) three Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCos), 2) four specialist teachers for children with sensory impairments and 3) four caseworkers at a migrant organisation. According to the model proposed by Anderson et al. (2014), these professionals work principally in the child’s exosystem. Here their role is to support those who work directly with children through advice or resource allocation to those who in the child’s microsystem such as parents, carers, or class teachers. The two first focus groups were conducted in a similar manner with two short vignettes introduced as believable, narrative based ‘ice breakers’ at the start. Although these can be recognised as somewhat leading they have the potential to elicit an often rich discussion on an understudied piece of work (see Aujla, 2020). The vignettes each described a meeting between an education professional and a migrant or non-English speaking child with a behaviour which could potentially be an indicator of a special educational need. Participants were asked how they would approach the cases in their own professional circumstances. Discussion was supplemented where necessary through a series of prepared questions to further stimulate debate. In the third focus group, the vignettes were less relevant, as the migrant case workers often worked in more supportive role with groups of migrants who were parents. These sessions were more exploratory and open, but nevertheless brought up many important areas of discussion about the link between different ecologies and the everyday lives and realities of migrant families. All three sessions were recorded and transcribed verbatim to aid with the analysis. The resultant transcripts were analysed by the first and second author prior to analysis using deductive thematic analysis (Clarke et al., 2015) where the ecology of inclusive education (Anderson et al., 2014) informed both coding and the development of themes. Here data was examined according to: • Macrosystemic influences i.e., information needs related to differences in national attitudes and approaches to identification and support for children SEN. • Exosystem i.e., information needs related different approaches in school settings. • Micro/mesosystem i.e., information needs related to working alongside parents and children.

Putting a migrant child with SEN at the heart of Ecological theory helps identify potential tensions at different levels between and within different ecologies, but also suggests ways in which these may be bridged by information gathering, trust and relationship building within and across ecologies. Within this, various themes are identified: Information about the needs of migrant children with SEN: Participants recognised that children passed between different educational systems, and that this could sometimes lead to differences in opinion between teachers and parents about the learning needs of migrant children. However, there was some scepticism if this information was derived through informal channels. Information about parents and families: Participants recognised that parental attitudes were often influenced by their prior experiences of working alongside professionals within the previous educational systems of which their children had been part. More proximal to the child, there was a need to understand the microsystem of the child’s family relationships and care structures. Information about strategies to support migrant children with SEN: Often teachers who were responsible for working alongside the child in their microsystem wanted further information to be provided not only by parents, but also by other parties within other systems. Those providing advice felt unequipped to deliver this. This was especially the case if a child had an SEN and a language other than English. The importance of clear and understandable information: Difficulties with communicating information from one ecology to another. Participants recognised that gathering information about migrant children with SEN was a complex issue and not a straightforward proposition. All groups of participants reported that there were several challenges to gathering information directly from children or families, especially if they did not share a common language.

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