MEMES Survey Information for Educators of Refugee and other Displaced Students - 2

Definitions:

More than 65 million people are forcibly displaced, and the number is probably modest. 

Refugee is a legal term for students who have immigration status based on asylum, and we hope to include many educators of students displaced by war, such as Syrian, and Yemeni; or 2^nd or later generations of Afghani, Albanian, Bosnian, Central American. However, “Displaced” is more broad and includes: Native and African American, undocumented students; (im)migrants who have been forcibly or by their own volition displaced because of violence, poverty, or policies related to ethnicity; students displaced by natural disasters such as the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean. “Displaced” also includes students who are second or later generations but are not fully acculturated, and/or value or face linguistic or cultural difficulties related to their heritage.

Rationale:

World news and the UN cite the crisis of children out of school and promise education for refugees. Huge numbers of persons displaced—by war, natural disasters, ethnic violence, economic realities—enter host countries worldwide. Access to school is difficult. Education covers language, as there is no education without language. Cultural, political ignorance, media disinformation, and monolingual, standardized school policies create a situation where everyone, including teachers, need resources. 

Background:     

It is a follow up to the bi-continental conference in 2017 at the UW (in March) Language Education Policy and Teacher Perceived Identities of Displaced Immigrant and Refugee Children and the second part at the Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3 (May 22-24) Politique Linguistique en Éducation et Inclusion, and the publishing of the edited volume that emerged from the conferences. 

In the project, we are collecting anonymous survey (Qualtrics), asynchronous discussion, and live conversation Zoom video data; as well as building content for an integrated online resource, which will support educators.

please email Dr. Kristine Harrison with questions at kmharrison@wisc.edu

A few references:

Harrison, K.M., Sadiku, M., & Tochon, F.V. (2018, in press), Displacement Planet Earth: Plurilingual Education and Identity for 21^st Century Schools. Blue Mounds, WI (USA): Deep University Press. 

Skutnabb-Kangas, T., Maffi, L., & and Harmon, D. (2003). Sharing a world of difference. The Earth’s linguistic, cultural, and biological diversity. Paris, France: UNESCO Publishing. UNESCO, Terralingua, and World Wide Fund for Nature. Available at http://www.terralingua.org/blog/2003/07/16/sharing/.

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This information was originally published on the website of the International Network for Language Education Policy Studies (http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org) as

Harrison, K.M. (2018). Educator Survey 2018 Refugee & Displaced: Background. Rationale. Definitions. In F. V. Tochon (Ed.), Language Education Policy Studies (online). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin—Madison. Retrieved from: http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org (access date).