"We Insist the Children Should Speak English": Policy Ambiguity and Language Ideology in Refugee Education

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Fourteen
  In Roundtable Session: Student Immigrant Educational Dilemmas: Various Perceptions (Table 15)

Abstract

Most refugees live in Global South countries neighboring those they have left, with refugee children often seeking education in already-stretched national school systems in host countries. Through a comparative case study, I draw on schoolwide and classroom observations and interviews to examine the work of educators in Kampala, Uganda as they navigate the linguistic inclusion of refugees. I find that, in the absence of guidance or training, teachers struggle to support their students’ language needs at school, with implications for pedagogy and learning. Instead, Head Teachers (principals) draw on their own ideologies to determine how to approach schools’ linguistic diversity, including narratives of multilingualism as problem, right, or resource, constraining opportunities for schools to build on refugee students’ existing multilingualism.

Author

• Celia Reddick, Harvard University
  Presenting Author