From Resilience to Empowerment: Immigrant-Origin Adult Learners’ Journeys Toward and Through Postsecondary Education–Critical Participatory Action Research

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Abstract

The purpose of this critical bricolage was to explore immigrant-origin adult learners’ lived experiences around education. It aimed to address a community college’s practices and campus climate that may hinder adult immigrant learners' equitable access to and success in postsecondary education. In an attempt to humanize and decolonize the “traditional” research processes, six local adult immigrant learners participated in this nested Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) as co-researchers along with the doctoral candidate, who is also an adult immigrant learner. The study revealed tremendous strengths and resilience of the participants and their communities. The study also found systemic barriers as well as personal and situational factors that affected their educational journeys. Recommendations for educational institutions based on the findings are presented.

Author

• Sachiko Ozaki Oates, American Institutes for Research