Learning while In-Transit: The Educational Journey of Refugee Children from Central America and Mexico in the U.S. Border.

• In Event: AERA Graduate Student Research-in-Progress Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Global Issues in Education Policy and Practice (Table 13)

Abstract

This study challenges the trauma and vulnerability lens in educational research on refugees by exploring the informal and formal learning experiences of a group of 15 children, ages 6 to 10, who were forcibly displaced from Mexico and Central America and were staying with their parents or guardians at a shelter in a border town while they awaited for an immigration interview at a port of entry to the U.S. The analysis amplifies the knowledge, abilities, and skills these children gained during their migration journey. The in-fieri results indicate that children at the shelter developed a sense of community and with it a sense of agency and belonging that manifests in a series of tasks and roles.

Author

• Lucia Alvarado Cantero, University of California - Santa Cruz