A new framework for transnational education: findings from a systematic literature review

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Tuesday VI)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Migration and Marginalized Communities

Proposal

Purpose and Framing
The back of forth migration of children and youth between the United States and Mexico has created a unique group of approximately nine million “students we share” in the education systems of both countries (Jensen & Sawyer, 2013). The social and political context of the U.S.-Mexico border region suggests that these trends are likely to continue, making the education of transnational students, or those students who have attended school in both countries for some portion of their K-12 education, a topic in critical need of research. While many U.S.-born students of Mexican parents are returning to Mexico, others are entering or returning to the United States. In both cases, these transnational students often enroll in public schools that are ill-equipped to attend to their unique needs and assets.

This situation suggests the need for scholarship that informs the development of an education system that is sustainable and enables success for students on both sides of the border. Our study seeks to contribute to this area of scholarship by addressing the following question: how does the nature of education in the U.S.-Mexico border region necessitate shifts in our theoretical frameworks for understanding the development of transnational curricula, and examining educational practices used with transnational students? Although the extant literature offers an array of labels for students educated in both U.S. and Mexican schools in grades K-12, including “binational students” (Contreras, 1987), “sojourners” (Hamann, 2006), “transfronterizos” (Piedra & Guerra, 2012), “seagulls” (Sanchez-Garcia, 2016), or “cross-border students” (Orraca, 2017), we use the term “transnational student” because it acknowledges their unique backgrounds, experiences, and needs as well as the context in which they are educated.

Our paper presents findings from a systematic review of the literature on transnational students in the United States and Mexico. Based on our analysis, we propose a framework for the study of transnational education that takes into account the sociopolitical, socioemotional, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural factors that simultaneously influence transnational students’ lives inside and outside of school. This Transnational Education Framework builds on previous scholarship whilst informing future avenues of research and practice that attend to the complexities underlying the provision of an equitable education for transnational students.

Methods
Sample. We searched for articles using ERIC, the major research database. Our search terms included: “transnational student,” “binational student,” and “transfronterizos,” which yielded 81 peer-reviewed articles. Based on an initial review of 10 of these articles, we added the terms “border pedagogy” and “U.S.-Mexico education” which led to the addition of 95 articles to our sample. We skimmed the abstract of each article and excluded any that did not focus on the United States and/or Mexico or did not focus on K-12 education. We also conducted a catalog search via our institutional library and located three books pertaining to transnational education. Overall, our sample includes these three texts and 45 peer-reviewed journal articles. To date, we have reviewed 33 of these articles.

Analysis. We developed a coding scheme based on an initial read of three articles and met as a research team until we gained consensus on the list of codes. Then, we established inter-rater reliability by simultaneously coding five articles (about 10% of the sample), meeting regularly to discuss any discrepancies and re-coding as necessary. After that, we independently coded each article using Dedoose and developed an analytical memo for each article to capture emerging themes. We also met bi-monthly to discuss procedural and analytical findings and to develop cross-cutting memos that evolved into the theoretical framework described below.

Findings
Our initial analysis revealed four factors contributing to the provision of an equitable education for transnational students: socioemotional, sociopolitical, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural. These factors serve as the foundation for our framework (see Figure 1), as we propose that viewing transnational students’ experiences through these four separate but interconnected lenses are crucial to understanding how to meet their needs and build on their unique skills and assets. While the studies we reviewed used one or more of these lenses in various ways, none did so in a manner that allowed for their simultaneous consideration, or that explored how they were interconnected to shape the nature of transnational education.

First, socioemotional factors include feelings of belonging and identity (Bejaranjo, 2010), the impact of detention and deportation as well as policies directly related to the US/Mexico border (Brabeck, 2013) and a feeling of student invisibility (Hamman, 2006, 2008; Sanchez-Garcia, 2016). Then, sociopolitical factors included policies surrounding the migrants and the border region and shifting student body demographics (Jensen, Mejia-Arauz, & Aguilar 2017; Pew Research, 2015), all of which influence the preparation of teachers and welcome of transnational students in schools.

Next, sociolinguistic factors include transnational students’ lacking the language skills necessary to navigate the Mexican school system (Jerdee, 2010) and deficit based linguistic policies that do not promote retention of a student’s first language or bilingual education (Hamann, 2008; Olmedo, 2004; Ceballos, 2012). Finally, sociocultural factors include teacher’s deficit beliefs towards the knowledge students’ bring to the classroom (Sawyer, 2014; Alfaro & Quezada, 2010; Hamann, 2008), and whether teachers have had transnational student experiences themselves (De la Piedra, 2012; Serna Guieterrez & Mora-Pablo, 2018).

The Transnational Education Framework illustrates how a sociopolitical factor such as immigration reform can have a simultaneous socioemotional impact through the existence of family separation, detention, or deportation, as well as sociocultural impact, shaping how teachers create classroom spaces that promote or constrain a safe sense of community for transnational students experiencing these challenges.

Figure 1. Transnational Education Framework ( a picture of our framework did not attach- but we would be happy to email it.)

Implications
The Transnational Education Framework recognizes the interplay of socioemotional, sociopolitical, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural factors in the lives of transnational students inside and outside of school. It offers a lens for researchers and practitioners to view transnational students’ experiences that acknowledges the intersectional nature of their lives and identities. We look forward to engaging with the CIES community around this framework as we work to provide a thoughtful, comprehensive, and novel addition to the field.

Authors

• Leslie Gautsch, University of California, San Diego

• Maxie Gluckman, University of California, San Diego

• Megan Hopkins, University of California, San Diego