Highlighted Session: Reflection on the Field of Migration and Education - Part 2

Group Submission Type: Highlighted Paper Session

Proposal

Since the beginning of the 21st century we see a constant increase of global migration. Human mobility has also become more diverse in terms of its makeup, reasons for migration, the directions and migration statuses. 3.6% of the world’s population - some 281 million – are classified as migrants, around 50 million of them are children.

This poses both immediate and long-term challenges to how education systems plan, implement change and evolve. Education systems today need to shape their policies and practices also in the context of global migration.

However global migration should not only be seen as a disruptive force for education systems, but also as transformative and productive power. Global migration also means young people traversing different systems in search of global identities and knowledge, and economic opportunities. All in all, global human movement has shaped and is still reshaping education systems, our schools and other education institutions. In that respect it demands our scholarly attention.

However, despite the magnitude of global migration as a social phenomenon, and the impact it has for the future of millions of children and youth, and also on education systems and schools, the inter-disciplinary field of education and migration is still emerging. For instance, while the volume of research in the area is undoubtedly growing, there is still no research journal that focuses on education and migration, and only recently we saw the emergence of special interest groups (SIGs) on migration in international educational associations including the Global Migration SIG in CIES. There is still a need to identify key issues for research and to establish it as a distinct field of research.

This double session is divided into two parts: Symposium and Roundtables discussion.

Part II: Roundtables discussion
Drawing on the first session, which provides a broad overview of the state of the art of research on migration and education, we wish to create a space for participants to further engage with those questions and possibly set the ground for future collaborations. This session is designed to be interactive and exploratory. It will encourage the participants to raise questions, share challenges, suggest solutions and create connections that might lead to future collaborations and theoretical engagements. While not mandatory, we encourage participants to attend both sessions. The session will be facilitated by the symposium’s participants, with 5 roundtables focusing on different topics that draw on cross-cutting issues that need to be explored more. Participants will be invited to sit at the table that focuses on a topic they are most drawn to. The list of roundtables:
1. Technology and Methodologies (multi-case, longitudinal, virtual spaces and technology): how do we follow people on the move and understand the multi-directional and complexity of migration and education? What does technology offer as a solution to this? How are migrant communities using technology to advance education mobility?

2. Policy and politics: as specialists in the field, how do we use our knowledge to bring migrant voices to the table. How do we talk about politics, migration and education? How do politics relate to forced migration, and how do we bring it to the forefront in our research?

3. Global South-North Dynamics: How in practically do we bring in more voices from the Global South including Global South theoretical and conceptual frameworks into the field? How do we decolonize our knowledge?

4. Social Justice, Inequity and migration: Our field tends to focus primarily on the migrants and their teachers in isolation of the urban sociopolitical spaces in which these processes occur. How do we bring together issues of social inequalities in education and migration and contextualize these experiences? What research that takes into a count the intersection of migration statuses and other social inequalities looks like?

5. New Theoretical Perspectives in Migration and Education: what are the theoretical limitation of the dominant perspectives in the field and what theories are we ignoring and should be brought into this space? How can we develop and critically engage with interdisciplinary theories and intersectionality in migration and education research?

This session will follow this structure:
Introduction: presenting the roundtables and the structure of the session and dividing people into roundtable each with a facilitator who will moderate the roundtable

Roundtables’ introduction: using ‘popcorn method’ for each of the participants to introduce themselves - what thoughts do I have following the symposium? How does it relate to my work? (15 min).

Posing the main question: What ideas do I have regarding the roundtable topic, what would I like to explore with others at the table?

Asking these questions, we want to encourage people to share challenges they faces, what research they would like to do and find partners in the room.

Sub Unit

• Global Migration SIG

Organizer

• Halleli Pinson, Ben-Gurion University

Chair

• Jamie Lew, Rutgers University-Newark

Discussants

• Manya Oriel Kagan, IIASA

• Cathryn Magno, University of Fribourg

• Susan Thomas, Syracuse University