Teacher interaction with child refugees and unaccompanied asylum seeking children:knowledge, attitudes and practices

The proposed project will advance understanding of how teachers respond to young refugees and asylum seekers, including UASC, in their classrooms. What are teachers' knowledge and attitudes in relation to child refugees and asylum seekers? How do these factors manifest in classroom practice? The research will examine the numerous and subtle webs of social interaction that weave through a classroom from a constructivist perspective (Creswell, 2009; Robson, 2002). Rather than simplifying and narrowing this richness and complexity- as media headlines and purely quantitative studies run the risk of doing- this project seeks to obtain new insight into the realities of schooling for refugees and UASC. Through a triangulated analysis of participant observation, interview, and survey data, the project will illuminate connections between teachers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices, aiming to inform teacher preparation, classroom practices, and related policies.
Methods and impact
This DPhil will be mixed-method with a strong ethnographic component. An initial survey of a sample of teachers across several schools will provide preliminary data on knowledge and attitudes among a range of teachers in different contexts. This will be followed by interviews with a smaller sample of teachers and sustained participant observation in selected classrooms. The use of participant observation will allow the description of social phenomena as they occur and the explanations constructed will reflect the depth, complexity, and "roundness" of real life (Robson, 2002). The use of mixed methods will allow the fullest possible picture of teachers' responses given limited time and finances, allowing for a breadth and depth of responses to be documented and a more nuanced understanding of the deficit/resource (or other) perspectives that teachers bring to their work. Teachers' knowledge and attitudes will be identified through self-report through direct survey and interview questions. Additionally, discursive analysis of interview and observation data will be used to illuminate implicit or emergent attitudes. The resulting analysis of knowledge and attitudes will then be compared with observed practices to identify influences and relationships. Triangulation of data among survey, interviews and observations will improve the validity of the research.
Selection of participants for the survey portion of the study will seek to include teachers at a variety of schools in terms of size, socio-economic status, and existing multiculturalism. The selection of sites for participant observation will be based on the results of the initial survey. Special attention will be given to schools that already do well in order to document approaches that capitalise on the strengths and resources of the refugee and UASC pupils. In the portion of the study that focuses on responses to UASC, the schools will be secondary level. In the portion that focuses on responses to refugee and asylum seeking children more generally, primary schools can be included. Depending on initial findings, it may be interesting to interview school senior leaders or other stakeholders who have the power to influence teachers' attitudes and knowledge in the day to day running of their schools. Results from this study will be disseminated in a variety of formats in order to reach the broadest possible audience. Having taught for many years, I am aware of the difficulties of translating research into changes on the ground. In addition to producing journal articles and reports for academics and policy makers, I aim to publish in popular press outlets frequented by practitioners, such as the Times Educational Supplement, Guardian Education, and union magazines. A better understanding of teachers' knowledge, attitudes, and current practice in relation to refugee and asylum seeker education is integral to developing best practice.