EDUCATIONAL CULTURAL BROKERS AND REFUGEE CHILDREN’S SCHOOL ADAPTATION

Dr. Sophie Yohani, Ph.D., R. Psych.

Assistant Professor & Director of Counselling,

Division of Clinical Services

Department of Educational Psychology

University of Alberta

Email: sophie.yohani@ualberta.ca

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Background Overview of project goals Key issues for children’s adaptation Relevance and objectives of current project Key issues from preliminary results: Roles of

educational cultural brokering Comparing educational cultural broker roles

to other related professionals Potential implications from research results

PROJECT GOALS  

This study will explore the role of educational culture brokers in facilitating refugee children and families’ adaptation in school settings. Goals include:

Developing an understanding of the role and strategies of cultural brokering within an education framework.

To suggest a model of brokering that addresses the needs of refugee children and families within school contexts.

First I was in Africa and we had a war. They were killing people. Some people were carrying things on their heads like food and clothes. We traveled to XXX. From XXX we flew to Canada. When we arrived we stayed in a hotel until we could find an apartment. After that, about a month, we went to school. When I finish university, I would like to become a doctor. (Akinyi, 14-year old refugee girl).

FOSTERING REFUGEE CHILDREN’S ADAPTATION IN RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES Moderating factors for newcomer childrens’

adaption in schools include the nature of the host society, nature of the group, mode of acculturation, and psychosocial and individual factors such as social supports.

Adaptation in schools is negatively affected by lack of mastery of new language (Bhattacharya, 2000) and societal and school pressure toward rapid assimilation into existing culture (Igoa, 1995), while positive school adaptation is associated with the ability to hold a bicultural or integrated orientation (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001).

FOSTERING REFUGEE CHILDREN’S ADAPTATION IN RESETTLEMENT COUNTRIES

Children who come from families with known histories of pre-migration exposure to war, family losses, limited education exposure, and health difficulties are one such group who are at risk of experiencing significant difficulties with adaptation in educational settings (Clark, Sack, & Croft, 1993; Cole, 1998; Kinzie & Sack, 2002).

RELEVANCE OF STUDYCollaboration between families and schools is

vital when addressing the school needs of newcomer children, includes an understanding of cultural differences and similarities, and pre-migration experiences that impact learning outcomes.

When faced with cultural and language differences, schools and families can enlist the services of third parties, such as cultural brokers, to assist and ensure appropriate service provision.

RELEVANCE OF STUDYGiven that culture is considered to be an

important aspect of education and mental health (Sue & Sue, 2008), the act and role of brokering is potentially relevant for various stakeholders who seek to improve education services within Canada’s increasingly diverse school milieu (Statistics Canada, 2007).

Within education, research on cultural brokering is scarce and currently limited to the role of immigrant children as cultural brokers (Jones & Trickett, 2005), teachers as cultural brokers (Abbate-Vaughn, 2006), parent liaisons as cultural brokers (Martinez-Cosio & Lannacone, 2007) and young adult staff in community-programs (Cooper, Denner, & Lopez, 1999).

Article Broker Population Strategies/Roles

Abbate-Vaughn, J. (2006). “

- Prospective teachers

-teachers broker relationship between school and home (Gay, 1983; Goodwin, 2000)

Amatea, E.S., & West-Olatunji, C.A. (2007).

-School counsellors -counselors serve as “cultural bridge” between families and teachers by (a) sharing info that counters teacher’s negative views, (b) modeling reaching out to families and building strengths, (c) mediated conflicting cultural expectations

Barrett, T. G., & Thaxton, L. (2007). Robert A. Roessel Jr.

- Brokers -brokers worked to create common cultural purpose, transcended common conventions for educating Native Americans (NA), intergrated new vision for NA in higher education

Cooper, C.R., Denner, J., & Lopez, E.M. (1999).

-Teachers, family members, staff in community programs

-teachers review assessments to ensure Spanish-speaking children not misplaced in special ed. and encourage students’ dreamsexplain how US schools function, encouraged parental participation-older siblings orient students to school, help with homework, model positive behaviour-community program staff help children feel safe and confident, learn alternatives to violence, gain ed. experience, acquire bicultural skills, value home communities, share language, share bicultural experiences, encourage dreams, help navigate school syste-staff are supportive, offer broader view of school/life than family does, help children link family/comm./school

Gentemann, K.M., & Whitehead, T.L. (1983).

- Teacher-counselors (TC) in support program for Black students

-cultural broker links mainstream culture and sub-cultures through brokers acculturated in both cultures-brokers straddle both cultures to communicate values form one group to another-broker make communication more effective, role models for ethnic community-act as “translators” of academic subculture to students and student subculture to university -TC brokered by monitored lectures, leading informal seminars, counselling, helping employment, dev’p stnd English skills, and dev’p appropriate social skills-encourage students to take on leaderships roles at UniversityTC acted as role models

Gorman, W. (1999). - Canadian Native students

-teachers must act as cultural brokers-educators must dev’p strategies that build on (not change) cultural dispositions, emphasize “being” rather than “doing”, focus on past/present not just future, and promote harmony rather than subjugation of nature

Howard, A., Anderson, J.A., Smiley, A.D., Abbott, D. (2006)..

-School Liaisons who do brokering

- use of brokers who are representative of family’s culture, succeeded in ed. system, and help family’s navigate/interpret ed. system-brokering included activities that assisted marginalized families to navigate/interpret mid-class paradigm, including translation, facilitating skill dev’p so parents could advocate-

Jones, C.J., & Trickett, E.J. (2005).

Russian-immigrant children and mothers

-children broker with local institutions, other adults and peers, translating school documents, doctors, answering phone, translating for parents-children act to make customs, mores, policies, legal constraints, or interaction patterns more comprehensible to parents/family members-studies show majority of immigrant children broker for with and for parents and around school-related matters-mixed results regarding gender of child brokers and acculturation variables

Lane, B.A. (1992). -school principals

-Principal’s role as builder/broker of cultures offers important foundation to examine school leadership-“transition rituals” may help staff adjust to changes in school culture

Lewis, K.C. (2004). Instructional Aides (IA)

- May be called to be CB and bridges to the community, but many aren’t prepared- CB understand mainstream, as well as ethnic culture are related to students and admin-whether IA have connections to communities they work in, it’s assumed they’re “similar” in race, ethnicity or class and can therefore bridge the cultural gap between home and school- parents describe 4 roles of IA: connector, team member, instructor, and physical caregiver/health service provider (French & Chopra, 1999)-IA should be an integral part of any team that works with students

OBJECTIVESTo understand how facilitation is currently

achieved and to work towards a model of brokering that will best address the complex needs of refugee children and families.

To explore the opportunities and barriers to cultural brokering that exist in the education context.

To develops ways of supporting cultural brokers through an institutional and policy context.

RESEARCH APPROACHA qualitative case study of educational cultural

brokers involving document analysis, focus group discussions, and in-depth semi-structured individual interviews.

Cultural brokers will be asked to collect and described critical incidents (Flanagan, 1954) in order to explicate the roles that brokers play in facilitating refugee school children’s adaptation in schools.

Thematic analysis will be used to highlight roles, challenges, and opportunities of educational cultural brokering .

PRELIMINARY RESULTS: ROLES OF EDUCATIONAL CULTURAL BROKERS

Micro-Level Roles: Day-to-day bridging, support and educational activities that assist children's

adaptation through direct contact with families, school personnel, and community.

Advocacy & Witnessing Bridging Communication Gaps Education & Awareness Raising Empowering Parents and Children Conflict Resolution & Supportive Counselling Linking to Community Resources & Supports Providing Academic & Settlement Supports

PRELIMINARY RESULTS: ROLES OF EDUCATIONAL CULTURAL BROKERS

Macro-Level Roles:Slow process of transforming system to be more open and flexible to cultural diversity through activities that are not obvious but whose outcome is seen over time

Building relationships with schools and school boards

Facilitating processes for parent concerns about school adaptation to be addressed

Educating schools about culture and experiences of refugee and immigrant children

Empowering parents to have a voice with regards to issues affecting adaptation to school system

Comparisons with Related Professionals

Education Cultural Brokers Advocacy & Witnessing Linking to Community

Resources & Supports Bridging

Communication/Cultural Gaps Education & Awareness Raising Empowering Parents and

Children Conflict Resolution &

Counselling Academic & Settlement

Supports

In-School Settlement Workers Support newcomer students and their

families to meet basic needs within their schools and communities

Develop/provide connection to community supports

Develop/find supports to address child’s needs using holistic model (physical, social, emotional, spiritual)

Assist students/families by assessing current needs and assist them to develop understanding of new country, community and school

Help students/families determine and address barriers to successful integration

Assist schools/staff in understanding new students and developing pathways for their success as students/citizens

Comparisons with Related Professionals

Education Cultural Brokers Advocacy & Witnessing Linking to Community

Resources & Supports Bridging

Communication/Cultural Gaps Education & Awareness Raising Empowering Parents and

Children Conflict Resolution &

Counselling Academic & Settlement

Supports

Multicultural (Health) Liaison Workers* One-on-one counselling

services Referrals to professionals Educational workshops Awareness raising of

mental health issues through local media

Consultation with communities regarding needs

*Not all roles included here

http://www.vch.ca/ce/docs/reports/06_04_multicultural_mental_health.pdf

Comparisons with Related Professionals

Education Cultural Brokers Bridging

Communication/Cultural Gaps

Education & Awareness Raising

Empowering Parents and Children

Conflict Resolution & Supportive Counselling

Academic & Settlement Supports

Advocacy & Witnessing

Multicultural (School) Liaison Workers* Work with ESL families as

interpreters A liaison between families,

schools and communities for ESL students

Act as a community resource for newly arrived families

Hired by school board Facilitate communication

between schools, parents, and students

Help schools understand needs and concerns of communities

*Not all roles included here

http://www.vsb.bc.ca/districtinfo/organization/ls/drpc/Multicultureworker.htm

PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS

Brokers can play a vital role in assisting the adaptation of refugee children in school settings

Role and strategies used by brokers can be incorporated into other services for refugee children including psychological and speech therapy services

A significant challenge to the work of brokering is the lack of clarity regarding this role both at the school and community levels – Eg. Advocacy role

FURTHER RESEARCH

If brokers work at micro and macro-levels towards larger systemic change in creating welcoming communities for refugee children and families, then more information is required regarding:

Parents’ perspectives on brokeringTeachers’ perspectives on brokeringExploring use of brokering in other school-

based services such as psychological services

POTENTIAL PRACTICE & POLICY IMPLICATIONS

If brokers work at micro and macro-levels towards larger systemic change in creating welcoming communities for refugee children and families, then:

Where should individuals acting as brokers be best situated? Within or outside of schools?

Who should fund cultural brokering programs?

What forms of ongoing professional development should brokers be receiving? Recognition of existing credentials?

How can brokers be best used in building cultural competency in schools?

ACKNOWEDLEGMENTS

This research is being funded by:

PRAIRIE METROPOLIS CENTREA Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration, Integration and Diversity