Education without Borders

“Being a color” is something that no child in the world thinks of when they go to a new country. With high hopes and dreams, they set foot into a new land, a place to call home. There are some people kind and some not so much. Some happy experiences and some overwhelming ones. To be treated like an alien is what no child should suffer. To bear with all these emotions and displacement like feeling is no easy task for a 10 year old. According to the data below, 12% of all migrants are children and 11% are young people.

Countries will have to re-think flexible education laws in order to provide basic necessities to migrant children. Even when education is available, an accepting community is what would heal them and make them feel more at home. Experiences of discrimination such as everyday racism can negatively affect the mental and physical health of children and adolescents with an immigrant background and impair their integration process in the host societies. Although experiences of racism are part of the everyday life of many minors affected by the process of “Othering” (e.g., those with an immigrant background). (Front. Psychol., 09 May 2022 Sec. Developmental Psychology).

In most OECD countries, immigrant students who arrived at the age of 12 or older – and have spent at most four years in their new country – lag farther behind students in the same grade in reading proficiency than immigrants who arrived at younger ages. Countries and economies vary markedly in the magnitude of this “late-arrival penalty” for immigrant students; and these differences tend to reflect the profile of the immigrant populations.

As a teacher, when there are immigrant children present in the classroom and their literacy grade level is

not the same as children from the same age group, there could be curriculum alternatives made for such

cases. Remedial classes can be set up. A special education teacher can be asked to guide students through

the basics of reading and writing a language. Audio Visual aid can be provided to teach as well. Teachers

can create their own worksheets and exercises. Teachers can encourage oral expression rather than

written reports as well. These are some of the strategies that we use at school to help children cope

with the pressure of being the “new kid”.

REFERENCES

Understanding The Challenges Faced By Immigrant Children Dr. Tali Shenfield | May 17, 2017

https://www.migrationdataportal.org/themes/child-and-young-migrants

https://www.g20-insights.org/policy_briefs/barriers-to-access-to-education-for-migrant-children/

Front. Psychol., 09 May 2022 Sec. Developmental Psychology

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805941

freedom to teach