Supporting Refugee Children in Pennsylvania Public SchoolsWagner, Timothy M (2013) Supporting Refugee Children in Pennsylvania Public Schools. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)
AbstractThis study documented the lived experiences of professionals with significant background working with child refugees, in an attempt to understand how practitioners view the information, resources, and other supports required to assure child refugees’ successful physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. An extensive review of the published research on child refugees in the Unitd States described specific international treaties, federal statutes, and state codes, addressed developmental disruptions as refugee children experience them, and explored the school experience of specific refugee cultural groups, yet revealed few reports of practitioners’ perspectives. Accordingly, this investigation sought the views of ten school and community professionals who engage with child refugees in a medium-sized, suburban school district to determine 1) What advice would they offer to those who will serve refugee children in public schools? 2) How useful do they find background information on legal mandates and the refugee child’s experience prior to resettlement, and when is this information most beneficial? 3) How do they experience a child refugee’s developmental disruptions, and how do they prioritize work on these disruptions? A one hour semi-structured interview addressed knowledge, skills, and practices that professionals found to be successful when working with a refugee population, along with barriers that they encountered. A three-part, twenty-six item follow-up survey asked participants to provide background information on their experiences, rate their knowledge of federal and state legal mandates and refugee cultural experiences (e.g., home country context, refugee camp conditions), and identify any developmental disruptions a refugee child presented in their setting. Participants reported successes and barriers that were largely role specific. Several themes, however, arose across all interviews. These themes included: 1) addressing students’ language needs, 2) engaging community resources, 3) addressing school needs related to cultural context education, 4) building relational trust, 5) identifying and addressing bullying, and 6) collaborating in pursuit of common professional goals. In addition, interviewees identified motivation and transformation as personal experiences in their work with child refugees. Findings lead to three implications, including development of comprehensive and specific state policy, recommendations for professional standards of practice, and revision to pre-service teacher and school leader curricula. Share
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