ImmigrantChildren.ca Archive

Category: School System

  • Multilingual parent resource sheets from welcomehere.ca

    welcomehere.ca, (see blog entry here March 19/08), has published a series of parent resource sheets in ten languages, including: Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Hindi, Punjabi, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil and Vietnamese.
    Topics include: Building active habits, Family routines, Parents at play, Promoting positive behaviour, and Supporting children’s play.
    welcomehere.ca is a collaboration of the Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs and settlement agencies across Canada.

  • OECD Thematic review of migrant education – an update

    As posted Jan 22 on this blog, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – the OECD – is undertaking a thematic review of migrant education.
    The question being asked is ‘What policies will promote successful education outcomes for first and second generation migrants’? 
    The objectives and outputs are based on criteria for the assessment of the successful integration into the education system, including pre-school education, which is threefold:

    1. Access: Do immigrant students/children have the same opportunities to access quality education as their native-born peers?
    2. Participation: Do immigrant students/children participate (enrol and complete) as much as their native-born peers?
    3. Learning outcomes: Do immigrant students/children perform as well as their native-born peers?

    An interesting project. Here’s the site.

  • Developing positive identities: Young children and diversity

    The Bernard van Leer Foundation has released a resource on the theory and evidence of how identity can be impacted by adversity, discrimination and diversity in early childhood, entitled Developing Positive Identities: Young Children and Diversity.
    This release is the latest in the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Early Childhood in Focus series. Earlier editions were Attachment Relationships: Quality of Care for Young Children and Early Childhood and Primary Education: Transitions in the Lives of Young Children. 

  • CIC funds children's book about immigration

    Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) funded Toronto-based author Rukhsana Khan to write a book about emigrating to Canada. Coming to Canada was officially launched last week by CIC and will be distributed to Ontario public libraries in June and to elementary schools in the fall and to all newly arrived immigrant children in Canada.
    <Update: Coming to Canada was re-packaged as A New Life>.

  • On new shores: Int'l forum on issues of immigrant and refugee children, youth and families

    The 2008 On New Shores: International Forum on Issues of Immigrant and Refugee Children, Youth and Families conference program is available. This is a tentative program, but we are thrilled to see so many sessions devoted to young immigrant children and their parents/families.
    The conference will be held Nov 6-7/08 in Guelph, Ontario and is sponsored by Dr. Susan Chuang, Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph. 
    Some of the events, sessions and workshops with Canadian content include:

    Thurs. Nov 6th, Session 2:

    Z Sonia Worotynec, Canadian Coalition for Immigrant Children and Youth, Valerie Rhomberg, Canadian Mothercraft Society and Ken Setterington, Toronto Public Library on The Children’s Picture Book as Immigrant Literature. 

    Poster sessions:

    Alka Burman, Early Literacy Consultant, Peel Region: Providing an Anti-Bias Environment.

    Fri. Nov 7th Keynote:

    Janice MacAuley, Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs, Dr. Susan Chuang, FRAN, University of Guelph, Christopher Friesen, Canadian Immigration Settlement Sector Alliance: The Canadian Way: Welcoming Immigrant and Refugee Families. 

    Fri. Nov 7th Session 4:

    Judith Bernhard, Ryerson University: Por necesidad: Challenges of Multi-Local Parenting.
    Mehru Ali, Ryerson University: Loss of Self-Effacacy among Immigrant Parents. 
    Roma Chumak-Horbatsch, Ryerson University and mylanguage.ca and Z Sonia Worotynec, Canadian Coalition for Immigrant Children and Youth: Immigrant Children in Toronto Child Care Centres: A Language Profile.
    Visit Dr. Chuang’s webpage at the University of Guelph for more information.

  • Refugee children in school

    The National Post ran a story on refugee children in this weekend’s edition. The story is entitled “Refugee in a classroom“. A few quotes about learning in an environment where refugee students feel safe:
    The teacher of the class, says: “It goes beyond just teaching…You’re dealing with the whole child, and you’re changing lives“.
    A student comment: “We discuss things like racism, like religion, topics that create a lot of tension“.
    One classroom teacher’s vision for equity for students in her school is realized. Let’s hope that this kind of understanding, analysis and action can be applied across the country so that all refugee and immigrant children (and their parents) are welcomed into schools.

  • People for Education report: Urban and suburban schools in Ontario

    People for Education have released a report on schools in Ontario. Some of the key findings in the report:

    • Funding for programs to ensure equitable outcomes for students is calculated on 1991 and 1996 census data, even though demographic numbers have changed dramatically and more current census data is available
    • 29% of urban/suburban elementary schools had ESL students but no ESL teachers.

    Citing the following Statistics Canada data, the report discusses immigrant children and families, ESL, English Language Learners and settlement workers in the schools.

    • Between July 1 2005 and July 1 2006, 133,100 new immigrants arrived in Ontario
    • Nearly 60% of newcomers were in the skilled worker and business immigrant categories
    • The vast majority of immigrants settled in urban and suburban areas
    • 75% came from countries where English is not the first language
    • More than one third were under the age of 19.

    Read the report here.

  • Call for papers: Intercultural education as social justice

    Intercultural Education, the journal of the International Association for Intercultural Education, is receiving submissions for an upcoming special issue focused on intercultural education as social justice.
    Intercultural Education is a global forum for the analysis of issues dealing with education in plural societies. It provides educational professionals with knowledge and information to support their contributions to critical analyses and the implementation of intercultural education.
    From the call: “This particular issue will focus more specifically on engaging in intercultural education practice that purposefully transcends heroes and holidays or celebrating diversity approaches and that sets as its goal the establishment and maintenance of equitable and just learning environments for all students. We are looking for contributions that push the boundaries of intercultural and multicultural education, that draw on analyses of systemic inequities, that engage critical theories. We are interested, as well, in research articles that critically analyze dominant intercultural education discourses, policies, and practices especially those that may contribute to inequities rather than eliminating them”.
    Topics include (but are not limited to):

    • Colonizing practice and policy analyses of supposedly intercultural or multicultural education practice or policy that reifies existing social orders
    • The corporatization and militarization of public schools
    • Critical analyses of popular existing programs and approaches to intercultural or multicultural education
    • Intersectionality of social justice issue, and particularly intersections of class and poverty with race, ethnicity, gender, (dis)ability, and other identities
    • Globalization and educational marginalization.

    Articles are sought from an international range of authors from the intercultural education and social justice fields.Expressions of intent to submit, with a 50-word maximum description of the proposed topic and focus should be submitted to Paul C. Gorski and follow the submission guidelines.
    Deadline for manuscript submission is November 15, 2008.

  • Manitoba CBC diversity scholarships

    The Manitoba CBC are in their 5th year of awarding $500 scholarships to high school students in their final year of high school and planning to pursue journalism studies.
    Eligible students are “youth who come from an ethnic or ancestral background that is a visible minority or Aboriginal” and who can best answer the essay question: “What is the role of the CBC in our community?“.

  • NAME Conference: Beyond celebrating diversity

    US-based National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) will hold its 18th annual conference Nov 12-16/08 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The conference theme is Beyond Celebrating Diversity: reActivating the Equity and Social Justice Roots of Multicultural Education.
    Conference strands:

    • Critical discourses in multicultural education, social justice and equity
    • The roots of multicultural education
    • Empowering students of color, English language learners, and low-income students
    • Community-based initiatives for educational equity and social justice
    • Multicultural education in a digital age.

    See the NAME site for details, including the call for proposals, rubric proposal and information on last year’s conference.
    Proposals due March 31, 2008.