Yan Guo & Yvonne Hébert 14 th National Metropolis Conference Toronto March 3, 2012

1. University of Calgary Educational Integration of Immigrant Children & Youth: Policy Ineffectiveness & Consequences for Learners and Society Yan Guo & Yvonne Hébert 14th National Metropolis Conference Toronto March 3, 2012

2. Introduction • Almost 6,293,000 people (~1/5) speak languages other than English or French as their mother tongue • ESL learners are now the majority in larger urban school districts • Implications for official languages policy and education • Consequences for policy and life in terms of educational attainment, employment and immigrant incorporation

3. Four Sections I Social Justice as Theoretical Framework II The ESL Case: Demographic Growth and Educational Inconsistencies III Consequences for Immigrant Children and Canadian Society IV Towards Social Justice: Policy Recommendations

4. Towards Social Justice: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

5. Scales of Social Justice • Social justice = the will to render to everyone their due • A) Distributive justicepromotes individual freedom and the equal distribution of material and social goods • B) Retributive justiceemphasizes the processes of production of goods • C) Recognitive justiceincludes social goods in their scope, such as opportunity, position, and power, as well as institutional inequities • D) Redistribution, Recognition & Representation: tri-dimensional framework in economic, social & political spheres

6. Three Dimensional Model of Social Justice • How much economic inequality does justice permit? • How much redistribution is required and according to which principle of distributive justice? • What constitutes equal respect, which kinds of differences merit public recognition, and by which means? • Who are the relevant subjects entitled to just redistribution or reciprocal recognition? • What is the proper frame within which to consider questions of justice?

7. ESL CASE: GROWTH & INCONSISTENCIES

8. The ESL Case: Demographic Growth and Educational Inconsistencies, I • AB: 14,673 ESL students (1989) to 71,541 (2010) • BC: 34,176 ESL students (1990) to 64,450 (2010) • Provincial governments repeatedly cut ESL services • Numerous inconsistencies limit ESL student success in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario • ESL in crisis: Failure to address issues & to provide quality education to these students

9. The ESL Case: Demographic Growth and Educational Inconsistencies, II • Funding caps • Redirection of ESL funding to other expenses • Deficient model underlies the systemic discrimination of ESL students in schools • View of students as ‘poor & despised’ • Lack of teacher preparation • Ad-hoc, fragmented ESL programming

10. Funding Caps • Five years in BC and seven years in AB for additional support for ESL (2012 levels) • No similar limits on financial support of English first language learners enrolled in Learning Assistance, or Gifted Education or French Immersion •  Most recent example of a systemic, structural barrier to equitable treatment

11. Redirection of ESL Funding to Other Expenses • $1178.10 per eligible FTE funded ESL student on top of the base amount per student in AB • ESL funding, not targeted; easily redirected • Toronto: ESL funding > utilities & maintenance

12. Systemic Discrimination • ESL is the subject of systemic discrimination in schools: • Practices: Room allocation; district & gov’t distribution of funding • Respondents: ESL/ESD provision has a lower status than most other teaching areas in schools • Parents and students: Concerns of discrimination and racism

13. Lack of Teacher Preparation • Teaching ESL, not part of basic teacher training • Teachers’ lack of knowledge about how to teach ESL students effectively: Partially responsible for the low achievements of ESL students

14. Ad-hoc ESL Programming • Alberta Education: • ESL Hi School Program – out of date (1997) • Up to each school to develop ESL program • No explicit elementary ESL curriculum • Comparison: • Programmes for French Immersion, a second language program • Poor quality education of immigrant children and youth

15. Consequences for Immigrant Children and Canadian Society • Educational outcomes & future earnings of immigrant children, 1st & 2nd generation • Creation of a permanent underclass that is very costly for society • Educational outcomes of immigrant children: more likely to complete university than children born in Canada • Highly relevant to Canada’s future

16. Towards Social Justice: POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

17. Accountability & Responsibility • Accountability mechanisms to ensure financial reporting from schools and school boards • General Federal responsibility to finance official languages education • Therefore, responsibility for equitable provision of Official Languages federal funding for immigrant children and youth

18. Plurilingualism Policy • ISSUE: English-only classrooms • Code-switching as social norm: Plurilingual communicative competence as reality in classrooms and beyond • Speakers interrelate and interact flexibly & effectively in different situations and with various speakers according to languages known • Cultural contexts of language experiences, from home to school to society at large, drawing on resources within several repertoires

19. Antiracism Education • Implementation of antiracism education in the school system : to overcome pervasive fear of differences • Move towards understanding and appreciating difference • Most fundamental trait of humanity, as positive, and enriching our lives • FROM FEAR TO DIGNITY OF DIFFERENCE

20. Teacher Preparation, Professional Development & Graduate Education • Recruit teachers with cultural & linguistic repertoires • Develop socially just attitudes, awareness, discourses, knowledge of all pre-service teachers • Inclusion of strong language methodologies for all pre-service teachers in support of plurilingual learners

21. Redressing School Inequalities for Improved Educational Outcomes, I Rather than asking how members of non-dominant groups adapt to dominant culture schools and practices, we might ask how well schools and classrooms adapt to the presence of students from non-dominant groups, or how schools and classrooms can be transformed to better serve these students(Orellana & Gutiérrez, 2006: 118-119) Rather than asking how members of non-dominant groups adapt to dominant culture schools and practices, we might ask how well schools and classrooms adapt to the presence of students from non-dominant groups, or how schools and classrooms can be transformed to better serve these students (Orellana & Gutiérrez, 2006: 118-119)

22. Redressing School Inequalities for Improved Educational Outcomes, II • Equitable distribution of educational resources • Improved classroom practices, for ex.: • Increase time spent on reading, science & math • Increase mixed-ability groupings, classes & schools • Increase effective language teaching within content areas

23. From Stranger to Citizen • The immigrant child, especially the immigrant youth, as well as the immigrant family, as the poor family, is created as a ‘stranger’ and as a ‘forever foreigner’ • Social justice perspective: • Greater recognition of basic individual rights; • community-building activities, • more participation & representation; • allocation of sufficient resources for success

24. Conclusions • Poor quality education of ESL learners, their systematic exclusion from mainstream schooling & society: • Based on the notion of the ‘stranger’ • Sets up person outside of regular, citified activity • Policy to reduce & eliminate forms of segregation, so as to facilitate inclusion and integration to everyone’s benefit • As in a mirror, the ‘stranger’ is ‘us’