Abstract:

Multilingual education presupposes not only the teachers’ proficiency and pedagogical knowledge in several languages, but students’ as well. Students’ linguistic abilities have also long been valorised based on the language policies of the Global North. Societal legacies of disempowerment and dehumanisation continue to persist despite attempts, worldwide, to transition to a more inclusive, socially just political order. This is particularly true for South Africa. Human relocation is occurring at unprecedented levels worldwide. However, not all educational approaches support immigrant, refugee and minority language students from diverse linguistic backgrounds, as they consider their multilingualism and multiculturalism to be a barrier to teaching and learning. Thus, they implement exclusionary practices and policies for minority students. Educational organisations must address the needs of refugees and immigrants and mitigate the concerns and prejudices of local communities, yet little is known about how teachers are addressing these challenges. Since its democracy in 1994, the influx of refugees into South Africa has increased rapidly. African refugees in South Africa have become the new other, and most likely occupy the lowest rungs of the new order. When people arrive in a new country, the pressure to adapt is foremost. For children, this means going to school. Given this context, teachers face mounting challenges in coping with the diversity presented by refugee and immigrant children. The study is framed by the question: Are teachers sufficiently prepared to respond appropriately to the needs of diversity? In this paper I present, based on interviews with teachers, some of the core challenges they encounter and submit for consideration a framework to consider when teaching refugee and immigrant children. I argue for a permeable curriculum, strengthened linguistic and cultural engagement, support for heritage languages in developing English, and a humanizing pedagogy that respects and uses reality, history, and perspectives of students as integral to educational practice to challenge and reframe myopic, elitist monolingual approaches.

Keywords:

Immigrant and refugee students, teachers.