Ethnic prejudice and the perception of inclusion of immigrant children: the mediating role of teachers’ resilience

ABSTRACT

We aimed to investigate the relationship between ethnic prejudice and the perception of inclusion of immigrant children among primary and middle school teachers, focusing on the mediating role of resilience. Participants were 261 teachers, 233 women and 28 men, ages 34 to 66 (M = 51.67; SD = 8.27), recruited in primary and middle schools in Sicily (Italy). Participants completed the Classical and Modern Racial Prejudice Scale, the Resilience Process Questionnaire, and an ad hoc questionnaire for evaluating teachers’ perception of inclusion of immigrant children. The results showed an effect of ethnic prejudice on the perception of inclusion of immigrant children and on resilient reintegration. The mediation model showed that resilient reintegration partially mediated the relationship between ethnic prejudice and the perception of inclusion of immigrant children. Educational and practical implications are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic prejudice
• perception of inclusion of immigrant children
• resilience
• teachers
• mediation model

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The research was approved by the ethics committee of Kore University of Enna.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Funding

This study is part of an international study on immigrant children in Italian and Spanish schools funded by the European Community (HOSTIS-HOSPES - Rights, Equality and Citizenship program 2014-2020, Call: REC-PP-2016-2, P.N.: 776228)