The empty desk in class: a metaphor in the lives and classrooms of expelled immigrant children and their teachers

Abstract

This paper engages with conversations with two teachers who each build socially just pedagogies and engage in minor gestures in response to the socio-educational-political reality they were confronted with – namely, a pupil disappearing from the classroom when her parents’ application for immigration was rejected. In an assemblage connecting the conversations to a transforming picture of an empty desk, to social media posts and online news sources and to post-qualitative literature, we reconfigure the empty desk into polyvocal, continuously moving metaphors and remain attentive to the affective and material forces of the stories that the two teachers tell. The desk functions as (1) a speaking medium and symbol of protest against the violation of children’s rights, (2) a relational force in a broken class group, (3) a part of a pedagogical space for learning democracy, and (4) a mirror on our contemporary society. These metaphors become minor gestures and invite us to fulfill our ability to respond (‘response-ability’) to the violation of rights of ‘invisible children’ and the daily realization of inclusive education for all children in class.

Keywords:

• Immigrant children
• primary education
• children’s rights
• teachers’ perspectives
• socially just pedagogies

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

The Data That Support The Findings Of This Study Are Available From The Corresponding Author Upon Reasonable Request.

Notes

1 All names used throughout the article are pseudonyms.

2 ‘Return homes’ are houses or apartments where families with children under the age of eighteen can be maintained while awaiting voluntary or forced return to their country of origin.

3 Dutch: ‘Als de lichtjes doven’ van ‘Kinderen voor Kinderen’.

4 Dutch abbreviation for the federal service of refugee affairs.

Additional information

Funding

The first author is a PhD student with the support of a Special Research Fund fellowship [grant: O1D23017].

Notes on contributors

Silke Daelman

Silke Daelman, MA, has a background in educational studies. She is a PhD student at the Department of Special Needs Education (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University) with the support of a Special Research Fund fellowship. As a disability studies researcher she is mainly interested in particular children’s voices in educational settings and explores borders in ethics and methodology in research with children

Elisabeth De Schauwer

Elisabeth De Schauwer, MA, Phd, has a background in educational studies. She is working as a guest professor at the Department of Special Needs Education (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University). As a researcher, her field of interest is situated in inclusive education and disability studies. She is intrigued by the role of disability in (pedagogical) relations.

Bruno Vanobbergen

Bruno Vanobbergen, MA, PhD, is the former Flemish Commissioner of children’s rights and currently working as director of the Flemish Agency for Growing Up. He is a guest professor at the Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University).

Geert Van Hove

Geert Van Hove, MA, PhD, has a background in educational studies. He is working as a professor at the Department of Special Needs Education (Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University). As a researcher, his field of interest encompasses disability studies and inclusive education.