Critical transnational curriculum for immigrant and refugee students

ABSTRACT

This article explores the curricular approaches of three public high schools in the US that serve newly arrived immigrant and refugee youth, in order to define and illustrate a critical transnational curriculum. Drawing from qualitative research over the past 10 years at the different school sites, the authors posit four tenets of a critical transnational curriculum with examples of specific school practices: (1) using diversity as a learning opportunity; (2) engaging translanguaging; (3) promoting civic engagement as curriculum; and (4) cultivating multidirectional aspirations. A curriculum that responds to students’ needs and realities as migrants, workers, and students offers not only cultural and socio-political relevance, but also recognizes the transnational lives and trajectories of immigrant and refugee youth.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigration and education
• culturally relevant education
• global migration
• curriculum and pedagogy
• global citizenship

Acknowledgments

The projects described in this article were funded by a variety of sources. Monisha Bajaj's research in California was funded by the University of San Francisco's Jesuit Foundation Research Grant and a Spencer Foundation Small Grant (201600033). Lesley Bartlett's research in New York was supported by a Ruth Landes Memorial Grant from the Reed Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

University of San Francisco's Jesuit Foundation Research; Spencer Foundation Small [grant number 201600033]; Ruth Landes Memorial Grant from the Reed Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Monisha Bajaj

Monisha Bajaj is an associate professor of international and multicultural education at the University of San Francisco, where she directs the MA program in Human Rights Education. She is the editor and author of six books, including Schooling for Social Change: The Rise and Impact of Human Rights Education in India (winner of the 2012 Jackie Kirk Outstanding Book Award of the Comparative and International Education Society), as well as numerous articles. She has also developed curriculum – particularly related to peace education, human rights, anti-bullying efforts and sustainability – for non-profit organizations and inter-governmental organizations, such as UNICEF and UNESCO. She is the recipient of the Ella Baker/Septima Clark Human Rights Award (2015) from Division B of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Lesley Bartlett

Lesley Bartlett is a professor of educational policy studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research and teaching interests include anthropology of education, comparative and international education, literacy studies, and migration studies. Two recent books include Rethinking Case Study Research: A Comparative Approach (2016, with Frances Vavrus), Refugees, Immigrants, and Education in the Global South (2011, with Ameena Ghaffar Kucher), and Additive Schooling in Subtractive Times: Bilingual Education and Dominican Immigrant Youth in the Heights (2011, with Ofelia Garcia).