Understanding social inclusion: stories of disruption through school policies/practices in refugee families’ life making in Canada

Abstract

Composing lives that have a sense of coherence is part of the identity making of refugee families and shapes their attempts for social inclusion. Their struggles for narrative coherence are shaped by the bumping places and tensions that they experience as their lives bump against dominant narratives that structure the policies and practices of many institutions including schools. Using narrative inquiry, we inquired into the experiences of three Syrian refugee families as they bumped against institutional policies and practices. Drawing on two years spent alongside children and their parents we composed field and research texts that showed the importance to understand social inclusion in school settings through the experiences of individual children and families. It is important to focus on experience to redefine the significance of narrative coherence in relation to social inclusion and to create spaces for telling stories that can help transform school policies and practices.

Keywords:

• Syrian refugee families
• narrative inquiry
• social inclusion
• narrative coherence
• bumping places
• schools

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Selected data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC IG 435-2017-0665).

Notes on contributors

Gillian Vigneau

Gillian Vigneau is a secondary school teacher of mathematics and a master’s student in Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. Her research and pedagogical interests are focussed on the experiences of students whose lives do not fit easily within mainstream schooling. Her master’s thesis is focussed on the experiences of refugee families and children.

Hiroko Kubota

Hiroko Kubota completed her post-doctoral fellowship and PhD in the Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta. Her research focuses on lived experiences of people who are often marginalized and made silent in society, such as people who are homeless or people who experience being refugees. Her interests also extend to philosophical considerations of human life and the world in relation to marginalization. Her doctoral research was focussed on understandings of people who are homeless in Japan using narrative inquiry.

Vera Caine

Vera Caine is a Professor in the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta. She is the current board chair of the New Canadians Health Centre in Edmonton, a community health centre which serves refugee populations. Vera is also the President of the Canadian Association of Nurses in HIV/Aids care.

D. Jean Clandinin

D. Jean Clandinin is Professor Emerita at the University of Alberta. Her research areas are in curriculum studies, teacher education, and in developing the theoretical, methodological and ethical underpinnings of narrative inquiry.

Heather Raymond

Heather Raymond completed her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Alberta in 2002. Her topic was inclusive education and the narrative of parents when they seek inclusion for their children with developmental disabilities. In addition to the completion of her PhD she holds a Bachelor of Education, Diploma of the Faculty of Education and a Master of Education from the University of Alberta. Prior to retiring in 2016, Heather was a public school educator for 34 years with Edmonton Public Schools (EPS).