Kindergarten teachers promote the participation experience of African Asylum‐Seeker families
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| Author | Dolly Eliyahu‐Levi |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13037 |
International Migration. 2023;61:237–253.
|
237
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 26 Apr il 2022
|
Accepted: 14 June 2022
DOI: 10 .1111/imig .13037
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Kindergarten teachers promote the participation
experience of African Asylum- Seeker families
Dolly Eliyahu- Levi
© 2022 Internat ional Organizat ion for Migration.
Levinsky Co llege of Education, Tel Avi v,
Israel
Correspondence
Dolly Eliyah u- Levi, Levinsky C ollege of
Education, Tel Avi v, Israel.
Email: doly.levi@levinsky.ac.il
Abstract
African asyl um seekers live in Israe l in the realities of p ov-
erty, racism, and persona l insecurit y. From a sociological
point of view, Participation is taking part in social processes,
interacting with people, texts and technologies and it may
affect all ar eas of life. This is a qualitative- interpretive
study that examines through interviews t he participati on
experience from the perspective of eight Af rican couples
and six Israeli kinder garten teachers. The findings in dicate:
(1) Increasing the parents' sense of belonging, (2) Increasing
the cul tural particip ation, (3) Inc reasing community cohe-
sion. Findings reveal a tension between the parent s' de-
sire to be involved and my reality of poverty and working
around the clock that prevents their presence in ed uca-
tional activities. Under such complex conditions, kinder-
garten teachers worked to establish a positive personal
relationship, st rengthen the parent s' sense of ability, over-
come language bar riers, and cultivate a sens e of belonging
from a percept ion that increasing par ticipation would help
them deal with integration challenges and livelihoods social
rejection. The study has a t heoretical and pra ctical contri-
bution, and its findi ngs may be used by educators and poli-
cymakers regarding principles for action to promote the
experience of participation and involvement of parents in
educational settings.
238
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ELIYAHU- LEVI
INTRODUCTION
African asylum see kers, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, entered Isr ael between 2006 and 2013 through Egypt and
the Sinai De sert. According to the Population and I mmigration Authorit y data, about 50 ,000 asylum s eekers live
in Israel, and about 800 0 children (most of whom were born in Israel) study in educationa l settings throughout the
country. About 23 00 are studying in sep arate kindergarte ns and schools in Tel Aviv.
The encou nter with the new culture and the acq uaintance with new values, customs, norms , and behavio ur
patterns created conf usion among African asylum seekers , who were required to reshape their identities (Bende s-
Jacob & Friedman, 2000). They f ind it challenging to cultivate a sense of belong ing, feel part of the do minant
majority group and maint ain mutual, clos e ties with ot hers in their social environment (Ryan & Deci , 2000). The
difficulti es of langu age and the inability to communicate intensify t he feeling of alienation since language is an
essential and power ful tool in reflecting and cultiv ating a person's sense of belonging and ide ntity; thus, impairing
communicatio n ability in language can negatively af fect the sense of belonging (Lim & Pham, 2016; Mas iah, 2000;
Steinman, 2006).
Antebi- Yemini (2017) d escribes th at the p resence of asylum see kers has changed the urban sp ace that has
undergone a process of “globa lization from the ma rgins.” As part of the chan ge, for example, the y are s een in
various places in the cit y, riding bicycles, cleaning streets, walking by the sea, gardening, and being employed in
restauran ts. In reality, African asylum seekers are an abused minor ity group. They live on the social fringes in small
and crowded apar tments and face many difficu lties such as financial distre ss, lack of language, mental chall enges,
and more.
The y exper ienc e host ility and rac ism in t he publ ic spa ce from an earl y age: co mment s abou t skin colour, swear-
ing, spitting, insults, a nd abusive graffiti on walls in residential neighbourh oods and schools (Della Pergola, 2012;
Kritzman- Amir, 2015). The emotional difficulty an d lack of belonging to the Israeli being increase the differen-
tiation, the sense of non- belonging, and social reje ction (Kasin itz et al., 2008; Mendelssohn & Yehezkel, 2016;
Shamai, 1994). Social exclu sion, which means physical exclusi on or disregard, has tremendous im plications for the
mental and physiolog ical well- being and self- esteem of those who feel alienated at the bottom of the socia l ladder
(Eliyahu- Levi & Ganz- Meishar, 2016; Williams, 2007; Zadro, 2011). Wiesel an d Panste r (2007) found in their stu dy
of Afric an migrants and asylum seekers in Israel that a sense of belonging may develop concerning com munity
belonging an d the place where t hey live and expres s different layers of their identity i n community, national a nd
global contexts.
The Israeli govern ment pursues a policy of exclus ion and does not take responsib ility for asylum seekers .
Moreover, in recent years the Israeli government has made various attempts to reduce the n umber of asy-
lum se ekers and make their lives diff icult: reloc ating them to open detention f acilities, pr oviding financi al
assistance for vo luntary r eturn, res ettlement in third countries, and more (Kemp & Raijman, 2008; Zabar
& Shir, 2019). In such a reali ty, municipal ent ities have had to take on the direct care of the new resident s,
allocating funds for this pur pose from the municipal budget. They receive most of the service s from th ird
sec tor org anizat ions a nd comm unity organi zatio ns. In ad ditio n, the p resen ce of asy lum se ekers i n the so uth-
ern neighbourhoods of Tel Aviv ha s changed their social f abric and even created co nflicts w ith the local
population (Antebi- Yemini, 2017).
From an edu cational point of view, the government considers it imp ortant to provid e education for children,
and there is a requireme nt that the education system be pr epared for education that will ens ure that they acquire
basic language skills , know local norms, and integrate social ly (Green, 2014; Kemp & Raijman, 2008; Moshe, 2014;
Yona & Kemp, 2008). In Israel, according to the ‘Compuls ory Education Law’, education is comp ulsory and free for
all children from the age of 3–17, regardless of their citizenship. Refugee children have access to the primary and
secondary educ ation system under the same conditions as Israeli citizens . However, for most of them the situation
is quite differe nt: They are perceived as str angers and are located at th e bottom of the social ladder (E liyahu- Le vi
& Ganz- Meishar, 2016; Rasn ik, 2010).
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