Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration: Syrians 98 in Canada and Germany

Ira Bogotch, Dustin Pappas, Cole Kervin, and Emily Silliman

Contents Introduction and Background ...... 2244 Political Wills: Two Nations-One Purpose ...... 2247 Syrian Exodus and Responses ...... 2247 Education and Governance: Canada and Germany ...... 2249 A Social Justice Conceptual Framework as the Interplay of Supports and Barriers ...... 2250 A Review of Methods ...... 2252 Findings: The Interplay of Supports and Barriers ...... 2252 Welcoming and Placement ...... 2253 Language Supports ...... 2254 Relational Support: Collaboration/Teams ...... 2257 Community: Extracurricular – Supports ...... 2258 Professional Development ...... 2259 Conclusion ...... 2260 References ...... 2262

Abstract The Syrian diaspora of newcomers to Canada or Germany represent the more fortunate refugees escaping from civil war, that is, more fortunate in terms of their arrival into two democratic, socialist-oriented societies as opposed to being housed in refugee camps in neighboring Middle Eastern nations bordering Syria. They are also more fortunate in attending schools where Canadian and German educators have had measured successes in integrating previous immigrant populations in schools and communities. Such advantages by themselves, however,

I. Bogotch (*) · D. Pappas · C. Kervin Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] E. Silliman University of Erfut, Erfut, Germany e-mail: [email protected]

do not equate to living and working in socially just systems, particularly today, in 2019. Chancellor Merkel’s government is being challenged by anti-immigration segments of the German population, and it is already determined that before this chapter is published, she will be ousted. Her electoral term ends in 2021. While – as yet – no such formal opposition party threatens Prime Minister Trudeau’sgovern- ment in Canada, integration successes are limited to specific urban areas surrounding Vancouver and Edmonton on the West Coast and in the Province of Ontario, further east. Nevertheless, the polar opposites of transitioning from war to peace, authoritarianism to democracy, and from no schooling to compulsory schooling are all positive steps towards socially just opportunities. Still, below the surface, as a constant reminder to educators, the newcomers struggle with trauma and stress, now and in years to come. The case stories of how Canadian and German educators are managing the welcoming and integration processes inside schools, focusing specifically on the surge of 2016, is the subject of this study. In retelling the stories of educators, those on the frontlines in both countries, we ask readers to consider how national histories, cultures, and politics intersect as both supports and barriers. Writing in 2019, 3 years after the surge, conclusions are still uncertain even as we documented successes and the mutually beneficial exchange of “gifts.” We stop short of drawing definitive conclusions based on our data, as socially just societies cannot happen in such a short period of time.

Keywords Syrian diaspora · Refugee education · Social justice · Canada · Germany

Introduction and Background

By 2016, the civil war and diaspora of Syrian refugees were labeled as “the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time” (UNHCR, March 15, 2016). In fact, over 6.3 million Syrians sought refuge outside their country as result of war (UNHCR, 2017, 18 June). The majority of Syrian refugees, roughly 92%, took refuge in the neighboring countries of Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, not knowing when they might be able to return. For others, the destination landed them, by choice and fortunate circumstances, in Canada and Germany. Their journeys and stories are ﬁrst heard and then translated, literally, by teachers, administrators, social and settlement workers. As researchers, our task was to understand educators’ experiences integrating newcomers, especially how they responded to the physical and psychosocial needs of children and families who had recently experienced trauma. We wanted to capture how they drew strength from the newcomers’ resilience while providing them with care (e.g., Bennett, 2012). Educators have had to manage their own stress, borne from of a commitment to make educational, social, economic, and political differences. Their message was, and still is, one of hope and optimism; it is also a message not often not heard beyond schools by citizens and politicians. Thus, our responsibility is to give voice to their optimism in hopes of disrupting anti- immigrant discourses and hateful narratives now loudly heard around the world. 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2245

The story we heard:

They’re able to share with our kids in Canada who have absolutely no idea [although] they may have seen something on T.V. But they have no connection to any of this when...

he talks about the bombs fell; and my dad went to get food in the store; and the store was blown up; so dad came home with no food; and we couldn’t go outside; and you know we went to this camp; and then we got on a plane; and we came to Canada.

Sometimes, what we heard did not ﬁt our presuppositions. One German educator stated:

We have a great range of diversity, and this range of diversity is why we are equipped to cope with these refugees.

To our ears, as US researchers, the connotations of the word diversity and Germany did not ﬁt together smoothly. True, a sign on the wall of one secondary school we visited read that it had been welcoming newcomers since 1994, and another sign read (see Fig. 1): “a school without racism is a school with courage.” Although the signs we saw espouse multiculturalism, we wondered whether the prioritizing of German language achievement allowed educators to recognize the need to embrace students’ cultural identities. In fact, very often when we used the word Syrian, the German teachers corrected us in saying all immigrant students. But prior to 2016, the history of immigration in Germany, post-World War II, was characterized by its guest worker policies, particularly immigrants from Turkey. There are over three million Turks, many in their second and third generations. With each successive generation, the data suggest they are better educated, have higher professional status, and speak better German. Yet, even after 40 years, according to Faruk Sen (2003), it is still not possible to declare integration a success. How does this history inform our work with Syrian newcomer integration?

Fig. 1 This German sign hangs in diverse schools only 2246 I. Bogotch et al.

With that question in mind, we are aware that a majority of our readers are, like us, from the USA. It is the USA, with its history of and capacity for immigrant resettlement, that has historically and culturally defined the term diversity. Yet, we all know that the USA today has all but closed its door to Syrian refugees and other immigrant groups. Today’s Trumpian reality contrasts greatly with the treatment of refugees as newcomers in both Canada and Germany. Despite the differences between Canada and Germany, they both still provide social, political, and economic safety nets to naturalized citizens and unnaturalized residents soon to become citizens. One cannot ignore the differences between socially democratic governments in contrast to the USA and its “welcoming” to immigrants and asylum seekers, now and in the past. In other words, we see messages and lessons that our participants can teach the USA and the world. Another key point inside these comparisons is that research studies on US immigration, migration, and refugees have not always lived up to the promises and dreams of coming to America. To be clear, the contexts surrounding US-centric models are often described by the “place” of refugees in terms of discrimination and racism of the wider and dominant society. This cited research is often coupled with descriptions of inadequate teacher preparation programs and the lack of skills and credentials of teachers working with immigrants, migrants, and refugees. Dominating this US-centric literature is the focus on Mexican-American border crossings and the experiences of African-Americans. These two culturally relevant points of reference often subsume the unique and diverse nationalities, languages, and cultures of immigrants/refugees under essentialized headings of Hispanic and Black (see Faltis & Valdes, 109th NSSE Yearbook, Issue 2, 2010). To be fair, (im)migration scholars in the USA have produced excellent descriptions and analyses of school-based and community dynamics. Scholars such as Portes and Fernandez-Kelly (2008), Suarez-Orozco, Suarez-Orozco, and Todorova (2009), and Gandara and Contreras (2009) represent some of the seminal works on this topic. That does not mean, however, that their findings travel well beyond the US borders. In terms of this study and others like it, more attention needs to be paid to international research, especially ones from Canada on linguistically appropriate practices (Chumak-Horbatsch, 2012) and on inclusive classroom and leadership practices (Griffiths & Ryan, 2018). We are calling for Canadian and European perspectives alongside US-centric research on (im)migration in order to develop new ideas, frameworks, and practices. Our US experiences, even after admitting over 30 million children of immigrants since the 1960s, cannot predict the futures of newcomers in Canada and Germany or anywhere else in the world. Aside from the resettlement assistance given to Cubans and Vietnamese, the experiences of US immigrants in our capitalist country supports the dictum that “the rich get richer and the poor get children” (Portes & Fernandez-Kelly, 2008, p. 19). The one finding which we can embrace from studies such as Portes and Fernandez-Kelly is that “the presence of teachers and counselors who take a direct interest in these children” (pp. 33–34) matters. Therefore, when we heard German teachers and administrators tell us that their government has provided little-to-no support and that there is a 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2247 severe shortage of second language teachers, we still heard and saw many innovative efforts to manage and successfully teach their Syrian and other newcomers.

Political Wills: Two Nations-One Purpose

In 2015, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a public gesture offering to resettle Syrians escaping the perils of civil war. Earlier that same year, Germany, and Chancellor Merkel set the bar for Europe by accepting and resettling close to one million displaced persons. The focus of this study reviews this initial period described as a “surge,” as we seek new understandings from Canadian and German responses to newcomers. Language reflects the attitudes and values of its speakers; in Germany, rather than referring to refugees as Flüchtling, a term directly related to their status as asylum seekers, refugees are given the title Neuzugewanderte, which means “Newcomer.” The terminology that has developed around the Syrian refugee crisis speaks to the host country’s attitude towards today’s asylum seekers. The very essence of successful school integration in the two contexts is the objective of German/Canadian residency and citizenship for the Syrians. Therefore, throughout this study, we will be using the German/English/Canadian term “newcomer” as opposed to the word refugee. Settling upon the term “newcomer,” is also in line with the concept of social justice, a term much maligned by specific segments of today’s US popular culture. Instead of looking to redress inequities both in schools and society, conservative commentators refer to social advocates as “social justice warriors,” or “socialists” who want to redistribute wealth. Yet, the meanings of social justice are both cultural and political and grounded in the need of individuals and communities (Bogotch, 2002, 2008, 2014). In this sense, social justice is also contingent upon situations and contexts in the environment, sometimes aligned with humanitarian issues, but many times not. Social justice, like attitudes and policies towards immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, is a matter of political will and economic development. Global citizens as well as many world governments today seem to ignore immigrant contributions to economic growth when it does not fit their nationalistic narratives. It is such ignorance and paradoxes which challenge the quest for educational leadership for social justice.

Syrian Exodus and Responses

Forced migration is seemingly an inevitable reality of a world in conflict whether from environmental disasters to human choices. The UNHCR marked the Syrian refugee crisis as beginning in the spring of 2011, following the deployment of the Syrian army to counter large-scale political demonstrations sweeping the country at the time. Although some Syrians had already begun to flee the country, the surge of 2248 I. Bogotch et al. mass migration did not escalate until the end of 2012. While there have been UN guidelines established in 1951 and Protocols since 1967 regarding forced migration and providing sanctuary, most countries do not adhere to them. In other words, the guidelines have been, arguably, toothless as “legal ramifications for failing to respect contractual obligations... can be relatively ineffectual” (Mendenhall, Garnett Russell, & Buckner, 2017, p. 18). In fact, refugees become subjects to the laws of the territories in which they seek asylum. But what we heard were not statements of human rights but rather pragmatic problem-solving:

We grow potential. [Education] needs to stop being about credit accumulation and begin realizing that we are a part of human potential, building human potential in any research. We say resiliency in building human potential; there needs to be caring adults and we’re living in a culture that doesn’t have a village anymore which makes the school system under more pressure and responsible for providing [human] relations relationships in solving problems. (A Canadian Social Worker)

Resettlement of refugees is more than a charter of rights and freedoms that respects the individuals; resettlement maximizes advantages economically even as it is fraught with political risks in today’s world. For Syrians ﬂeeing a repressive regime and seeking asylum in economically prosperous and democratic nations, the future is neither certain nor without barriers (Goldstone, 2018). Nations that traditionally espouse democratic values can and have cited the lack of economic ability or political initiative to act inclusively. However, communities that do host and engage with refugees [as newcomers] tend to experience an increase in diversity which can create frictions while also sparking debates about the necessities for social change. Fisher and Taub (2015) in their online essay state that resettlement requires re-visioning:

... communities will look and feel different from how they have in the past. It requires adjusting our vision of what our communities look like, at least slightly, and widening the deﬁnition of our culture to accommodate new arrivals, even if their customs and values might seem alien to us. That’s not something that has ever come easily to people, but it is the only real solution there is. (para. 61)

Both the Canadian and German responses to the Syrian diaspora have been points of national pride. For Canada, it upholds a long-held tradition of being welcoming and celebrating diversity. A sign at one of the Canadian School Boards stated that 184 birth nations were represented by students. Yet, like Germany, there are open questions regarding Canada’s past, particularly with respect to the treatment of First Nations’ People. Canadians told us of the country’s willingness to hold difficult conversations. While we are not saying that this is the motivation of Canadian educators exclusively, we are saying that rectifying the past is always part of the present day context for both citizens and educators. Putting Germany’s position today into an historical context is even more challenging: two world wars, the reunification of the nation, and integration attempts 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2249 with “guest workers” from decades’ past. The German emphasis on learning the German language and becoming literate is for them the first steps in reinvigorating diversity inside the country. That goal may be consistent with assimilation, but it is not a recipe for social justice. For this reason, we call what Canada and Germany are doing as educational steps towards social justice. In the case of Germany, we heard the slogan “wir schaffen das,”“we can do it.” But that phrase was more a pragmatic reality than a political endorsement, especially as German educators complained about the shortages of teachers, space, interpreters, and resources. What leads German educators to push forward, probably, has more to do with the educational praxis of bildung, as much a concept for all of life as it is for the education of the whole child. The Syrian refugees as newcomers to Canada and Germany have forced many discussions across these two societies, humanistic as well as pragmatic. As educational leadership researchers, we looked for actions beyond the use of abstract terms such as success, justice, diversity, and compassion. That is, we found administrators and teachers in both countries who understood that the Syrian newcomers could meet population needs for their national growth and prosperity. As a German educator told us: “workers are being searched for; [we] are in need of workers.... In Germany, we have an educational system where you can get experience in a work place, where you can [learn] skills.” Canada and Germany’s pro-immigration stances correlate with two challenges: meeting labor shortages among highly skilled workers and addressing an aging population (Chen, 2017). Yet, we also noted statements reflecting deficit mindsets: one school administrator questioned the Syrian’s ability to complete “complicated paperwork” for obtaining a job. “How can they be expected to do that? How? [In Syria], they had a very specific position and role. There is a big distance that stands between them and work here.” As we noted with US researchers, immigrant perspectives tend to bring out deficit mindsets.

Education and Governance: Canada and Germany

In contrast to the previous Canadian administration, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for Canada to admit 25,000 Syrians. By March, 2016, Canada had admitted 26,000.

Of the ﬁrst 26,00 refugees who arrived in Canada, 11,000 arrived either through a private sponsorship (8,976) or a blended visa ofﬁce-referral which is a new partnership model between government and private groups (2,225). (Jones & Teytelboym, 2017,p.9)

Refugees received resettlement either through government assistance, private sponsorships, or the blended visa program. But like Germany, the political will of Canadian citizens themselves, in collaboration with their governments, allowed for resettlement on a large scale (Labman & Pearlman, 2018). In 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel instituted an open-door policy challenging Germans to welcome close to a million asylum-seekers. The refugees/ 2250 I. Bogotch et al. newcomers were distributed across all 16 German states, but with a concentration in North Rhine, Westphalia, where 21% of the Syrians were settled. Both nations have federal systems of governments that are not centralized at the provincial or state levels. Each of Canada’s ten provinces as well as its territories govern their educational systems autonomously under separate jurisdictions. Canada has no centralized ministry of education. Thus, differences in policies, curriculum, assessment, and accountability are considerable. A joint Council of Ministers of Education acts as an intragovernmental body that facilitates coordination of education policies among the provinces (Chen, 2017; Faubert, personal communications, 2018). Additional federal funding was provided for the education of Syrians (i.e., children and adults). School boards not only had discretion but also had to make do with existing resources-necessitating creative ways to meet educational demands for all K-12 students. The social situation was much more generous as Canada’s welfare system and private sponsorships covered many health, housing, job training costs of resettlement (Jones & Teytelboym, 2017). Germany, too, functions educationally as autonomous systems, State by State, school by school. Germany, however, also has created tiers or different pathways for its students; these pathways diverge when students enter into secondary schools. This selection eventually tracks students into blue or white collar professions and training as well as who is eligible for higher education. Participants in this research did emphasize that students could test out of their tracks and attain higher levels of education based on these assessments. We have no data to conﬁrm the frequency of this possibility.

A Social Justice Conceptual Framework as the Interplay of Supports and Barriers

The quest for justice has a long history in theological works and philosophy, beginning with the opening dialogue of Plato’s Republic (see Rawls, 1971). It often manifests itself in issues of societal fairness through a political and ethical lens in terms of the dynamics of power (Bogotch, 2002). In educational leadership, Shoho, Merchant, and Lugg (2005) noted that despite the many elusive or personal definitions of the term, social justice entails issues of “equality, equity, fairness, acceptance of others, and inclusiveness” (p. 60). Unfortunately, this conflagration of values, processes, and practices tends to lead to very real confusions surrounding the term social justice. Confusion, consequently, triggers criticism from those who deliberately or erroneously see social justice as existing synonymously with political correctness and a ways to police speech. Yet issues of poverty, hunger, and democracy are material realities, not subtle ways of controlling or oppressing populations. Social justice remedies are not abstractions, but rather deliberate actions to be used for changing contexts (Bogotch, 2002), and, therefore, requires continuous reappraisals and redefining of actions based on consequences (Bogotch, 2002, 2008, 2014). These contingencies create tensions, pushes and pulls, as demonstrated by force field analyses (Lewin, 1951), which we used here to guide the interpretations of our findings. 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2251

Specifically, by applying Lewin’s(1951) Field Theory, we sought to describe the tensions between supports and barriers within educators’“life spaces,” in terms of resources, people, policies, and the sociocultural norms. Lewin defined field as “the totality of coexisting facts which are conceived of as mutually interdependent” (Lewin, 1951, p. 240). In other words, supports do not happen independent of barriers (Su-Keene, personal communication, January, 2019). This theoretical framework is anchored in Gestalt psychology, seeking holistic appraisals of individual and group perspectives impacting both on-going behaviors and change. Participants all have access to partial knowledge or truths (Bogotch & Roy, 1997) based on their roles and responsibilities. Thus, the “totality of facts” in Field Theory is a systemic framework beyond any one’s personal field of knowledge. It is up to policymakers as well as educational leadership researchers to reconstruct the whole from specific and delimited parts, and to make explicit connections across individuals’ roles. Burnes and Cooke (2012) concluded that “field theory with the mathematical quantification removed, provides a robust and holistic approach to understanding and changing behavior” (p. 421). Diagraming life spaces using Lewin’s conventional topology allows us, as researchers, to examine and reflect upon the whole educative environ- ments to see what may be impacting change (or status quo) efforts. In both Canada and Germany, previously written job descriptions tended to disappear as new students (i.e., immigrants) called for new knowledge, new collaborative relations, and new educative actions. Therefore, our conceptual framework and research analysis methods allowed us to account for the interplay of supports and barriers, without overemphasizing either one of the two opposing forces. Progress towards socially just societies often takes a long time and, in most instances, the barriers to full and equitable access in any community or society presents on-going challenges for democracy. We know, too, that practitioners do not see their actions in terms of “social justice” (Schoorman & Bogotch, 2010). Rather, the terms diversity, access, testing, equity, intensive language instruction, inclusion, second language learning, and opportunities are part of their professional vocabulary. Again, the overlap of related concepts causes confusion which, in practice, contributes to practitioners’ hesitation to go beyond their job descriptions and current norms of school institutions. Social justice depends on practitioners having mastery of their knowledge base and skills on the job; then, in addition, it requires a deliberate decision to think and act beyond and outside the norms of everyday professional (i.e., job descriptive) practices (Bogotch, 2016). Resistance by educators themselves to this different way of thinking and acting prevents educators from taking their firsthand experiences with immigrants and using this new knowledge to advocate for social, political, and economic changes in society. It is not just that external authorities silence educators; it is that educators silent/censor/delimit themselves as citizens. To be clear, the barriers are not just from external authorities; educators have been socialized to work within the institution of schooling, separate and apart from communities and societies. Thus, their experiences, knowledge, and skills do not often become part of the larger societal discourses. As a result, societies do not know what educators have learned from their direct interactions with newcomers. Moreover, educators remain silent in the face of 2252 I. Bogotch et al. oppositional opinions: they avoid conflict thus allowing policymakers to assert “facts” which educators know are not true – based on their experiences. Leadership for social justice has yet to overcome the push and pull of supports and barriers and the self-inflicted wounds. Societies have yet to benefit from the knowledge of educators when making decisions or reframing policies.

A Review of Methods

This study utilized a multisite case study design. In addition, our participants came from various levels, vertically and horizontally, across school systems. The sample was composed of two geographic regions, two school boards in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and schools within the state of North Rhine, Westphalia, Germany. Interviews and field notes were conducted, transcribed, translated, and analyzed, first individually through memoing (Bogotch & Kervin, 2019; Maxwell, 2013), then, using the two conceptual frameworks described above. The data were coded as supports and barriers. Once we generated the two lists, we then merged them within field theory in order to “see” the totality of facts beyond any one participant. We supplemented these data with document analyses, including official websites, national and local media outlets, handouts to immigrant groups, and visual school displays. Our findings begin descriptively, presented as sequential process-oriented themes (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 41), not in abstract conceptions. Our conclusions, however, take a normative social justice stance. The “supports/barriers” dataset are organized into different process categories as follows: welcoming and placement support, language support, support from within – that is, among administrators, staff and teachers, community support, and professional development. We remind readers that all of the participants knew that the supports were necessary and helpful but were not adequate to meet the enormous challenges of immigration especially in 2016 with the Syrian newcomers.

Findings: The Interplay of Supports and Barriers

The educational environment in both Canada and Germany is complex, as public schools operate inside loosely federated systems. So, while Prime Minister Trudeau and Chancellor Merkel championed liberal immigration policies at the national level, it was left to ministerial, provincial, and municipal authorities to provide, or not, needed resources and funds. Yet, how this happens was very different in both countries. For example, in Canada, there are strong top-down norms and supports already in place for welcoming immigrants as newcomers. During the surge in early 2016, the provincial and school board governance systems fulfilled practically all of the requests for new positions and added funds. Were these sufficient? Our participants told us, “no,” but they knew – at least in Ontario they knew – that they could trust the local authorities to come through with needed funds for the coming school year. The trust went both ways: “[The Board] knew I wasn’t going to buy a Cadillac 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2253 if I could get by with what was needed.” This allowed for adding new teachers, particularly moving itinerant second language (ESL) teachers to full-time or almost full-time positions in schools with high numbers of Syrian newcomers. There were also monies for hiring more settlement workers, translators, social workers, and administrative assistants, both at the school board and school-site levels. The situation could not have been more different in Germany. There, when we heard the response of “no” to our questions about government resources and funds, the participants followed with stories telling us how they had to be creative and innovative in coping with the Syrian newcomers. The term “volunteers” and municipal support filled in the gaps that were not addressed by state level ministries. But the situation went far beyond just a matter of money. Whereas in Canada, particularly in the school boards in Ontario, there were no teacher or settlement worker shortages. Canadian teachers are well-paid and the school systems responded in seeking out highly qualified personnel in both English and Arabic. Not so in Germany, particularly in the small cities and rural areas of North Rhine, Westphalia. Throughout the state, there were no teachers to be found to meet the needs of newcomers. German language teachers were moved into German as a Second Language classrooms and school administrators had to not only rely on the good will of their faculties to meet new enrollment needs but also had use funding “tricks,” such as replacing pregnant teachers on leave with retired teachers to cover newcomer classes.

Welcoming and Placement

Welcome centers or community cultural centers were present in both Canada and Germany and had the dual responsibility of placing families in homes and children in schools based on the locations of these new homes. In these cases, school-based educators adapted to the registration policies so that the needs of newcomers would have easier access to community schools.

.... We were expecting our [newcomer] families to be smaller. We didn’t realize there would be families of six, seven, eight, nine people needing to be housed – so we have still many large families that are in small apartments, and I don’t know how they do it in a one bedroom or even a two bedroom. (Canadian school-site administrator)

The needs of the Syrian newcomers were met through the creation of initial efforts surrounding welcoming and intake. The interviews and counseling assessments identiﬁed educational levels, language skills, employment skills, and the education of parents. In Canada, school leaders and teachers expressed gratitude for the work of staff of welcoming centers “for doing tests to see what language, mathematics competencies refugee students have” and effectively removing the burden from the classroom teachers. However, in one of the school boards, the welcoming center still functions post the surge of 2016. In the other school board, the welcome center was closed when the surge ended. 2254 I. Bogotch et al.

Housing, too, was provided to Syrian newcomers in both Canada and Germany with the intention that they would live, work, and revitalize those communities; yet welcome center staff noted how newcomers were willing to travel far distances to ﬁnd work or services for themselves and their children. In Germany, examples were shared where parents moved to more densely populated areas where supports were more prevalent. There were also instances where housing was not available upon arrival and families lived brieﬂy in welcome centers and overcrowded hotel rooms. At one point in Canada, “there were so many families that they were staying at three different local hotels.” The size of some of the Syrian families only made the need of getting students into schools and families into apartments urgent. This was encap- sulated in the experiences of Canadian school leaders who told us that

... a team of us would go on Tuesday night and register families. We would start at six sometimes; it was not until midnight - 1:00 AM by the time we would get through depending on how many families had arrived that week. Our registration process was twofold, so families would spend time with a social worker asking the newcomers to tell about their journey here; their hopes and dreams for their children. And then the rest of us would be doing the formalized registration. Once registered, then we could start transporting them back and forth from the hotel to the Welcome Center.

The Welcome Center was kind of our innovative solution to managing a high volume of new families and families who were still waiting for that permanent address where they would be living.

But during the surge, the volume was so high and intake was continuous. A German school leader said:

Our numbers have crept up and classes are overﬁlled, and our teachers are getting stressed....it’s a huge job.

...so that if you teach here you know what you’re getting into; you know that the job entails not only teaching German children but also teaching immigrants. Over the years those of us who are very experienced in this school have seen the philosophy of teachers embrace this school-wide.

Language Supports

In Canada, English Language Learners (ELLs) receive very sophisticated programs based on the latest research in second language learning and dual language instruction. We were told upfront that schools received not only additional language teachers but the itinerant nature of this work had been moved to full or almost full-time at the schools with the most needs. Not only was there funding for English as a Second Language/Early Development Literacy (ESL/EDL), but the schools received funds for settlement workers (who often spoke Arabic), social workers, and behavioral specialists. Although many of the schools had tens of other spoken foreign languages, Arabic was prioritized as were the Syrians. 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2255

A Canadian participant stated:

...we had to get more teachers as the time went on... a social worker, .... administrative assistants [all] in terms of welcoming and scheduling families.

School leaders in both cases highlighted caring personnel and the access to specialists. German and Canadian participants also leveraged support form unpaid volunteers and retirees. Language lessons and literacy appeared as high priorities in the interview data from both countries. Educational leaders recognized that speaking English or German would be paramount to these students success. In Germany, educators spoke of combining regular class lessons with additional German as foreign language lessons. One German participant also noted recent policy “underlined in 2016 that training German or supporting German knowledge is responsibility of every subject, not only German,” distributing the language emphasis across all subjects. Language instruction was very different in each country. In Canada, the levels of Early Development Literacy (EDL) and English as a Second Language were regu- larly scheduled utilizing dual language, culturally and linguistically appropriate materials as well as individual teacher innovations, such as one we observed called iForward, an experiential learning class for older adolescent students. Recognizing that many Syrians had interruptions in their formal education, there had to be a relearning of how to sit in a classroom and follow school rules.

We’re sitting these 60400 guys in a desk asking them to learn something, while they are attached to their phones because they are wanting to know what happening with their family in Syria. They are not necessarily present and they’re forced to sit for a long time and not be active...

In Canada, language learning, supported by teachers, social workers, settlement workers, school counselors, and behavioral specialists, is more than phonics, vocabulary, and grammar. Conversely, since Canada had such a rich history in welcoming newcomers, there were already settlement workers who spoke Arabic in the schools. Canadian language teachers and their supervisors saw opportunities to build upon the students’ experiences by allowing them to tell and retell their stories focusing on the transition from Syria to Canada.

... these boys are now authors, so we’ve taken them to conferences; they’ve sold their books; they’ve autographed copies.... It is sad but also very exciting in that they are able to share with our kids in Canada (see Introduction)

Yet, in spite of these exciting developments, the Canadian educators spoke to us of familiar language learning issues such as summer school and holiday language learning and extending the curriculum. They were aware that ebbs and ﬂows of language learning was a full-time, beyond school issue. A very different language learning picture emerged in Germany. Depending on the number of Syrians in a school, German classes ranged from homogeneous second language learners to “Go-In” classes, where German was used from the 2256 I. Bogotch et al.

first day on and where Syrian students were integrated into regular classrooms. Whereas Canada would rely upon dual language and other ESL techniques that are linguistically appropriate, German – being the exclusive language of instruction in Germany – we heard from teachers that: [I have] “only my books and my pictures. I have my face, my arms, and my body. I have Google. That’s all.” In addition, because some Syrian students who did not progress quickly in German and remained in a language class for 2 years, these students could help translate for newer students. In still another class which we observed, the immigrants were able to communicate in English first while learning elementary level German. Germany has begun to establish German as a Second Language as a post-teaching certificate. We met a number of teachers who told us that upon leaving school they attended a nearby Goethe Institute (for 2 years) to learn second language teaching techniques. In the meantime, teachers explained how the German language is being used in mathematics, geography, and in science. We heard how the teachers “take the time to explain concepts in German. We want [newcomers] to understand how to talk [about all school subjects].”“By taking time. by being polite, by teaching/learning slowly, by caring more than the other classes so, [education becomes] a question of character [and] you’re going to see [results] later.”

In our classes, arfen classes, there are not only Syrian people, but also people from Iraq, Greece, and Turkey so they – the Syrians – are not alone in class and, therefore, they behave. I am not a psychologist; I am a teacher, so of course, there is trauma and bad experience behind. So, in these classes, I – as the teacher – have to be especially careful and attentive to their needs more than in normal classes. But there is nothing speciﬁc that you can say, ‘oh this is a Syrian, this is a Greek’.

Because that student who looks like they’re daydreaming and not motivated may be hyper aroused or just could be from trauma that student that’s crawling over the desk or that’sin ﬁghts or ﬂipping the bird might be hyper aroused and it might be due to trauma they’re not a bad student right we have just started shifting our understanding.

Despite the lack of formalized training, we observed classes in German ranging from straight ahead vocabulary or verb tense memorization lessons to active learning with games such as musical chairs, which filled the classroom with fun and laughter. In classes with different levels of fluency, we saw teachers calling on the more advanced students first so as to model speech and correct answers. These advanced students eagerly helped other less fluent students. By policy, in Germany, the distribution of newcomers and immigrants aimed for least enough students to make up one class per school, so as not to overwhelm the regular teachers. However, we did see schools with high numbers of newcomers in both countries. In Canada, one school was informally getting the reputation as being the “Arab School” and was getting mixed reviews from the Syrian Community [note: we heard this secondhand and therefore cannot confirm. In fact, one high level administrator denied that she had heard this ever mentioned.] In all instances, school leaders and teachers were aware that much language learning took place informally during recess, lunch, and in hallways. The goal in such instances was described as “assimilation.” 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2257

Relational Support: Collaboration/Teams

On a daily basis, we heard educators speak about their own anxiety and stress on the job. Some of this was attributed to “These are unusual times” to “This is all happening too fast.” While both statements are on the surface true, it was never clear to us what the motivations were for such remarks. When we asked whether the school or school system was in support of newcomer education, the responses were always positive and optimistic. In one extended conversation with a Canadian educator, she explained how a systemic approach to newcomer education, from welcoming students and families to second language classes to addressing trauma among the students was far better than when administrators or teachers had to individually address problems and seek out “heroic” solutions. The building of support systems and interagency relationships across responsibilities was deliberate and beneficial for it allowed for educators not only to hand-off problems to others but to have confidence that the system would work and students/families would not fall through the cracks. These explanations were supported by the evidence of flow charts, spreadsheets, and Google Docs – all leading to the building of systemic full-service approach to immigrant education. Related to language support but outside the classroom, the differences between Canada and Germany were stark. In Canada, there were settlement workers assigned to the school and who spoke Arabic. Over time, these individuals were assigned “permanently” to the school to help with translation. When we asked about translators in Germany, we heard, “We can go to the counselling center and ask for a translator. We can also ask former students and parents to translate.” One administrator told us:

There’s a translation service from the town, a free translation service outside the school organized by the community, by the town and paid for by the government. The service is one of many social services from different institutions and community structures. The services are needed not just inside school because they [the newcomers] are living everywhere you know.

Both countries had establish networks of formal supports, but the arrangements were very different in each country. What characterized the autonomous German schools, which had to depend upon individual actions taken by the German educators themselves, was that they were far less formal and loose in comparison to the Canadian support systems. While it was clear to us that the surge had brought administrators and language teachers much closer together, the issues of newcomers were not always being addressed school-wide. In fact, with tight schedules and shorter school days in Germany, it was difﬁcult for the German as a Second Language (GSL) teachers to ﬁnd time and space to communicate with regular teachers about their immigrant students. At more than one school, we heard princi- pals tell us how “lucky” they were to have these German language teachers – who were typically in the room while we conducted our interviews. As researchers in educational leadership, we are hesitant to take the word “luck” literally as we know that most good administrators understand how important relationships are for both leading a school and in teaching. 2258 I. Bogotch et al.

Community: Extracurricular – Supports

Participants communicated to us how welcoming communities have been in support of Syrians. We heard how the Vietnamese boat people empathized with “another wave: of newcomers seeking refuge in Canada.” However, we also heard that not all the Iraqi newcomers were so accepting of the supports given to the Syrians, which they did not receive upon entering the country. With respect to these two groups, however, we heard how it was only after about 5 years that the Iraqi newcomers were willing to talk with mental health professionals and that the Syrians – with their “high pride” culture – still were not ready. Throughout our stay in Canada, we kept hearing about interagency arrangements and cooperation. The list included Refugee Assistance, Families and Schools Together [FAST], Multicultural Settlement and Education Partnerships [MSEP], crisis counselors, monthly Mothers’ Group meetings, Camp ICAN, cooperative arrangements with Cultural Centers, local mosques, Catholic Services, LGBT groups, etc. Behind the national slogans of “a celebration of diversity,” the school boards have established systems that provide social, psychological, and health supports for newcomers. All of this indicated how integration was a community effort. It is clearly more than the school boards themselves, more than the caring of individual teachers and administrators. At the same time, we again remind our readers of the deficit mindsets attached to refugees and immigrants, whether it stemmed from not knowing the dominant language to filling out job application forms to differences in cultural norms. We were handed a sheet of “do’s and don’ts” in Arabic at one of welcome centers. While it was meant to be helpful in terms of daily tasks such as putting on a seat belt in a car to crossing in the crosswalk, it also listed hygiene behaviors in restrooms and on the street. We say this not to question the good intentions of the Canadian/Arabic workers but rather to point out that many of the “don’ts” would be as appropriate for Native Canadians as it would be for Syrian newcomers. In Germany, as with the issues of language teachers and relational supports, the approach relied on the “we can manage” slogan popularized by the Chancellor. The German people in 2016 and 2017 stepped up to volunteer and fill in the gaps in transition services needed by the Syrians. In Germany, overt systemic supports were not as evident inside their schools beyond the individual efforts of teachers and administrators in doing their jobs and the support of volunteers.

There are a lot of helping hands-volunteers (200 to 300 in our town). And they are well organized. We are in contact with these organizations. Our contact even resulted in a refugee café that we have once a month. And there we are with special partners for the families.

This is not to say that a spirit of volunteerism was lacking in Canada. Not at all.

Muslim Resource Center had about a dozen volunteers come over to the school for a week and they kind of ran a program with the kids for the creative photo stories so the kids did some writing about themselves.... It was great to have that engagement with the students. The volunteers were just older, kind of positive role models and mentors to our new students. 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2259

In Germany, the schools functioned autonomously and focused on language and academic instruction. Experts in counseling, psychology, speech therapy were all outside the school and school systems. That was the big difference between the two countries. Still in all instances, perseverance on behalf of the students and their families was needed to overcome bureaucratic barriers.

Professional Development

The language surrounding professional development will be very familiar to educators from around the world. Systems do it; but it is not always done well. For this reason, many of the advocates from more professional development felt frustrated by the inactions of top level administrators and teacher-participants. That is, it was often difﬁcult to schedule, ﬁnding time, holding sessions during lunch (e.g., Lunch and Learn, Building Knowledge Circles). Both social workers and language teachers often felt isolated in doing their work, knowing that their knowledge and skills would be helpful to administrators and regular classroom teachers. Ironically, topics such as belonging, isolation, conversation, and cross-cultural communications applied as much to the presenters – in relationship to their peers – as it did to the education of immigrants. Nevertheless, all educators understand the value of having on-going professional development and understand that knowing different perspectives are important to just doing one’s job. Still, conversations were often limited to administrators and language teachers and the latter was totally dependent upon the actions taken (or not) by the administrators. It was often left to the frontline educators to educate themselves on what was happening, sharing information and alleviating their own stress. We don’t say this to excuse the lack of professional development, but listen to this German administrator.

I encourage them (teachers) to do that (communicate) because that process of being able to connect in that way (on-the-fly and informally) builds our compassion you know, our ability to self-reflect is what builds our compassion, and I think for a lot of teachers who are struggling with these students and a lot of their behaviors, I would encourage them to do more self-reflection to be able to be compassionate as to the experiences that a lot of these students have gone through.

In other words, this administrator is putting the responsibility to handle the stress back onto her/his teachers. At that school, we spoke with a language teacher who told us how she goes home every day and lies on her sofa after taking an aspirin. She waits for her husband to come home and reassure her that her work is important, and that she can return to school the next day. We aren’t generalizing from either the administrator’s comments or this one teacher, but we hope you can see how taxing this work is when all the individual has is herself. There was also a tone of resignation that we heard in Germany around time and space. 2260 I. Bogotch et al.

Sometimes you see them (teachers) on the staircase and tell them ‘that’s no place for true communication’ But really, we try to improve here. That’s a problem, isn’t it?

Then, followed by,

Personally, I stand behind the ‘go in’ concept. And the children get in contact with a class very quickly: there they are untergebracht and have a sense of belonging.

Conclusion

Even in the best of circumstances, educators face institutional barriers as they do their daily work. What was the same in both contexts was that the integration of newcomers, particularly in early 2016, came with a continuous sense of urgency and change to the way things had to be done. In the context of Canada, this urgency and change were met systemically with innovations and many structural supports; while in Germany, the urgency and change was matter-of-factly incorporated into individual educators’ personal, professional, and cultural responsibilities without very many systemic supports.

I personally ﬁght for the future of my students (or I ﬁght against their shared past/trauma). It is for me a really challenging when they tell me about their trauma but I think it has made me grow as an individual.

I quickly found that the name ‘intensive class’ also meant it would be intensive for me as a teacher.

It doesn’t matter which country the above quotes originated. This is what administrators and teachers experienced. In line with Field Theory, for each and every one of the supports, there were barriers. The primary barriers facing Syrian newcomers can be described broadly: social stigma, stereotypes, prejudices, language acquisition, uncertainties in jobs and housing, and psychological traumas. What neither researchers nor participants could anticipate was how trauma would be unpacked over extended time periods. Nor can we assess today how Syrians would adapt to life in democratic nations. Thus, Canadian and German educators work to educate Syrian newcomers in the face of past, present, and future barriers. Among the institutional barriers, once the pace of immigration slowed, many of the supports have regressed to the way things were. Over time, it becomes harder to recreate the sense of urgency needed to provide educational and social supports. Yet, regardless of what the educators do on behalf of the Syrian newcomers, we cannot call this social justice. Social justice is realized only when educators see that the supports given to immigrants might also be extended to all students and families. If more time, care, and patience were directed to helping the Syrian students, couldn’t these same efforts be modiﬁed and applied to any student with any educational need? The answer, for us, is yes; and, so, this lesson constitutes the “gift” the Syrians have given to Canada and Germany. 98 Towards a Socially Just System of Newcomer School Integration:... 2261

Nevertheless, the meaning of social justice still remains an open question. Which among the many efforts on behalf of the newcomers constitutes leadership for social justice? Not all educative actions inside or beyond schools qualify. How so? Not all educative actions make a material difference in the lives of others. The findings from this study were organized chronologically as concrete interventions into the lives of Syrian newcomers around the specific purpose of integration into schools and communities. By our privileging of practices, we – in pragmatic fashion – focused on consequences of the actions taken by educators. That said, some findings may be generalized: that is,

• Working towards greater awareness of others and cultural sensitivity • Greater time and effort in terms of caring and concern of immigrants in our classes • Fighting against the lack of time, space, and insufﬁcient resources to do the work to the best of the abilities of educators • Working to make professional development part of our own learning-in-action

Because Germany and Canada are integrating newcomers very differently, thinking in terms of a theoretical model is premature – but significant lessons learned could be scaled up. These might include peace-keepers, virtual cafes for conversations, and educator outreach into communities. Translating these ideas in context, whether on the school playground or spaces for daily prayers, or weekly coffee/tea hours for mothers or protecting the modesty and rights of girls, all could be transferred to other contexts. But unless and until educators receive a different education, one that communi- cates to them that they are societal leaders and have a valid voice in terms of policies, then educators will not be the voices for change in the world. If educators continue to believe that what they do is for their students to make changes decades from now, then we – as a profession – are not engaged in social justice! We asked educators how we as researchers could help. They answered that we should tell policymakers to seek out practitioner input and advice; tell policymakers to visit schools more frequently; and, provide more funds and resources for schools. In other words, what they asked of us is really what they needed to be doing themselves – and not wait for their students to make societal changes. Efforts to build up educator capacity is not only for the purpose of critical and cultural awareness, raising test scores, student achievement or even school improve- ment but also how to influence citizens and communities based on their direct educative experiences as lessons learned. When we interviewed social workers, their list for change included issues of poverty, wages for entry level jobs, decent housing, mental health, family health, services for special needs children and adults, day care, and LGBT-supports. The fact that everyone has social and health needs should tell educators that they/we cannot delimit our sphere of influence to academics only. Ultimately social justice is not a theoretical concept, well-intentioned disposi- tions, or awareness of the inequities; rather, social justice reflects actual material changes in participants’ lives (Bogotch, 2014). It is not the aim of researchers to define social justice through the Syrian refugee crisis nor is this study an attempt 2262 I. Bogotch et al. to predict whether Syrian integration will be successful. As researchers, we are concerned with expanding upon the everyday actions of Canadian and German educators who have been responding to, implementing, and sustaining the integration of Syrian newcomers. At every point of the integration process, it is important that educators pause to evaluate and reflect on whether the process is still meeting the needs of all students and all citizens. We see what Canada and Germany are doing as a social and educational exper- iment. The two countries have different histories, cultures, and educational systems. Yet both stood out by taking in large numbers of Syrian refugees, many of whom are school-aged children. The two educational systems have adapted to challenges of educating waves of non-native speakers but have yet to realize fully a socially just system. In these diverse landscapes, it is an opportune time to redefine social justice and the purpose of public education. A renewed democratic debate between dissent- ing opinions must play out in schools and then be communicated to respective communities. By responding to the humanitarian crisis, Germans and Canadians took the first steps toward moving towards social justice; but the degree to which the process is socially just is determined by whether supports can be provided to overcome the barriers that will continue to arise. Advocacy for the need for more supports will not be recognized until it is clear that those supports benefit all [native] students not just Syrian newcomers.

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