HOW SCHOOLS ARE INTEGRATING NEW MIGRANT PUPILS AND THEIR FAMILIES Chiara Manzoni and Heather Rolfe March 2019 About the National Institute of Economic and Social Research The National Institute of Economic and Social Research is Britain's longest established independent research institute, founded in 1938. The vision of our founders was to carry out research to improve understanding of the economic and social forces that affect people’s lives, and the ways in which policy can bring about change. Eighty years later, this remains central to NIESR’s ethos. We continue to apply our expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods and our understanding of economic and social issues to current debates and to influence policy. The Institute is independent of all party political interests. National Institute of Economic and Social Research 2 Dean Trench St London SW1P 3HE T: +44 (0)20 7222 7665 E: [email protected] niesr.ac.uk Registered charity no. 306083 This report was first published in March 2019 © National Institute of Economic and Social Research 2019 CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ ii 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Objectives ..................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. The research context ................................................................................................................... 2 1.3. Research methods ....................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Scoping stage ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 School visits ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.3. The research localities and schools ...................................................................................... 4 Figure 1: Map of the schools .......................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Structure of the report ................................................................................................................. 7 2. THE CONTEXT OF INTEGRATION OF MIGRANT PUPILS IN THE UK ...................................................... 8 2.1 Migrant pupils in the UK ............................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Education policies supporting migrant pupils .............................................................................. 9 2.2.1 Cohesion and integration policies ......................................................................................... 9 2.2.2 National interventions and funding which support migrant pupils .................................... 10 2.3 EU approaches ............................................................................................................................ 11 2.4 School and classroom level interventions .................................................................................. 12 2.4.1 Peer education and mentoring programmes ...................................................................... 13 2.4.2 Language development ....................................................................................................... 14 2.5 Teachers ...................................................................................................................................... 15 2.6 Parental’ involvement in education ........................................................................................... 16 Key Points ......................................................................................................................................... 17 3. NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS: IDENTIFYNG THE NEEDS OF MIGRANT PUPILS AND THEIR FAMILIES .. 18 3.1. Learning English ......................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Special Needs, mental health difficulty and trauma .................................................................. 20 3.3. Adapting to a new health and education system ...................................................................... 21 3.4 High levels of disadvantage ........................................................................................................ 22 3.5 Attendance and churn ................................................................................................................ 23 3.6 School choices and transitions ................................................................................................... 24 Key Points ......................................................................................................................................... 25 i 4. NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS: SCHOOLS’ INTEGRATION APPROACHES AND PRACTICES ..................... 27 4.1 The importance of data .............................................................................................................. 28 4.2 Engaging migrant parents in schools .......................................................................................... 29 4.2.1. Staff skills and diversity ...................................................................................................... 29 4.2.2 Parent Ambassadors ........................................................................................................... 30 4.2.3. Multilingual school material and interpreters ................................................................... 31 4.2.4. Involving parents in learning and school life ...................................................................... 32 4.2.5 Specific projects involving parents ...................................................................................... 34 4.3 Teachers’ competences and strategies ...................................................................................... 35 4.4 Funding ....................................................................................................................................... 36 Key points ......................................................................................................................................... 37 5 NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS: WELCOMING AND SETTLING MIGRANT PUPILS .................................... 39 5.1. Processes for welcoming and settling new migrant pupils ....................................................... 39 5.2. Allocation of pupils to year groups ............................................................................................ 41 5.3. Immersion Strategy vs Separate or Accelerated Curriculum .................................................... 42 5.3.1 Separate provision .............................................................................................................. 43 5.3.2 Immersion and mixed approaches ...................................................................................... 44 5.4. Mentoring schemes and peer support ...................................................................................... 47 5.5. Extra-curricular activities ........................................................................................................... 49 5.6 Partnerships with community organisations .............................................................................. 50 5.7 The School of Sanctuary award .................................................................................................. 51 5.8. Raising awareness of current and future opportunities ............................................................ 52 Key points ......................................................................................................................................... 52 6 NEW RESEARCH FINDINGS: THE PUPIL EXPERIENCE .......................................................................... 55 6.1 Common themes ................................................................................................................... 55 6.1.1. Experiences of starting school in the UK ............................................................................ 55 6.1.2 Coping with lessons and timetables .................................................................................... 56 6.1.3 Learning English................................................................................................................... 56 6.2 What helped pupils to settle and to integrate? ......................................................................... 57 6.2.1 Language skills and diverse environments help pupils to settle ......................................... 58 6.2.2 Taking control ...................................................................................................................... 59 6.2.3 Participating in projects ...................................................................................................... 59 Key Points ........................................................................................................................................