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SUMMARY:Constructing identities in multilingual classrooms: the experience
 s of immigrant-background children in primary schools in France and Englan
 d  - Dr. Oakleigh Welply\, University of Cambridge
DTSTART:20140217T170000Z
DTEND:20140217T183000Z
UID:TALK46814@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lucian Stephenson
DESCRIPTION:This seminar will explore the impact of national educational i
 deologies on the experiences and identities of immigrant-background childr
 en in primary schools in France and England. It will draw on data from a c
 ross-national ethnographic study\, which investigated the identity narrati
 ves of 10 and 11 year old immigrant-background children in primary schools
  in France and England. \n\nBuilding on the dialectic of ideology and utop
 ia in the work of Paul Ricoeur (1986)\, in this talk I will argue that des
 pite strongly contrasting models of integration and conceptualisations of 
 difference\, immigrant-background children in both countries viewed formal
  school spaces as strongly monolingual and monocultural. However\, childre
 n’s perceptions diverged between the French and English schools when it 
 came to peer group relations and informal schools spaces. In the French ca
 se\, children operated a reversal of norms in which differences and Othern
 ess were constructed as central to belonging in peer-group relations. In c
 ontrast\, in the English case\, children articulated differences and Other
 ness as the basis for separation between peers\, reproducing the more impl
 icit monocultural ideology of the school. These different representations 
 of Otherness in school contributed to the way immigrant-background childre
 n articulated differences as part of their identities in school. These fin
 dings show that beyond national ideologies and philosophies of integration
 \, structural\, cultural and symbolic dimensions need to be explored to un
 derstand the role played by public institutions\, such as schools\, in the
  integration of immigrant populations.\n\n\n*Bio*\n\n*Dr Oakleigh Welply* 
 is a lecturer in Sociology of Education at the Faculty of Education\, Univ
 ersity of Cambridge. She completed her PhD at the same institution\, focus
 ing on the experiences of immigrant-background children in primary schools
  in France and England. This work\, which integrated a focus on language i
 nto a sociological approach\, explored the role of different national fram
 eworks in immigrant-background children’s identity construction and the 
 way they negotiated difference and Otherness in school.\n\nShe is currentl
 y involved in a three-year research project which investigates school appr
 oaches and practices in supporting the education of non-English speaking c
 hildren and young people in the UK.\n
LOCATION: Faculty of Education\, 184 Hills Road\, Cambridge\, CB2 8PQ\, Ro
 om GS5
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