Starting Primary School in Ireland: the Experience of Refugee Children and their Families Dr. Philomena Donnelly St. Patricks College, Dublin EECERA Prague.

Starting Primary School in Ireland: the Experience of Refugee Children and their Families

Dr. Philomena DonnellySt. Patrick’s College, Dublin

EECERA Prague [email protected]

Direct Provision

Since April 2000- a system of direct provision Full board accommodation Small amount of money but not social welfare Not permitted to choose or change address Reception and Integration Agency under the

Department of Justice, Equality and law Reform

In 2002-nearly 2,000 asylum seekers recognised as refugees. In 2005 dropped to 966 due to constitutional change

Direct Provision- 2005

Each adult had a weekly allowance of €19.05 Each child €9.52 Bed, breakfast and evening meal provided as

well as household items such as cleaning fluids, some toiletries

Children get an allowance for nappies up to age three

25% of people living in Direct provision Centres in 2005 were under the age of four

Purpose of Research

To document the experience of children and parents who obtained residency status of starting primary school in Ireland

Jill Rutter(2006) talks of the lack of research in the educational experiences of children who are refugees in comparison with the volume of studies on the traumatic experiences of these children

Research Participants

Through the assistance of an accommodation centre, I met with a group of parents in June 2005 and explained the purpose and process of the research

Thirteen parents agreed to participate-all women

All had a child starting primary school in September 2005-7 girls and six boys

Research method

Children and their parent/s were interviewed in August 2005 before the children started school

Interviewed again at the end of the first term Dec 05- at this point some of the families had received residency papers and were moving out of the centre. This often meant a change of school for the child

Interviews again took place in June/July 06 when the children had completed a year of primary school- the majority of the families had moved out of the accommodation centre at this point although some were still there

Interviews again took place in June/ July 07- at the end of the two year early years cycle in Irish primary schools

Initially many parents showed great caution-some requested that the interview would not be taped- by the second interview they all were more comfortable

Profile of Families

Resident in Ireland from 5 months to 3 years in direct provision

Average 2 and a half years 5 were accompanied by husbands 1 family of 4 children, 4 with 3 children and

the rest had 2 children 12 families from Nigeria and 1 from Ghana

Parents Qualifications

9 of the mothers have 3rd level qualifications Dip. In Marketing, Post-grad in Marketing,

Higher Dip. in Banking and Finance, Dip. In accountancy, Dip. in Computer Science, Degree in Psychology, Dip in Travel and Tourism, Dip in Food Science and Technology, Degree in Economics (Mothers)

Motor Mechanics, Computer Science, Degree in Engineering (Fathers)

Finding a School

6 had found a primary school through talking to friends

4 through the DJLR 2 through their Church 1 a local Resource Centre

Anticipations and Concerns

The majority of children had started school before the residency was granted

Traveled on buses from the accommodation centre to schools in local towns- one child was attending a country school outside the town: concerns would the children get on the right bus etc

Parents hopes -that they would do well in school and make a contribution to society- would be good people

That they wouldn’t be bullied or be the subject of racist remarks

The tension of waiting for residency/ rumours

Transitions

Finding accommodation – many operate through friends

Finding a school/ changing school- the number of changes some of these children had experienced

Learning how and where things operate Many expressed little knowledge of the

education system Making a living telling jokes

Starting School

All but one of the children had to move school when the family moved out of direct provision

All found the schools helpful, informative and supportive

The majority attended a meeting for new parents

‘Because I am not Irish they did not separate us from the Irish. Secretary said to pay ( for school books) what you can when you can. I was surprised’

They found people such as Principals helpful and available

One felt a teacher was complaining a lot about her child’s behaviour

Children’s Comments

Loved school, the exercise outside (playtime), singing

Child aware of Irish-English compared to Nigerian- English ( dropping ‘th’)

Happy at school but gets tired ‘one day I forgot my lunch and a white boy

give me a sandwich’ The loss of friends when moving schools-

‘they won’t play with me’

Playing with toys, dinosaurs, jigsaws There’s so much fun, I’m allowed to play Dolls- one black one and others ‘ What are the other children like?’ They like

to eat Friends featured strongly Two mentioned birthday parties

I’m from Mosney We came here from Nigeria and then we

came from Mosney and then we moved here. I remember going to school with my pink Barbie bag. Pink is my favourite colour

GAA- Irish football/ soccer

Some interim overviews

Social networks- in Mosney, Churches Danger of poverty- curtains/ coats, childcare Information ( Irish National Teachers

Organisation –INTO ) booklet, Tips for Parents- as a result of the research have an insert explaining the Education system in several languages

Parents Comments

Some found the move out of the accommodation centre difficult-finding new schools, children being unsettled

Felt the children were so used to being with parents all of the time

Knew some Irish parents through chatting at school gate although there was a certain caution around this

Four parents mentioned Maeve’s mum- an Irish parent who made an effort to speak and ask the children to her house to play

One parent felt when children fighting, teacher speaks to black parents but when the white children fight, the teacher does not speak to their parents

One parent felt ‘very up and down’ One was receiving help with her children from

her church

Cold and fog a negative One parent reacted very badly to the school’s

suggestion that the child repeat the first year A male teacher in early years –cultural

difference The majority spoke highly of the teaching

approaches

Completing the Research

Interviewed children and their families June /July 07 – a number of fathers have joined their wives and children

Re-applying for residency In July 07-interviewed the principal and two

class teachers of the school where many of the children in the research attend- these interviews are in the process of transcription and analysis