Do I belong? Psychological perspectives and educational considerations of young immigrants’ school experiences

Abstract

This article contributes to the investigation of refugee and immigrant education from a psychological perspective and could be said to be the first of this type locally. Within the context of the public debate that surrounds the immigration issue in Malta, as the number of arrivals continues to rise, this paper showcases the narratives of school experiences of three students who attend local mainstream State secondary schools. All of these children came to Malta accompanied, though irregularly by boat from the north coast of Africa (“klandestini”). The school experiences of these students are generally positive although it is also clear that they face the challenge of schooling without adequate preparation and support where individual resilience seems to play a decisive part. On the other hand, schools need to be prepared to teach student populations that are culturally and linguistically diverse by implementing practices that are inclusive and that reflect multicultural forms of education. This study also indicated that, in addition to the expectedstruggles that any immigrant child would face when starting school, the experience of these children is to some extent shaped by the fact that they are ‘klandestini’, due to the negative manner in which this category of migrants is generally perceived.