About this Research Topic

Background

In the migration journey, children experience cultural, emotional and life transitions. Moving into a different educational system and a new society from the one they and their families know is not always easy. Several studies show how important it is for the inclusion of migrant children in school that families feel welcomed by this institution as well (González, 2007; Leiva, 2011; Leiva & Escarbajal, 2011). Other authors mention how fundamental is the role of families and the communities in migrant children's school performance (Ball, 1998; Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Sancho-Gil & Hernández-Hernández, 2019; Sancho-Gil et al., 2021).

Moreover, some studies (Onsès-Segarra et al., 2019) show how important it is for migrant children to feel they belong and are recognized by the educational community for a better integration process.

School segregation is a common problem in multicultural neighbourhoods. Although existing policies foster equity in multicultural societies, many prejudices and stigma from society still make it difficult. Nevertheless, several projects and programs have demonstrated how significant the involvement of families and social and cultural institutions in educational communities is to engage migrant children integration (Sedmak, 2019a; Sedmak, 2019b).

Therefore, this call aims to explore how families and social and cultural institutions are essential in integrating migrant children into schools. In this sense, practices and research in which schools collaborate with neighbourhood associations, NGOs and social and cultural centres to foster migrant children and their families’ integration are welcome.

We believe that it is crucial to understand the educational community beyond the school and families. In other words, in the processes of hosting, social inclusion and belonging of these children, not only the families play an essential role, but also the whole community: governmental agencies, cultural and social groups, NGO's, civic centres, libraries, etc. Therefore, an important question emerges: how do they contribute to social inclusion?

In this line, we look for research that focuses on the role of families and social and cultural institutions working in collaboration with schools to foster social inclusion and manage cultural diversity. Papers submitted can follow one or more of the following specific themes:
- The role of families in practices of migrant children inclusion in schools.
- The role of social or cultural institutions in practices of migrant children inclusion in schools.
- Educational policies and practices that look for migrant children inclusion in educational communities.

Keywords: cultural diversity, educational communities, primary and secondary schools, social inclusion, qualitative research

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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