Parental and professional perspectives on educational integration of migrant and refugee children in Ireland

The aim of this paper is to explore qualitative research with Asylum-Seeking and Refugee Parents and Educational Professionals in Ireland and investigate the socio-educational integration of refugee and migrant children in their new schools. This work was undertaken as part of the larger ongoing EU Horizon2020 study ‘Integration Mapping of Refugee and Migrant Children’ (IMMERSE). This paper will focus on the findings from collaborative workshops and interviews with parents and educational professionals and will discuss many of the barriers migrant and refugee children face in Irish schools. The data from this research demonstrates some very positive findings in relation to socio-educational integration in schools in Ireland. It finds similarities between parents and professional perspectives on what supports positive integration in school for children including positive child-teacher relations and the importance of peer relationships. While the findings indicate that parents were positive about the general environment of schools in Ireland, and education supports such as extra classes, they also found it difficult to accessible additional educational supports for their children.