The New Arrival

Introduction

This chapter provides background information about students of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and outlines some of the reasons for their presence in classrooms in post-industrial countries. In some of these countries, such as Spain, immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon, and teachers need to adapt quickly to a new reality. In other countries, such as Canada, linguistic and cultural diversity, present since the earliest settlements of Aboriginal peoples and fuelled by several centuries of immigration, have helped to shape a national identity; nevertheless, many smaller towns and rural communities have only recently begun directly to experience and respond to the impact of immigration in schools.

You will gain some understanding of the experiences and needs of immigrant and minority students as they adjust to a new cultural and educational environment at the same time as they are learning a new language for school. The chapter ends with some ideas about the role of the school in a community that is being transformed by the arrival of new residents from all over the world.

Who Are The New Immigrants?

Immigration has been an essential feature of North American development since the 15th century. For hundreds of years the majority of immigrants to Canada were from Europe, especially from Great Britain and France, and various measures were in place to discourage immigration from other parts of the world. However, perhaps as a result of the rise in their standard of living since the end of the Second World War, fewer Europeans now feel the need to emigrate in order to improve their lives. In the 1960s barriers were removed for prospective immigrants from other parts of the world, and a 'points system' based on the individual's education and skills is now used to select applicants from other countries to fill labour market gaps in Canada. As a result, the ethnic composition of the immigrant population has changed dramatically. Today, most immigrants to Canada are from countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and have neither English nor French as their first language.

Immigration policies in Canada generally focus on adult newcomers and the contributions they can make to their new country. Many of those adults bring their children with them, or send for them within a year or two. Today about 20% of immigrants to Canada are under the age of 15. These children all not only have the right to attend school, but are obliged to do so; indeed, in the Canadian province of Ontario, the destination province of most newcomers to Canada, students must attend school until the age of 18, and have the right to stay until the age of 21.

In Europe, large-scale immigration is a more recent phenomenon. Until relatively recently, most European countries were source countries of immigration to the Americas. Now the situation is reversed, and many European countries are experiencing a dramatic increase in immigration. Many of the newcomers are from former colonies: for example, most immigrants to Spain are from Latin America. Others are from other European Union countries and, therefore, have the right to live and work in any other member country. In Spain there are also increasing numbers of newcomers from Africa and Asia. In Spain, about 13% of immigrants are under the age of 15.

Why Do They Come?

People leave their homelands because they can imagine a better future for themselves, and especially for their children. Starting a new life in a new country requires courage, initiative, and imagination.

What makes them leave their own countries?

Reasons for leaving the homeland, or 'push factors', are many and complex, varying from country to country and from decade to decade. Push factors include poor social and economic conditions, lack of educational or career opportunity, war or civil conflict, and political or religious oppression and other human rights abuses. Teachers can often see the effects of events around the world in the composition of their classes. For example, recent newcomers in Toronto schools include children from Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as children of Karan background from Myanmar, who have been living in refugee camps in Thailand.

What makes them choose to come here?

From the perspective of host countries in Europe and North America, immigrants come to renew the workforce and expand the economy. In countries such as Spain and Canada, an aging population and negative population growth have led to shortages of professionals and skilled workers in fields such as health and technology. Immigrants also come to work as cleaners, kitchen workers, hospital orderlies and assistants, construction workers, machine operators in factories, agricultural workers, and carers of children or elderly people – jobs that many people in Spain and Canada, and in most other post-industrial countries, are no longer willing to do. Many immigrants work in these jobs even though they have professional skills or advanced training, in the hope of finding work more in their own fields later on.

Some countries recognise the importance of immigration as a stimulus to the economy and have developed mechanisms that enable them to recruit and select prospective immigrants according to various criteria. There is also an infrastructure of settlement services, including language classes, to assist new immigrant workers and families as they adjust to their new environment.

In other countries, such as Spain, immigration is more recent, and various levels of government, while recognizing the need to respond to the needs of newcomer families and children, are finding it difficult to do so in a time of severe economic crisis.

Public opinion in countries that receive new immigrants is often based on the assumption that immigration represents a cost and a burden to the host society. However, the costs associated with the reception and resettlement of immigrants must be weighed against the economic benefits. For example, Canada's investment in these ready-to-go workers, in the form of resettlement services and language training, has to be weighed against the costs to other countries of raising and educating them from birth. In fact, Canada's high standard of living is being subsidised by immigration from other countries – mostly poorer countries that cannot afford to lose valuable human resources.

For those immigrants who make a deliberate choice to emigrate from their home country, generally for economic reasons, the choice of a particular country to emigrate to depends on its 'pull factors'. For...