Practitioners’ perspectives and needs: Developing skills to support unaccompanied asylum‐seeking children (UASCs) in experiencing ‘belonging’ in English educational spaces

Abstract

This article builds on Yuval-Davis's (2006 theories of belonging, in order to relay how practitioners can support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs) in developing a positive sense of belonging in educational spaces in England. To do so, the article synthesises literature surrounding theories of belonging, UASCs' educational access in England and practices supporting UASCs' educational attainment and sense of belonging. Further, the article considers interviews with a social worker, English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) teacher, charity sector staff member, legal expert and government workers in East England, all of whom work with UASCs. Interview analysis seeks to understand how practitioners believe UASCs find a sense of belonging in the educational spaces that they inhabit. After presenting the interview findings, the article builds on scholarly literature related to supporting UASCs' education by discussing how practitioners, including all staff who interact with UASCs in school, college or residential accommodation spaces, can work to facilitate UASCs' sense of belonging in educational spaces in England. The article recognises that practitioners can do so through learning to speak with low-level ESOL students, developing trauma awareness and reflexively approaching their relationships with UASCs. Thus, the article provides policy recommendations to support practitioners in doing so.

Protection of unaccompanied child and adolescent migrants in Catalonia: Inhabited places, occupied places or non-places?

“…The construction of the reception system in the emergency phase focused on a network of centers aimed solely at unaccompanied minors; in the words of García Molina (2012), non-places. Even though, at first, these centers bring advantages such as maintaining relationships with people from one's own culture and with a migratory experience -factors that can foster resilience (Mateos & Dobler, 2021) and the feeling of belonging (Ward, 2022)-, presented certain limitations. The emergency Protection Services and Primary Attention Facilities were planned for the reception and retention of youths in view of the exponential increase in arrivals in Spanish territory (Bravo & Santos, 2017), where the assistance to the youth migration project begins with the processing of documents and some training that, in general, does not coincide with the interests of young people.…”

“…In addition, in these spaces, they can find other references and models, in addition to the professionals from the assigned center (CRAE, supervised flat). Linking with them can foster a feeling of belonging in the centers in the sense pointed out by Ward (2022) and facilitate the occupation of a “place”.…”

“…These aspects result in challenges for unaccompanied minors to cultivate a sense of subjective belonging. As Ward (2022) has pointed out, this hampers their psychological and emotional well-being, which is crucial for their progress in integration processes. Consequently, we conclude that setting up quality attention and residential services may require a local investment of time, money, and human resources, but such services are also necessary as they constitute both opportunities and risks.…”

“…It also enabled us to gather clues to the improvements needed in the facilities. The last conclusion of this study is that these spaces are never neutral because they have an impact on young people's feelings of belonging and their psycho-social well-being, producing either security or insecurity (Martínez Rivera, 2020; Ward, 2022). That is why for some all centers were the same, and why for others the conditions of hostility under which they lived spurred them to run away or to express strongly negative feelings.…”

“…A space does not correspond to anyone in particular; it is a physical extension through which bodies move without leaving traces or forging ties. In contrast, a place can be seen as involving subjective identification and belonging, in the sense pointed out by Ward (2022) in the case of unaccompanied children, that is, as a sense of belonging that entails a fundamental psychological and emotional well-being for their integration process. Augé and Delgado argue that a space becomes a place when it is lived in , i.e., when the space becomes lived experience.…”