Encountering migration: English primary school teachers’ responses to Polish children

Flynn, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3710-9910 (2013) Encountering migration: English primary school teachers’ responses to Polish children. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 8 (4). pp. 336-351. ISSN 1554-480X doi: 10.1080/1554480X.2013.829273

Abstract/Summary

Schools in England have recently undergone a shift in their pupil demographic which in part reflects changing patterns of trans-European migration since the accession of new member states to the EU in 2004 and 2007. There is evidence that this shift is one experienced not just in inner-city schools most commonly associated with minority ethnic populations, but in a wide range of schools in rural and smaller town settings in a number of counties across the country (Vertovec, 2007). This article explores the responses of English primary school teachers to Polish children arriving since 2006 in a county in the South of England. Using Bourdieu’s logic of practice, interview data are analysed in order to examine attitudes towards Polish children and their families. Discussion centres on how teachers’ professional habitus may unconsciously govern their reception of children from Poland, and of how the teacher-friendly behaviour of Polish children and families may support a generalised construction of the Polish model learner.