Primary schools relationships with asylumseeking families in Ireland

The presentation “Primary schools relationships with asylum seeking families in Ireland” was given by Deidre Horgan, ICD/irish refugee council as part of the world refugee day workshop on the 20th june 2017. The presentation provides a background to the current situation regarding asylums seeking families in Ireland, identifying the current contexts of Policy Intercultural Education and Direct provision. The presentation then provides information on some of the criticisms of direct provision and refers to how these adversely affect children’s education
The presentation identifies Literature regarding Refugee and asylum-seeking parent’s relations with teachers noting that parent-teacher partnerships in the United Kingdom, particularly for minority ethnic parents and working-class parents, are often characterised by an imbalance of power in favour of the teacher and that in many instances ‘In order to be ‘good’ or acceptable parents, minority ethnic parents, had to become like the ideal – the white middle-class parent: in other words they had to assimilate’. The presentation also refers to Teachers’ limited knowledge of life in Direct Provision and how this can affect Parent-teacher communication. The presentation provides a number of Conclusions and recommendations towards improving asylum seeking parent – teacher relationships and integration and inclusion.