Primary Education teachers facing sociocultural diversity and the schooling of students from migrant backgrounds

Abstract

The schooling of students of migrant origin constitutes a challenge for the Spanish educational system. One of the factors that influence the training processes of this group is the teaching visions and expectations. In consideration, the main objective is to explore the perceptions of primary education teachers regarding sociocultural diversity and students of migrant origin. To this end, a multiple case study was carried out in two public schools in the city of Barcelona. The field work included 4 discussion groups (with a total of 27 people), 22 semi-structured interviews and 162 hours of participant observation in both centers. The results reveal an ambivalent teaching imaginary. On the one hand, a significant part of the teaching staff recognizes and values diversity as an enriching element within educational processes. On the other hand, this assigns a series of attributes to migrant students that would constitute barriers to their adequate schooling. The misalignment between both orders of perceptions constitutes an element of tension in teaching visions and expectations. Therefore, as a discussion, it is stated that its resolution represents a challenge for the achievement of inclusive education.