Claudia Schneider

Education, mobilities and migration: people, ideas and resources

Within a context of increased globalisation, migration, mobilities and education has become a growing field of interest in international and comparative education – as evidenced by the number of papers on the topic in Compare, including the special issue of March 2010, ‘Migration, Education and Socio-Economic Mobility’. The international BAICE conference in September 2012, Education, Mobility and Migration: people, ideas and resources demonstrated the wide variety of perspectives on the issue and raised new questions, both empirical and theoretical, with regard to the educational experiences of different migrant groups, and the new challenges these present for educational practice and policies at a local, national and global level.

Transnationalisation within school education: the interconnection between actors, structures and mechanisms

ABSTRACT The current literature of school education, transnationalisation and migration explores actors, structures and social mechanisms, however, tends to focus on these analytical levels separately. This article advocates a more explicit analysis of the interconnections of structures, actors and mechanisms within and across schools and wider national and inter-national levels in the context of transnationalisation of school education. The article adds to the theoretical discussion of transnationalisation and school education by presenting a conceptual tool, which identifies gaps in the current literature and may help to structure future research and policy development.

An exploration of school communication approaches for newly arrived EAL students: applying three dimensions of organisational communication theory

Abstract This article explores the modes of school communication associated with language and cultural diversity, demonstrating how organisational communication theory can be applied to the analysis of schools’ communication responses to the presence of pupils who have English as an additional language (EAL). The article highlights three analytical dimensions: the external factors influencing school communication systems; communication models reflected in school structures; and the content of communication between stakeholders. An exploratory study of a primary and a secondary school in the East of England, involving 32 semi-structured interviews with school managers, teachers, EAL staff, parents and newly arrived Eastern European students, reveals the interactional and transactional models of communication in the primary school, while the secondary school frequently used a linear approach. Communication in both schools showed a lack of information on EAL students and their parents, hindering a sustained outreach and empowering partnership, and possibly placing these students at a disadvantage.