Thursday, April 14, 2016
Ormandy East (DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Center City)
In January 2015, seventeen people were killed in Paris by two brothers who were immigrants from North Africa and their associate, a man of West African heritage. These events have come to be known as the “Charlie Hebdo” attacks, and have thrust immigration and education policies into the spotlight in France. Policies mandating the teaching of secularism, citizenship, and "French values" were announced by the Minister of Education at the end of January. Through a sociocultural lens, this case study examines French educator perspectives toward these policy responses. It is based upon an analysis of qualitative interviews and observations in two distinct educational settings in Paris in the spring of 2015, a K-5 public school and a non-profit that provides afterschool tutoring for children and youth of African heritage. Educators expressed varying perspectives toward post-Charlie policy mandates and assimilation. Those who followed a more traditional entry into elementary teaching (ie, with fewer years of university education) were more accepting of the mandates, while those who had more extensive education or entered teaching through alternative pathways were more skeptical. The educators at the non-profit held a more nuanced and critical perspective. This scholarship extends understandings of the relationship of assimilationist discourse and educational policies in France. It will contribute to a growing literature on the challenges faced by first and second generation immigrant children and the need for culturally relevant pedagogies and systems to support more successful outcomes for students of color in a European context.
