What is your motivation for the research theme of migration, exodus and belonging?<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Firstly, migration research has accompanied me for many years, which is why I repeatedly deal with the topic of exodus and belonging. The second motivation generally has to do with my preoccupation with social inequality. In this context, the issue of migration is of great importance. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What does migration mean in the refugee context for the affiliation(s) of those affected?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t think this is \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d \u2013 (multiple) affiliations manifest themselves in people in different ways and can change depending on the situation or over time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How was the empirical approach to the research field? Was there acceptance\/support or mistrust\/rejection on the part of the research field?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n My experience here was largely one of great openness. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What paths do you take to bring your research findings and practice closer together?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In our field of social science, the transfer of theory and practice is generally strongly anchored, so there is a lot of cooperation and much contact. I myself work again and again with municipal institutions such as the Municipal Integration Centre, the Youth Welfare Office, schools or child day-care centres, so there are many opportunities to put research into practice and, above all, to initiate conversations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What specific recommendations for action could you give schools for the integration of refugee children?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To take a closer look at the children\u2019s potential and skills, as well as placing more importance on the framework conditions under which they live as a challenge and responsibility for the school.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you define welcome culture? In your opinion, what role does welcome culture play in the integration of refugees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As in the context of migration in general, in my opinion it is more about inclusion than about integration \u2013 a concept to which insertion into, or adaptation to, an imagined whole continues to be inherent. On the other hand, I would argue for enabling inclusion \u2013 equal participation in all areas of society (education, housing, etc.). There is still a lot of room for improvement here. Nevertheless, the welcome culture, which is mainly supported by civil society actors, is an important and supportive component Do you have future research plans on the topic of migration and refugees? What are they?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No really specific ones, but the topic will continue to accompany me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What is your motivation for the research theme of migration, exodus and belonging? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The topic has accompanied me for decades: first as a student in the 1980s, when I founded the intercultural neighbourhood shop \u201cElele\u201d (Hand in Hand) in Berlin\/Neuk\u00f6lln together with fellow students from the educational science course at the FU Berlin, and then as a school social worker in a school in Berlin\/Kreuzberg, where I worked for more than 20 years with pupils and families with a migration background or history as refugees. Since 2015, as part of my professorship, I have been researching conflictual diversity in everyday school life, the school integration of refugees and migration issues due to socio-political challenges.The educational disadvantage of pupils with a migrant background in connection with ethnic and social segregation in schools and surrounding residential or catchment areas is an urgent socio-political problem that requires solutions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What does migration mean in the refugee context for the affiliation(s) of those affected? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Immigrants with little knowledge of the German language, especially refugees, have to fight hard for belonging. Prejudices against refugees, their supposed cultural and religious characteristics are hurdles to overcome. The feeling of belonging can be disturbed by attribution processes that assign immigrants a marginal position in this society. The promotion of the belonging of refugees must take place on various political, institutional and professional levels. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How was the empirical approach to the research field? Was there acceptance\/support or mistrust\/rejection on the part of the research field? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Access to the research field was unhindered for the most part. Even at the height of the Covid epidemic, there was an astonishing willingness among school principals, school social workers, teachers and other actors in Germany and Denmark to share their views on school integration processes and to answer our questions as experts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What paths do you take to bring your research findings and practice closer together?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The results of the research are published at our own symposiums, as well as at national and international conferences. Academics, students, school protagonists and representatives of the education administration at municipal, state, federal and international level are invited to the Faculty\u2019s own symposiums. Research results are also reflected back to (school) institutions and educational administrations at various organisational levels. In addition, scientific publications bring the research findings into a theory-practice transfer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What specific recommendations for action could you give schools for the integration of refugee children and young people?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The multilingualism of children and young people, as well as of their legal guardians and families, must be recognised \u2013 this in the form of acceptance of the native language as another foreign language, which is promoted in schools or in cooperating institutions. Moreover, conversations with legal guardians should be supported by language mediators where necessary. A welcome culture at schools towards legal guardians must be developed, be it through parent caf\u00e9s, peer advice from parents\/guardians or other participatory forms. Research in France and Denmark shows that the recognition of migration as a normality and not as a burden enables a different view of the school integration of refugees. The International Convention on the Rights of the Child, which both countries focus on and which calls for expedient schooling irrespective of social and ethnic origin, is helpful here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you define welcome culture? In your opinion, what role does welcome culture play in the integration of refugees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A welcome culture has many facets: signs in the school building in different languages, (app-supported) guidance systems with pictograms, language mediators in conversations with legal guardians, use of social media when contacting legal guardians, foreign language skills of school actors, multilingual information and counselling services for pupils and their relatives, and much more.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you estimate the future for refugee children and youths at German schools? How do you think school social work will develop?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The German school system must continuously strive to improve educational out-comes. Indicators for this are national and international school performance studies, which have consistently shown since 2001 that the link between social origin, migration background and educational success is particularly close in Germany. There is empirical evidence of educational disadvantage among students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and\/or with a migrant background.Expansion of school social work has been evident nationwide for several years now, with differences in speed, funding and support structure in the federal states. Socio-political changes, including the consequences of poverty, migration and forced flight, have to be overcome in schools. The growing diversity in schools is particularly evident in those in difficult areas with a high proportion of pupils affected by poverty or pupils with a migration background whose first language is not German. Schools increasingly need social work to mitigate school exclusion mechanisms and must see themselves as a learning organisation which, for example, perceives the development of multi-professional cooperation as a quality development feature for schools. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have future research plans on the topic of migration and refugees? What are they?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The transferability of the findings presented at this symposium is now to be tested at the schools in seven districts and three cities in the school jurisdiction of the Braunschweig Regional State Office for Schools and Education. To this end, a survey will be carried out as part of a quantitative study by means of an online questionnaire of school principals, school social workers, teachers, other educational staff, heads of the education administrations, education coordinators and language education coordinators of all schools in the jurisdiction of the Braunschweig Regional State Office for Schools and Education in which school social workers work. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The aim is to examine their perspectives in relation to the following categories:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Acceptance and promotion of multilingualism in schools<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Multi-professional cooperation (school principals, teachers, school social workers, external cooperation partners, support specialists in the school development process)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Involvement of legal guardians<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Transition management (especially individual transitions of new immigrant students in their educational career)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What is your motivation for the research theme of migration, exodus and belonging? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Article 3 of our Basic Law already refers to a right to inclusion, which has therefore been a general human right not only since the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force: it must be made a prerequisite that every person can participate in social processes, regardless of language, origin, appearance, age, religion or other individual characteristics. To be able to overcome this challenge well and to provide specific ideas for implementation \u2013 this is the motivation behind my teaching and research.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What still has to be done in the context of family\/politics and society? Can you please tell us one aspect in each of these three areas that you consider to be particularly important?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Family: Families can never receive too much financial support from federal, state and local authorities. On the part of the school, teachers can offer support through home visits. I always like to recommend the film \u201cChildren of Utopia\u201d to our students. But the support described in it can only succeed in schools if educational-policy expenditure is adapted to the needs in schools on the basis of empirical evidence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have future research plans on the topic of migration and refugees? What are they? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While the findings from the research project presented here will first be checked for their transferability to schools in seven districts and three cities in the jurisdiction of the Braunschweig Regional State Office for Schools and Education, there is a need for further research: the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the migration of refugee students from Ukraine must be included in future investigations in the context of migration and exodus.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you define welcome culture? In your opinion, what role does welcome culture play in the integration of refugees?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n People who have left their home countries due to war, persecution or other reasons often arrive into a completely new and foreign environment. A positive and supportive welcome culture can help them to find their way faster and more effectively in their new environment, build contacts and to stabilise their identity. A welcome culture can also help to break down the prejudices and fears that can accompany the arrival of refugee students. An atmosphere of trust and cooperation must be created, which can then help to reduce conflicts and tensions and improve the coexistence of everyone in the community.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you manage to simultaneously visualise the contributions you hear and connect them in such a way that in the end they become a coherent whole? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It might not sound like it, but it\u2019s actually quite easy: listen, draw, find connections!The most important thing is good acoustics. Listening and translating happen virtually simultaneously, but reading and writing or drawing don\u2019t happen at the same time. Full-presence listening is the most important thing. So let’s first disabuse ourselves of the idea that a page of paper is always written from top left to bottom right. A coherent whole is more likely to be created by a kind of mind mapping. I listen for the keywords that I could use to reconstruct the speaker’s statements. I draw these either as a word-picture or as a pictogram or even directly as a quotation. In the further course of the presentation, content-related or logical links are quickly found, which can be placed nearby. I can then visually reinforce this using outlines, connecting lines or arrows and with colour. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n What does the theme of the symposium mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Flight\nand expulsion were and continue to be central issues that we have to deal with\nperspectively. People have to leave their homes for political, economic and,\nincreasingly in the future, ecological reasons. We all have to face this as a\nsociety. And language is the key here. Language is what connects people, and\nalso all (specialist) disciplines, with one another. This is why it\u2019s so\nincredibly important to be able to talk to each other and exchange ideas in a\nconstantly changing world with all its complex challenges. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n With my\nvisualisations, I often offer a \u201cbridge language\u201d, a platform for\ncommunication. After all, a picture, as we\u2019re told, says more than 1000 words.\nPeople start talking: am I able to find again here what I understood? What\nimage fits a term used or a situation? Can we find one that\u2019s common to us all?\nHow can we illustrate facts and correlations in a way that they can be\nunderstood by all? <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Anything that helps people express themselves and have ideas aids learning and development processes. Visualisations are a low-threshold tool for this and can offer overarching support when it comes to (language) boundaries. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Was the symposium theme something you already had knowledge about? Was it of particular interest?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Examining\nand supporting teaching, learning and development processes is my favourite\ntopic. I\u2019m a qualified education specialist so of course I had a great interest\nin the theme. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I also have three children at secondary school who often bring friends home with them, so the topic is one I am quite familiar with. My eldest son is currently spending a year abroad in Finland and \u201cstruggles\u201d with the Finnish language. He uses English as a bridge language, which is a matter of course there. But he will probably have to visualise the Finnish word pictures quite often in order to learn them. Well, at the end of the day, he\u2019s there of his own volition, which is not the case for many children and young people with refugee or migration backgrounds. Nevertheless, it becomes clear how important the feeling of well-being, the place of learning as a safe place is for these learning processes. That was also a central point of the symposium.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To what extent does the relationship to the theme play a role in your work? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some time ago I had a workshop with nine women from six different nations. As a result, we had six different languages in the room but not one in common. These women had come to Germany for a variety of reasons and were asked to reflect on their skills in this workshop in order to develop an idea of what options were open to them here in terms of a career. We visualised first with mimics and gestures, then with simple pictograms. Each of the women in their own language. There were many misunderstandings about the meanings of many of the images \u2013 but it was precisely by resolving these misunderstandings, and laughing a lot together during some of the attempts at visualisation, that we were able to develop a common pictorial vocabulary. And one thing is particularly important in this context: when I draw a figure with a smiling face, it is understood all over the world without us needing words. Looking into a smiling face does something to us. Why not use it?!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How did you get started with \u201cgraphic recording\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By\nreflecting on my own learning processes. Learning as I knew it from school and\nuniversity seemed tedious and ineffective to me. I found \u201ccramming\u201d the study\nmaterials just awful, so I started preparing the content in a creative way. I\nwas never good at art, just about scraped a C-grade, but that was exactly the\nkey. Because when I tried to draw a car to go along with a list of theoretical\naspects on the subject of learning speeds, I had to laugh out loud at my own\nineptitude. But three days later, in the exam, I only had to think about my\nlemon of a car and lo and behold, I could remember all the individual aspects\nwith a smile. My conclusion was: if this works for me, why not offer it to\nother people?! After my studies, I initially worked with many educational and\nfurther education services and in doing so continuously developed my\nvisualisation techniques. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Being able to offer visual documentation in organisational development processes then proved to be particularly helpful. The participants found themselves more intensively involved in the process, since they were able to visualise their own thoughts again and the results could be communicated very vividly throughout the company. And when you experience something as helpful, working well and also fun, you\u2019re happy to do it again. So I\u2019m always happy to be the first to volunteer to take the minutes, because then no meeting whatsoever will ever be boring… \ud83d\ude09<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What motivates you in your work? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nexchange with the many different people I meet. Planning, developing and\nimplementing ideas together. Every event is different, every context is\ndifferent, every situation. I have to develop pragmatic solutions very quickly\nand work at full steam. I\u2019ll often be confronted with topics that I would\nprobably never have thought about so deeply otherwise. I talk to people I\nprobably would never have talked to. And, of course, I am very motivated by the\nfact that content or lectures prepared with a lot of commitment by visual\ndocumentation don\u2019t immediately just disappear into the ether again after the\nevent. Instead, every participant can take this home with them as a photo. This\nacknowledges not only the speakers, but also all the participants who have\nenthusiastically listened and thought along with them. Afterwards, the\nintensive, often purely cognitive work during the event is visible to the\noutside world.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n.<\/s> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nProf. Dr. Christine Baur<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Adina K\u00fcchler-Hendricks<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Britta Mutzke<\/h1>\n\n\n\n