Krystyna Slany

Experiencing Inequalities in Social Status and Bullying within a School Environment. Perception of Children of Polish Immigrants in Norway
This article discusses a mosaic of unfavorable aspects related to the socio-economic situation of children of Polish immigrants in the Norwegian school environment. The main focus is placed on discrimination experienced by these children due to non-majority social status (as compared to Norwegian children). Moreover, we examine memories and experiences of peer violence in a form of bullying and individual coping strategies seen as ‘peer work’. We demonstrate that socio-economic inequalities manifested by children can be seen in the bullying acts. In addition, we show the role of the Norwegian school and the school environment in a process of integration among the children of Polish immigrants. We note how it shapes their self-esteem, as well as assess social status of a family and the economic situation in the countries of origin and arrival. The article is based on the results of two research projects: Children’s experience of growing up transnationally (Work Package 5 conducted within the Transfam project between 2013 and 2016) and The adaptation process of children of Polish immigrants. Field research in Norway (a doctoral project implemented in 2013–2014 at the Institute of Sociology of the Jagiellonian University).

The Power of Women’s Migration. Historical and Sociological Perspectives

The article is a review of research areas in the field of women’s migration studies with particular emphasis on the mobility of Polish women. We characterize the gradual paradigm shift, which has led to the observation of differences in the migration of women and men, and recognition that gender is a key variable necessary for analyzing and explaining them. Our goal is also to present the mobility of Polish women in a historical perspective, as well as to outline contemporary trends in Polish migration studies. We are looking for the strength and agency of migrant women, their determination to change lives not only for themselves but also for their families, and take into account

Streszczenie

Artykuł stanowi przegląd zagadnień badawczych w obszarze studiów nad migracjami kobiet ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem mobilności Polek. Charakteryzujemy stopniową zmianę paradygmatu, która doprowadziła do zaobserwowania odmienności migracji kobiet i mężczyzn oraz uznania w związku z tym, że płeć jest niezwykle ważną zmienną niezbędną przy ich analizowaniu i wyjaśnianiu. Naszym celem jest również przedstawienie mobilności Polek w perspektywie historycznej, jak i zarysowanie współczesnych trendów w polskich studiach migracyjnych. Poszukujemy siły i sprawczości migrantek, ich determinacji w zmianie życia nie tylko dla siebie, ale i rodzin, uwzględniając złożony ekonomiczno-społeczny kontekst globalny i krajowy. Inspiracją do przygotowania tekstu w takiej perspektywie, jak i całego tomu była 100. rocznica uzyskania przez Polki praw wyborczych.

The presented article focuses on two main objectives. On the one hand, it presents the complex and multifaceted issues of migrant children’s education from a theoretical perspective, which have a significant impact on the course of their integration process, their quality of life and their chances of a better future in the country of migration. We draw attention to the importance of migrant children from the perspective of a child-centred approach, which emphasises children’s agency and subjectivity, the importance of their voice, their experiences, as well as the mission of the school and the roles of the professionals (teachers, cultural mediators, social workers) working with them and influencing their integration success. We show the school as a space that is not only institutional, formal and oriented towards intercultural education, but also a relational space in which informal processes take place to shape the future of children, dependent on significant others but also on the educational system. On the other hand we refer mainly to the contribution of the research project Children Hybrid Identity (CHILD-UP) to formulate theoretical explanations about the visibility of migrant children, their agency in school, and to uncover empirical findings about their achievements, barriers, challenges. Although these are in various locations, in different schools and educational programmes, they nevertheless bring about changes in the structure of a class and the occurrence of important processes due to their ethnic and national, cultural, religious, and language context.

The aim of this article is to analyse how teachers experience, navigate and negotiate their daily work in Polish school with migrant children. We explore the title statement of one of the teachers we interviewed – we look at the teachers’ strategy of ‘doing everything with their own hands’. The data presented in the article comes from the quantitative and qualitative study conducted within the CHILD-UP project. The research was conducted in two different locations that allowed us to capture the diversity of migrant children in terms of their status and the specificity of working with them: in a large city in the south of Poland characterized by a significant influx of immigrants in recent years, and in the Lublin Province, where schools are attended mostly by refugee children from Centers for Foreigners. The article provides an analysis of teachers’ agency at three different interconnected levels: the macro level (public policies), the meso level (local community), and the micro level (specific schools and their community). We claim that teachers’ agency expressed by them in a constant search for new tools to support migrant children’s education and integration is shaped by complexities of social, economic and political factors produced by the school system in Poland.