Orbis Scholae
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2014, Pages 97-110

There is no difference, we are all the same. Migrant Children, their schoolmates and teachers in Czech primary schools [Žádná různost není, všichni jsme tu stejní. Deti migrantů, jejich spolužáci a vyučující na Českých základních školách] (Article)

Jarkovská L.* , Lišková K. , Obrovská J.
  • a Fakulta Sociálních Studií, Masarykova Univerzita, Czech Republic
  • b Fakulta Sociálních Studií, Masarykova Univerzita, Czech Republic
  • c Fakulta Sociálních Studií, Masarykova Univerzita, Czech Republic

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the ways in which the Czech education system deals with growing ethnic diversity. We focus both on the perspective of teachers as well as that of children who have migrated to the Czech Republic from Ukraine, Russia and Vietnam, and their classmates. We conducted ethnographic research in selected schools across the country that included interviews with teachers and focus groups with children. We identified discursive strategies and repertoires that make ethnicity invisible and thus reproduce the idea of an ethnically homogeneous whole. We show how teachers employ the humanistic discourse to achieve this end while migrant children perform normalcy and problem-free status that, however, requires certification from their ethnically Czech classmates. We argue that ethnic diversity in Czech schools is performed through the discourse of sameness despite differences.

Author Keywords

Education Migrant pupils Ethnicity Ethnography

Index Keywords

[No Keywords available]
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84907987871&partnerID=40&md5=ffc634a5e75b1e4355dd7da2bbd9a2f0
ISSN: 18024637
Cited by: 2
Original Language: Czech