The empty desk in class: a metaphor in the lives and classrooms of expelled immigrant children and their teachers

This paper engages with conversations with two teachers who each build socially just pedagogies and engage in minor gestures in response to the socio-educational-political reality they were confronted with - namely, a pupil disappearing from the classroom when her parents' application for immig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of qualitative studies in education 2023-02, Vol.36 (2), p.121-134
Main Authors: Daelman, Silke, De Schauwer, Elisabeth, Vanobbergen, Bruno, Van Hove, Geert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Accommodations (Disabilities)
children's rights
Childrens Rights
Democratic Values
Elementary School Students
Elementary School Teachers
Figurative Language
Foreign Countries
Grade 2
Grade 6
Immigrant children
Immigrants
Inclusion
Mass Media
Migrant Children
News Writing
Nonverbal Communication
primary education
Social Justice
socially just pedagogies
Teacher Attitudes
teachers' perspectives
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Summary:This paper engages with conversations with two teachers who each build socially just pedagogies and engage in minor gestures in response to the socio-educational-political reality they were confronted with - namely, a pupil disappearing from the classroom when her parents' application for immigration was rejected. In an assemblage connecting the conversations to a transforming picture of an empty desk, to social media posts and online news sources and to post-qualitative literature, we reconfigure the empty desk into polyvocal, continuously moving metaphors and remain attentive to the affective and material forces of the stories that the two teachers tell. The desk functions as (1) a speaking medium and symbol of protest against the violation of children's rights, (2) a relational force in a broken class group, (3) a part of a pedagogical space for learning democracy, and (4) a mirror on our contemporary society. These metaphors become minor gestures and invite us to fulfill our ability to respond ('response-ability') to the violation of rights of 'invisible children' and the daily realization of inclusive education for all children in class.
ISSN:0951-8398
1366-5898
DOI:10.1080/09518398.2021.1956628