Haitian Immigrant Students’ Access and Linguistic Inclusion in Chilean Schools

Abstract

This paper discusses Haitian immigrant students’ access and inclusion in Chilean Schools. For this purpose, we conducted a survey with both in-service and pre-service teachers from different school subjects to explore the relationship between the Haitian immigrant community and the Chilean public-school environment; notably, our research questions were oriented to explore the level of inclusion of Haitian students into Chilean schools, and the provision of access to education for Haitian students in Chile. In-service and pre-service Chilean teachers answered the survey. Both groups were asked about immigrant students’ access and inclusion in Chilean schools. Their answers show that despite Haitian students having access to Chilean schools, there are low levels of inclusion among them. The most frequently observed categories of participants’ answers to the survey point to the need for the Chilean state to become more involved in the issue of interculturality in public schools and the need to learn Spanish as an additional language for Haitian students to not fall behind in their school training or their socialization in Chilean society.

Keywords

• immigrants
• school
• interculturality
• Spanish as an additional language