La langue des parents d’élèves migrants et immigrés : entre exclusion et inclusion pour une coéducation plurilingue réussie

Abstract

Educational policies in France tend to call for the involvement of parents in school activities in order to improve family-school partnership. However, parents of migrant and immigrant pupils who have an active role to play in this relationship are not always prepared and lack skills when the language is little known or totally unknown. In order to consolidate their participation in the education of their children and to learn French, parenting support workshops are set up in certain schools such as the OEPRE (Ouvrir l’Ecole aux Parents pour la Réussite des Enfants, Opening schools to parents for their children’s success) or outside such as the ASLs (Ateliers Sociolinguistiques, Sociolinguistic workshops), inviting parents to discover the school environment which sometimes rhymes with apprehensions. In a survey resulting from more extensive research work, we questioned parents of migrant and immigrant pupils taking part in these workshops so that they could express themselves on their linguistic representations, resulting in the feeling that their language, a minority language, is not appreciated within the school. We also collected the point of view of trainers regarding language practices in multilingual classes of adult learners. Finally, we analyzed the different activities that enhance linguistic identities for an inclusive school and a successful partnership between schools and families.

Keywords

• parents of migrant and immigrant pupils
• school inclusion
• plurilingualism
• parent-school partnership