The empty desk in class: a metaphor in the lives and classrooms of expelled immigrant children and their teachers. Issue 2 (7th February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Daelman, Silke; De Schauwer, Elisabeth; Vanobbergen, Bruno; Van Hove, Geert
• Is Part Of: International journal of qualitative studies in education. Volume 36:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 121
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2023-02-07
• Subjects: Immigrant children -- primary education -- children's rights -- teachers' perspectives -- socially just pedagogies; Education -- Research -- Periodicals; Éducation -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Sciences de l'éducation -- Méthodes qualitatives -- Périodiques; 370.72
• DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2021.1956628
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-8398

Abstract

Abstract: 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.