Civics teachers’ perceptions of the differences between teaching democratic principles to immigrant and refugee students

This qualitative case study draws on interview and focus group data from two Civics teachers in an area with a rapidly rising immigrant student population. Although the extant literature conflates the needs and abilities of refugee and immigrant students (McBrien, 2005), data analysis from this study reveals considerable differences in teacher perceptions of teaching Civics to Southeast Asian refugee students when compared to immigrant students. This paper is written in the hope of disentangling this conflation in order to make recommendations regarding the respective groups of students for Civics teachers and social studies teacher educators.

Civics teachers’ perceptions of the differences between teaching democratic principles to immigrant and refugee students Presentation