This book explores the educational experiences of young male Somali students in British schools. Through narrative research, Abdi offers critical insights into the ways in which identities are constructed, challenged and negotiated in the classroom by sharing stories and artefacts from the students themselves. These stories are shared in a context where a rise in school exclusions, Islamophobia and narratives of youth violence push discussions around identity and belonging to the forefront of political and public debates—making clear the need for this work.

This handbook for educators involved with K-12 students from Somalia is an invaluable guide to the cultural, religious, socioeconomic, and family issues that these immigrant students bring to the classroom. The authors present a sensitive portrait of the traumatic experiences that immigrant Somali families in the United States had to endure to reach this land of opportunity. In detailed description and realistic vignettes, teachers and administrators can gain a deeper understand of the behaviors and attitudes of Somali studentsand, thus, learn to create a successful educational environment for them.

When the Somali Republic received independence, its parliamentary government decided to adopt three official languages: English, Italian, and Arabic—all languages of foreign contact. Since the vast majority of the nation's citizens spoke a single language, Somali, which then had no written form, this decision made governing exceedingly difficult. Selecting any one language was equally problematic, however, because those who spoke the official language would automatically become the privileged class. Twelve years after independence, a military government was able to settle the acrimonious controversy by announcing that Somali would be the official language and Latin the basic script. It was hoped that this choice would foster political equality and strengthen the national culture. Politics, Language, and Thought is an exploration of how language and politics interrelate in the Somali Republic. Using both historical and experimental evidence, David D. Laitin demonstrates that the choice of an official language may significantly affect the course of a country's political development. Part I of Laitin's study is an attempt to explain why the parliamentary government was incapable of reaching agreement on a national script and to assess the social and political consequences of the years of nondecision. Laitin shows how the imposition of nonindigenous languages produced inequalities which eroded the country's natural social basis of democracy. Part 2 attempts to relate language to political thought and political culture. Analyzing interviews and role-playing sessions among Somali bilingual students, Laitin demonstrates that the impact of certain political concepts is quite different when expressed in different languages. He concludes that the implications of choosing a language are far more complex than previously thought, because to change the language of a people is to change the ways they think and act politically.

Structured around the Equality Act and written collaboratively, Diverse Educators: A Manifesto aims to capture the collective voice of the teaching community and to showcase the diverse lived experiences of educators.

This text outlines relevant theoretical background and provides detailed practical advice and suggestions for educators in schools serving culturally and liguistically divers communities. Some chapters focus on the needs of students from immigrant communities, especially those who are learning the language of instruction, while others include historical minority groups as well.

This collection of studies by an international group of researchers provides a place for migrant, refugee and indigenous children to talk about their school experiences. Refugee children from the Sudan, Afghanistan and Somalia, indigenous children from Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam, migrant children in Canada, Iceland and Hong Kong, urban and rural children from Zanzibar all speak out through drawings, small group and individual discussion.

Analyses the crucial episodes in the recent political history of the Somali people. In their complicated dialogue with modernity, the Somalis illustrate both extremes of modern African statehood. In contemporary Somalia, they have produced the most extreme example of a failed state, while in the Somaliland Republic, they have achieved what is regarded as the most democratic state on the continent.

An American hedge fund manager describes how he founded a unique school in Somaliland and overcame profound cultural differences, broken promises, and threats to his safety to create a school whose students, against all odds, have come to achieve extraordinary success.

This book presents Arab immigrant youths’ voices through storytelling that reveals the challenges and achievements they experience at school and at home in a Canadian educational context. While Arab immigration to Canada dates back to the late eighteenth century, Canada has witnessed a significant rise in Arab immigration rates over the last twenty-five years, marking the fastest growth among all immigrant groups.These stories highlight the complexity of Arab-Canadian youths’ cross-cultural schooling experiences and provide valuable opportunities for reciprocal learning among all stakeholders in Canadian schools. With an educator’s vision, Elkord foregrounds the tensions between Arab youths’ home and school experiences to help build bridges and make high school less opaque to Arab immigrant students and their parents, while offering insights into multicultural education and resources for teacher education.

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2013 in the subject Pedagogy - Pedagogic Sociology, , language: English, abstract: This research examined the educational challenges faced Somali secondary students in North and South of Ireland, especially Dublin and Belfast areas, where there were a large number of Somali communities. It focused the current challenges they were facing in terms of the formal education system and social inclusion. The most of the students were born outside the state with little formal education, and their integrating into the system is a daunting task. Many joined school with an educational, deficit, unstable families, illiterate parents and poor family environment that is entirely dependent on social welfare. The research tried to examine how these students overcame these educational barriers. The research looks at the parent’s role in improving their children’s educational performance. It also highlighted the enormous challenge and puzzling tasks many Somali student endure. The study looked closely at the varieties of difficulties that they are facing in day to day life in schools such as lack of tutoring, mentoring and low self-esteem. It explored solutions to address these problems and the last, but not least recommends a resolution that will increase students’ performance. It also suggests significant steps to tackle Somali early school dropout.