From silence to academic engagement
How refugee children with disabilities access learning through inclusive ‘artful’ schools in Canada
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11161328 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Susan Barber (0000-0001-8362-2638, Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC Canada, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1789-1819 |
| Publication date | 2025-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | British Educational Research Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-1926 • E-ISSN: 1469-3518 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/berj.4148 |
| OpenAlex | W4408386252 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 62 |
Many newcomer children spend a ‘silent year’ in elementary school classrooms while they adjust to a new culture and language. This often delays inclusion in learning and forming friendships with peers. For refugee children with disabilities (RCDs) this phase may last for 3 years or more, impacting their mental health and sense of belonging, and potentially worsening issues they carry from experiences of war and violence. This paper suggests that these barriers might be overcome through capitalising on strategies that circumvent spoken language by relying on the universal language of art. While making art, children naturally explore their identities, decide how they will present themselves to others, find meaning in a healing narrative and safely process bad memories. The main goal of the study was to uncover hidden ‘knowledge of self and others’ through an arts‐based research approach. Five arts education and art therapy methods with 49 children (aged 7–9) were implemented and evaluated, including self‐portraits, emoji games, read‐aloud story books, paper‐bag puppets and digital stories. Findings reveal that over time, students undergo noticeable changes in their cognitive and affective understandings with exposure to art, and improve their language ability, self‐esteem and well‐being. An unexpected outcome was how the arts may scaffold RCDs into academic learning earlier than expected. Examples of student art are included in Appendix A
Developmental psychology · Learning disability · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Refugee · Silence · Sociology · Education and experiences of immigrants and refugees · Migration, Health and Trauma · Peace and Human Rights Education · Psychology
Arts Based Research
Belonging and Connection to School in Resettlement
The caring relation in teaching
The neurobiology of childhood trauma and abuse
The mental health of children affected by armed conflict
Teachers’ pedagogical strategies when creating digital stories with young children
Doing Visual Research with Children and Young People
Stigma associated with mental illness and its treatment in the Arab culture
Making sense of collective identity and trauma through drawing
Supporting refugee students in schools
Local conceptualisations of the education of asylum‐seeking and refugee students
Schooling and settlement
To the Arabic Community Disability Is Not Normal’
Acculturation
The nexus of war, resettlement, and education
Reflecting on three creative approaches to informed consent with children under six
Achieving holistic care for refugees
An integrated conceptual model for enhancing refugee education
Mainstream and special schools’ use of well‐being programmes
Digital Storytelling With Youth From Refugee Backgrounds
Fourteenth Annual Brown Lecture in Education Research
Potentially traumatic events and mental health problems among children of Iraqi refugees
Can creativity be taught
Understanding Integration
The Artistic Process and Arts-Based Research
Parent-Adolescent Language Use and Relationships Among Immigrant Families With East Asian, Filipino, and Latin American Backgrounds
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |