Abstract
Research on migrant children has concentrated mostly on their acquisition of English as a second language (ESL), educational assessment, and parental influences on learning in older children. There has been little research, particularly from an early childhood perspective, into the child's own perceptions of the experience of being a migrant child.
This paper reports on a research investigation into young children's migration experiences before, during, and after the journey to Australia. Discussions with migrant children in Years 2 and 3 of primary school established important differences and similarities in experiences between both Humanitarian and Non-Humanitarian migrant categories and English and non-English-speaking background children. Recommendations for teachers are made to meet the established needs of young migrant children and to promote tolerance and understanding of different peoples and cultures.
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