Educación infantil y familias inmigrantes: posibilidades y limitaciones comunicativas

Abstract

The incorporation of immigrated populations into catalan classrooms has generated an opportunity to detect weaknesses in the early childhood educational system, specifically relating to children between the ages of three to five. The article discusses the relationship between school and immigrant families throughout teacher discourse analysis. For such, methodological foundations on «video-cued multivocal ethnography» have been applied. Focus group discussions have been carried out in four early childhood education schools. Data analysis has detected three large topics of study having direct impact in the incorporation of children of immigrant origins: the pedagogical principles in early childhood education, the vehicular language of learning in a bilingual environment and the relationship between school and families. Focussing on this last topic, the article argues the need for a more collaborative culture between families (native and immigrant) and schools, entailing not only emphasis in communication but also its contents. Ethical concerns regarding permission and anonymity have been taken into consideration in the investigation.