Integration in Italian Primary Schools: Immigrant Children’s Voices

In Italy, the presence of immigrant children is constantly increasing. During their school attendance they met significant academic and educational difficulties. This study tried to find some answers in order to support their integration. To consider their points of view could be helpful in order to develop some useful reflections on their experiences and needs, and to design educational interventions to support their integration, based on their point of view as "sophisticated thinkers and communicators". We conducted a qualitative research. The main questions were: "How was your experience in Italian schools? What difficulties did you encounter? Who helped you? What would you suggest to help the integration of a new immigrant child in class?". Research participants were 15 children, aged 10 to 11. These children were born outside of Italy and primary school was their first encounter with the Italian educational system. We used: a. focus group in order to identify the most important areas of investigation (Morgan et al., 2002); b. conversational interview (Dockett & Perry, 2005). All interviews were recorded and transcribed. During the focus group and interviews, the children's teacher helped to create a reassuring atmosphere for the children (Lahman, 2008). In the process of their socio-academic integration, the children we interviewed emphasized: the role of personal relationships with classmates and teachers in order to promote a sense of belonging in class, in school and in the host society; the importance of mastering the second language to be able to enter into the new world. Because of the limited size of our sample, these findings shouldn’t be viewed as representative, yet they seem to confirm the results of previous research (Moro, 2010). There are still unanswered questions and a need for further research in the study of the successful long-term integration process of migrant children.