Report: Navigating the Divide
Despite a recent uptick in advocacy and awareness-raising work around access to education for newcomer students in Canada, several barriers continue to exist at multiple levels. In Navigating the Divide: Accessing Education for Precarious Migrant Students, S4 board member Philip Ackerman and Ruth Naomi Dandar work to pinpoint and unpack some of the challenges that exist at the threshold of post-secondary education for newcomer students.
The aim of the research was to explore the impacts of these disparities on mental health, identity constructs and overall well-being of migrant communities. 31 participants were engaged who spanned an array of immigration statuses (refugee claimants, convention refugees, international students, non-status, etc.), to unearth some of the nuanced challenges they have faced in navigating postsecondary education in Ontario.
Highlights include how immigration status is taken up by administrators and other actors within this context – often negatively impacting current and prospective newcomer students. By exploring some existing interventions to mitigate these disparities, the report offers recommendations to ignite positive change.
