IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/socinc/v11y2023i4p47-57.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Critical Social Inclusion of Adult Migrant Language Learners in Working Life: Experiences From SFI and LINC Programs

Author

Listed:
  • Tobias Pötzsch

    (Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, Finland)

  • Sanna Saksela-Bergholm

    (Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

Abstract

How can integration education programs facilitate the more seamless inclusion of migrant newcomers into working life and civil society? Traditionally, integration policy and practice have been framed within a nation‐state discourse in which views of migrant incorporation are grounded within a bordered nationalism embodying a native–migrant dichotomy that reifies the view of the “migrant other” as a subject defined by its “lack” in competence and agency. In our qualitative multiple case study, we explored the bridging potential of integration programs in facilitating the inclusion of migrant students within working life in Helsinki and Edmonton. We examined the “inclusectionalities,” referring to the intersections of inclusion and exclusion that position adults enrolled in SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) and LINC (Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada) language integration programs in the liminal spaces between belonging and othering. Guided by an understanding of critical social inclusion where migrants set the boundaries for interactions with authorities based upon their own needs and interests, we propose a transformational approach. Here migrant learners participate in a structural process where the fluid nature of social, political, and economic arrangements is consistently renegotiated on principles of egalitarianism and the full exercise of critical agency, herein envisioned as deliberate action resisting the social domination of racialized minorities by challenging and redefining institutional structures.

Suggested Citation

  • Tobias Pötzsch & Sanna Saksela-Bergholm, 2023. "Critical Social Inclusion of Adult Migrant Language Learners in Working Life: Experiences From SFI and LINC Programs," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 47-57.
  • Handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v11:y:2023:i:4:p:47-57
    DOI: 10.17645/si.v11i4.7154
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/7154
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/si.v11i4.7154?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:socinc:v11:y:2023:i:4:p:47-57. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.