CLER conversation: Solidarity in a Hostile Environment: Participatory ESOL with adults seeking sanctuary in the North of England

Amidst an (inter)national hostile environment towards migrants, spaces of solidarity within language education are vital to understand. As expressed by critical educator, Paulo Freire, "language is never neutral”, and neither are the classrooms in which they are learned. My PhD involved an ethnographic case study of community-based ESOL for people seeking sanctuary in Yorkshire, utilising critical participatory and visual methods. My work identified a gap in teachers’ knowledge and confidence to implement relevant methodologies, despite a desire to align their critical values with their pedagogies. Furthermore, I outline a case study of my own participatory research course which combined Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) for a superdiverse group of adult learners. 

Dr Alison Sheperd is a Research Fellow working on a project across the School of Education and POLIS enhancing parliamentary evaluation of education and engagement services. She received her PhD in Education Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (US), and her my MA and BA from POLIS in International Development and Education. She is also a trained teacher (PCGE; CELTA) who has worked in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Americas. As well as education, she cares deeply about social justice, public writing, and the arts. 

Discussant 

Dr Deirdre McKenna, Associate Professor of English for Academic Purposes and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the UK-wide RefugEAP programme .