How do "migrant schools" arise and who are the "children of migrants"?

On April 23 Demintseva E.B. took part in the "Culture matters" research seminar with the report "How do "migrant schools" arise and who are the "children of migrants"?".

The space around and within the Russian schools, which are children of migrants, outlines and crosses several borders. A social boundary is formed around the school, which arises as a result of existing school segregation. In some schools there are concentrated such categories of children that do not meet the standard notions of the norm, for example, children with special needs, with learning problems, children from socially disadvantaged families. In recent years, children of migrants have also been in these schools. Local residents define for themselves these schools as “migrant” because of the greater presence of foreign children in other schools than in other schools. All social problems that were and remain in them, it was decided to explain the presence of migrant children in school, and a new, ethnic border emerges that distinguishes the school in the urban space. However, within the school, these boundaries change. For all schoolchildren, including foreigners, it is important to include the children of migrants in the host society. The border between "their" and "alien" is symbolic, constructed by the students themselves, depending on the situation. However, it is impossible to speak about the disappearance of the ethnic border in the school. In a situation of conflict between schoolchildren, stereotypes about migrants existing in society are reproduced.