The migrant children schooling crisis: examining the intersection between media framing, neoliberalism and schooling in Leicester

This paper presents findings from a research project that investigated the tensions identified with the so-called ‘migrant school crisis’ as it was portrayed in the media. Education does not exist in a vacuum, and therefore it is important to consider the impact that negative media representations of immigration impact the experiences of teachers and students. Evidence (Spencer, 2011) suggests that the media plays an active role in shaping and reshaping debates around immigration in the public sphere, with hostile articles on ‘migrant children swamping UK schools’ but not accepting diversity as a pillar for development. Boomgaarden and Vligenthart (2009: 515) note the relationship between the representation of immigration in the media and public attitudes. Although the research focuses on secondary schools, a key motivation for the project is to understand how the experiences of young people, the curricula they are taught and the attitudes of their educators and the media towards immigration affects their expectations and experience at university.

Since the research examines strategies used by the schools in the wake of the migrant schooling crisis, the case study approach is imperative to understand how schools are contributing to increases in the critical consciousness of the students (Patton, 2002). This is an intersectional study between the media framing of neoliberal tensions within the education sector and the reality of how local authorities and schools deal with those tensions.

Schools are expected to play a vital role in developing community cohesion. The polarised and politicised media framing, therefore, reinforces certain stereotypes that in the long-run may have a detrimental impact on, not only, teaching and learning within schools, but on enforcing community cohesion. School and local authority staff within Leicester are being interviewed for the project, which is being carried out alongside a media framing analysis. The framing analysis shows that much of the press in the UK, especially the right wing press, overwhelmingly focus on the perceived negative consequences of immigration in ways that emphasised nationalist attitudes towards Britain, through metaphors that suggested fears of over-capacity and breaking down of borders. However, in interviews, this was not reflected by school staff, who instead understood immigration as a positive and highlighted the ways in which diversity of the school population was a strength. This demonstrates how conducting interviews with staff can help uncover alternative discourses to those within the media.