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Can Philosophy Aid the Adjustment of Newcomer Children? 

 
 

Parmis Aslanimehr   
 
 

 
  
he proportion of foreign-born population in Canada is at the highest it has been in 70 
years. Such an increase in immigration is projected to account for 100 percent of the 

population growth by 2026.1 The children of families arriving from different parts of the world into 
Canada’s multicultural mosaic are commonly believed to have an easier time adjusting to their new 
conditions than adolescents and adults. This assumption further adds to an abandonment of inquiry 
into their experiences in adapting to their unique and, at times, complicated surroundings.2 Such a 
view likens the child of a newcomer immigrant family to the accompanying luggage, for they rarely 
have any say in the decision to migrate. As a result of this change to a new country, the stability in 
childhood can be lost: The domains of conflict common in newcomer households can involve levels 
of aggression, the importance of education, the preference for speaking English at home and sexual 
openness in youth.3 Notably, one in five children of newcomers, specifically visible minorities, tend to 
encounter discrimination and prejudice during their resettlement years in Canada.4,5,6 Hence, their 
sudden encounter with the challenges that accompany settlement calls for special attention, notably 
because specific inner negotiations may be at play.  
 

Understandably, many educators of newcomer children may express apprehension due to the 
lack of communication through a common language and of knowledge of diverse cultures. Educators 
may feel conflicted if they are working under pedagogical frameworks that rely heavily on high-stakes 
testing, pushing them to encourage the use of English at all times to prepare linguistically diverse 
learners for such a system.7 Other educators may be misled by the slow and gradual comprehension of 
the second language in students. It takes an average of four to seven years of English language 
instruction for newcomer students to reach classroom norms. Current social movements such as Black 

                                                 
1 “Canadian Multiculturalism Act,” Justice Laws Website, 2015, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-18.7/page-1.html 
2 Marjorie F. Orellana, Barrie Thorne, Anna Chee, and Wan S. E. Lam, “Transnational Childhoods: The Participation of 
Children in Processes of Family Migration,” Social Problems 48 no.4 (2001): 572-591, doi:10.1525/sp.2001.48.4.572 
3 Min Zhou, "Growing up American: The Challenge Confronting Immigrant Children and Children of 
Immigrants," Annual Review of Sociology 23 (1997): 63-95. 
4 Samuel N. M. Beiser, Violet Kaspar, Feng Hou, and Joanna Rummens, “Perceived Racial Discrimination, Depression 
and Coping: A Study of Southeast Asian Refugees in Canada,” J Health Soc Behav 40 no. 3 (1999):193-207. 
5 Housing, Family and Social Statistics, “Ethnic Diversity Survey: Portrait of a Multicultural Society,” Statistics Canada, 
cata. no. 89- 593-XIE (2003). http://www.statcan.gc.ca 
6 Morton Beiser, Samuel Noh, Feng Hou, Violet Kaspar, Joanna Rummens, “Southeast Asian Refugees’ Perceptions of 
Racial Discrimination in Canada,” Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal 33 no.1 (2001): 46-70. 
7 Reynaldo Reyes, "Cheating as Good Pedagogy: Bilingual Teachers Defying English-Only to Foster Student Achievement,” 
Multicultural Perspectives 10 no.4 (2008): 209-13, doi: 10.1080/15210960802526136 

T 



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Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, and Every Child Matters, to name but a few, further prove the 
misguided notion that adopting a colour-blind approach is appropriate as it bypasses the historicity of 
belonging to certain groups. The differences that lie between the teachers as well as between the 
students extend beyond culture: This can make teaching newcomer students incredibly challenging, 
given obstacles such as English language limitations, low immigrant achievement and low parent 
involvement.8,9 Another problem lies in the lack of literature available to educators. In an examination 
of 579 articles published by the Journal of Teacher Education between 1980 and 2001, only a handful of 
articles included immigrant children and the importance of responding to their educational needs.10 
What seems to be missing is a platform that can address their present and their (at times) alienated 
subjectivity as they reconcile their old life with their new one. As mentioned, children tend to struggle 
with the wide gap between home and school. The programs proposed by educators, if not 
implemented successfully, can be an added disparate element in children’s two incompatible worlds, 
thus marginalizing them further.11 

 
Moreover, many pedagogically sensitive recommendations in multicultural educational 

guidelines tend to lack the voices of such children, though they do encourage tolerance of diversity. 
However, merely enduring the presence of the other risks creating a comfortable climate of relativism 
that bypasses the vulnerability of having to engage with the other in a critical dialogue.12 Philosophy 
for Children theorist Barbara Weber expands on this sentiment that “[…] wishing to cultivate 
‘tolerance ’as a permanent virtuous attitude in a multicultural society seems to ultimately lead to the 
cultivation of indifference and prevent the sincere recognition of ‘Other’ in their personhood. This, 
in turn, leads to the suggestion that cultivating intercultural recognition is important” (2014, 80).13 
This article will orient towards such recognition by building upon research that suggests educators 
benefit instead from competence as a social venture. The word competence has Latin roots in com-petere, 
meaning “to seek together.” In other words, perhaps educators can communally venture with 
newcomer students to meet them where they are.14 To suspend anticipation of adjustment, educators 
can better attune to students as a source of knowledge in the aftermath of settlement if engaged in a 
critical dialogue that may invite reformulation and refinement of beliefs. By depicting the social and 
emotional triggers facing newcomer immigrant children in the domains of educational policy, the 
Canadian classroom, and ongoing research and lenses, I hope to inspire paths upon which 
practitioners of philosophical inquiry may meaningfully tread. Perhaps the trajectory of integration for 

                                                 
8 Martha J. Strickland, Jane B. Keat, and Barbara A. Marinak, “Connecting Worlds: Using Photo Narrations to Connect 
Immigrant Children, Preschool Teachers, and Immigrant Families,” School Community Journal 20 (2010): 81-102. 
9 Nicole Heusch and Cécile Rousseau, “The Trip: A Creative Expression Project for Refugee and Immigrant 
Children,” Art Therapy 17 (2000): 31-40, doi: 10.1080/07421656.2000.10129434 
10 A. Lin Goodwin, “Teacher Preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children,” Education and Urban Society 34, no. 2 
(2002): 156-172, doi:10.1177/0013124502034002003 
11 Nicole Heusch and Cécile Rousseau, “The Trip: A Creative Expression Project for Refugee and Immigrant 
Children,” Art Therapy 17 (2000): 31-40, doi: 10.1080/07421656.2000.10129434 
12 Barbara Weber, “To Tolerate Means to Insult’ (J. W. v. Goethe): Towards a Social Practice of Recognition,” in Towards 
Recognition of Minority Groups: Legal and Communication Strategies, eds. M. Zirk-Sadowski, B. Wojciechowski, & K. M. Cern 
(Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publisher, 2014), 245-256.    
13 Ibid.,    
14 See Ted T. Aoki, Curriculum in a New key: The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki, eds. William F. Pinar and Rita L. Irwin 
(Routledge, 2004), 130.  



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newcomer children has been pre-planned and lacks their voices; thus, a Community of Philosophical 
Inquiry may serve the undertones of an accompanying exilic subjectivity in such children. 

 
Multiculturalism in Canada  

 
In 1971, Canada was the first country to implement multiculturalism as an official policy, 

implying that identifying with a heritage culture and adopting its values and practices should hold no 
barrier to developing a shared Canadian identity.15 In 1985, the equality rights article of the Charter, 
Section 15, came into effect, detailing that every individual had the right to equal protection and 
equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, or 
religion.16 However, is multiculturalism attainable for all—including those whose cultural values posit 
the most significant contradictions with the generalized Canadian culture? Consider the seemingly 
harmless political recognition of a minority group as a collective identity: as cultural theorist Kwame 
Anthony Appiah warns, such celebrations of identity may work to create certain aspects, like skin 
colour, as a script outside the reach of one’s particularities.17 Hence, to be recognized politically 
through policies like multiculturalism, one may be tied to scripts with very little control. Similarly, 
education systems that operate under the hegemony of multiculturalism bear the intent to welcome 
newcomers, though the practices and programs used to educate may whisper elements of an 
assimilation agenda.18 In other words, reducing the multidimensionality of the reality for immigrant 
children to a mere celebration of culture can mark the school as a place of oppression that may 
inadvertently suffocate particularities of identity.   

 
Furthermore, Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor depicts the school as a public arena where 

identity becomes very malleable and even multiple. Taylor describes identity as partly shaped by 
recognition or its absence, known as the misrecognition of others. As multiple cultures come into 
fruition between people, neglecting the struggles embedded in the reconciliation of contradictory 
elements present in both cultures can misrecognize newcomer immigrants. Such misrecognition by a 
host society can have damaging effects on newcomers, for it confines them to a reduced mode of 
being.19  

 
Given that many countries have lowered their barriers to immigration, thereby allowing more 

back and forth travel across borders, migration is not always a unidirectional journey for many 
families.20 Often the school serves as an intersection where newcomers reunite their past with the (at 
times) scripted present. Additionally, a sense of exclusion can linger both in the classroom and on the 

                                                 
15 “Canadian Multiculturalism Act,” Justice Laws Website, 2015, http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-18.7/page-1.html 
16 “Annual Report on the Operation of The Canadian Multiculturalism Act,” Canadian Heritage Multiculturalism  
Site, 2006, http://www.publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/CH31-1-2005E.pdf 
17 Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (New Jersey: Princeton 
Universitry Press, 1994).  
18Aimee V. Garza and Lindy Crawford, “Hegemonic Multiculturalism: English Immersion, Ideology, and Subtractive 
Schooling," Bilingual Research Journal 29, no. 3 (2005): 599-619, doi: 10.1080/15235882.2005.10162854 
19 Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (New Jersey: Princeton 
Universitry Press, 1994).  
20 Robert Crosnoe and Andrew J. Fuligni, “Children from Immigrant Families: Introduction to the Special Section,” Child 
Development 83 no.5 (2012): 1471-6, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01785.x 



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playground. Irrespective of racial, ethnic, or linguistic backgrounds, immigrant children commonly 
experience loneliness and social isolation, described as the distance between them and others.21,22 At 
times, there can be an accompanying fear of never recovering from the losses left behind.23 Such a 
public space often serves as the first reminder of differences in skin color, religion, and ethnicity 
between children.24 In the private sphere, newcomer children may grapple with a sense of loss: This 
can be regarding objects, people, places, and in some cases, identity. The first change in a newcomer 
child’s life is losing a home, which encompasses losing attachments to familiar objects taken for 
granted. In a new environment, they may even experience differently those treasured toys brought 
from their home country.25 Differences between the norms of the home country and the dominant 
host culture may trap them into standing out and being overlooked by society at the same time.26 
Considering some of these adversities in the home and school, is adjusting to Canadian life equally 
attainable for all children? 

 
Additionally, the longer newcomer children remain away from home, the less tangible their 

experience of it, and the associations with history, language and tradition. Thus, as Edward Said has 
expressed, they may only be acting to be at home. Still, with time, it may become difficult to associate 
with cultural identity, and one becomes the other, or a “flaw in the geometry of resettlement.”27 It is 
up to families to culturally construct their living conditions when faced with various challenges such 
as mastering a second language, a weak sense of belonging, dealing with discrimination, and 
overcoming barriers to find employment.28,29 Thus, studying acculturation in children can be 
incredibly challenging because integration and development are operating simultaneously. Both of 
these processes are interacting as well, making their adjustments a highly time-sensitive issue.30 The 

                                                 
21 Anna Kirova, “Loneliness in Immigrant Children: Implications for Classroom Practice,” Childhood Education 77 no.5 
(2001): 260-267, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2001.10521648 
22 Michael J. Emme, Anna Kirova, Oliver Kamau, and Susan Kosanovich, "Ensemble Research: A Means for Immigrant 
Children to Explore Peer Relationships Through Fotonovela," Alberta Journal of Educational Research 52, no. 3 (2006): 160-
181. 
23 Koplow, Lesley, and Eli Messinger. 1990. Developmental dilemmas of young children of immigrant parents. Child & 
Adolescent Social Work Journal 7 (2): 121-34, doi: 10.1007/BF00757649 
24 Susan S. Chuang and Uwe P. Gielen, "Understanding Immigrant families From Around the World: Introduction to the 
Special Issue," Journal of Family Psychology 23 no. 3 (2009): 275-278, doi: 10.1037/a0016016; Zheng Wu, Christoph M. 
Schimmele, and Feng Hou, "Self-Perceived Integration of Immigrants and Their Children," Canadian Journal of Sociology 37 
no. 4 (2012): 381-408. 
25 Jacqueline Oxman‐Martinez, Anneke J. Rummens, Jacques Moreau, Ye R. Choi, Morton Beiser, Linda Ogilvie, and 
Robert Armstrong, "Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and Social Exclusion: Newcomer Immigrant Children in Canada," 
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 82, no. 3 (2012): 376-388. 
26 A. Lin Goodwin, “Teacher Preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children,” Education and Urban Society 34 no.2 
(2002): 156-172, doi:10.1177/0013124502034002003; Barbara Weber, e-mail message to author, February 2015.  
27 Edward W. Said, Reflections on Exile and Other Essays (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2000), 184. 
28 Joseph H. Puyat, “Is the Influence of Social Support on Mental Health the Same for Immigrants and Non -Immigrants?” 
Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 15 no.3 (2013): 598-605, doi:10.1007/s10903-012-9658-7; A. Lin Goodwin, 
“Teacher Preparation and the Education of Immigrant Children,” Education and Urban Society 34, no. 2 (2002): 156-172, 
doi:10.1177/0013124502034002003 
29 Margie K. Shields and Richard E. Behrman, “Children of Immigrant Families: Analysis and Recommendations,” The 
Future of Children 14 no.2 (2004): 4-15. 
30 John W. Berry, "Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation," Applied psychology 46 no.1 (1997): 5-34, doi: 
10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x 



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struggles that newcomer children feel at school intertwine with their relationships with their families. 
Such clashing of two cultures—known as dissonant acculturation—may, in turn, result in lower parent-
child closeness.31 Under such circumstances, connections to domains beyond the immediate family, 
such as the education system, carry responsibility in mitigating the post-migration experiences of a 
child. Before continuing further, it is worth considering whether labels of status can create limited 
boundaries in a newcomer child’s experiences that may not exist for other children. 

 
Defining the Path for Newcomer Children 

 

One of the dominant approaches to studying adjustment to life in a host culture is the 
acculturative framework created by John Berry. This theory outlines four acculturation strategies, 
depending on how ethnic group members identify with their home and host culture. The immigrant 
is classified as “Integrated” when maintaining the cultural identity of the home country and fully 
associating with the new society. Another classification may be “Assimilated” if an individual absorbs 
the cultural values of the mainstream society but denies their cultural identity. The immigrant is 
deemed to be “Separated” when the focus is on maintaining the home culture while rejecting the host 
society; or those who reject both their home culture and resist the host culture are categorized as 
“Marginalized.”32 However, achieving integration has been criticized for various reasons. For instance, 
one cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim within religion since its practices clash.33 Meaning, 
some cultural practices do not permit individuals the freedom to switch between cultural codes. 
Furthermore, the ‘Integrated’ individual implies that the immigrant has undergone a free choice of 
independently weaving the values of the dominant mainstream culture and those of the ethnic group. 
But such an act of reconciliation of two cultures is dictated by a more extensive set of political and 
historical practices linked to and shaped by race, gender, sexuality and power.34 Another acculturative 
state, defined as “Marginalization,” suggests that individuals are distant from the host culture to which 
they prefer to belong. Yet often, the problem is that individuals rarely prefer to distance themselves 
from the reference community; instead, marginalization is often the by-product of a failure to belong 
to the preferred reference group.35 Perhaps the most blatant criticism stems from the fluidity of 
acculturation, where one may carry a myriad of such “states” upon settlement. Many newcomers have 
described their state as constantly undergoing half-involvement and half-detachments, including 
feeling nostalgic while feeling like a secret outcast.36 Thus, one can be successfully immersed in a host 
country yet also distanced from home. As described by Said, in a metaphysical sense, one is in 
movement, unsettled while unsettling others.37 Viewing such individuals free of any categories or 

                                                 
31 Robert Crosnoe and Andrew J. Fuligni, “Children from Immigrant Families: Introduction to the Special Section,” Child 
Development 83 no.5 (2012): 1471-6, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01785.x 
32 John W. Berry, “Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation,” Applied Psychology 46 (1997): 5-34. 
33 Floyd W. Rudmin and Vali Ahmadzadeh, “Psychometric Critique of Acculturation Psychology: The Case of Iranian 
Migrants in Norway,” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 42 (2001): 41-56. 
34 Sunil Bhatia and Anjali Ram, “Rethinking 'Acculturation' in Relation to Diasporic Cultures and Postcolonial 
Identities,” Human Development 44 (2001): 1-18. 
35 Floyd W. Rudmin and Vali Ahmadzadeh, “Psychometric Critique of Acculturation Psychology: The Case of Iranian 
Migrants in Norway,” Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 42 (2001): 41-56. 
36 Veronica R. Martini, “Education on the Transnational Stage: A Shared Spotlight, a Pocket of Hope,” Global Trends in 
Educational Policy 6 (2005): 173-196, doi:10.1016/S1479-3679(04)06007-4 
37 Edward W. Said, Representations of the Intellectual: The 1993 Reith lectures (London: Vintage Books, 1993).   



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cultural frames of reference allows the development of new ideas and new approaches to various life 
tasks to take shape.  

 
With immigration comes the accompaniment of unique past experiences, which supply a 

double-vision of what has been left behind and what is actual here and now, where one “never sees 
things in isolation.”38 Although each province has its regulations for accompanying the needs of first-
generation immigrant students, the guidelines established by the British Columbia Ministry of 
Education serve as an example of how acculturation for newcomer immigrant children has been 
encapsulated. As a resource to educators, the BC Ministry of Education depicted four stages that most 
newcomers will pass through until adjustment is reached: The “Honeymoon Stage,” characterized by 
feelings of happiness for the novel experiences; the “Hostility Stage,” which are feelings of hate and 
frustration generated towards North America; the “Humour Stage,” described as an acceptance of the 
new ways of living; and finally the “Home Stage,” where the immigrant student feels ‘native’ and as 
part of Canadian society.39 However, reaching a ‘native’ Canadian identity may not be feasible for 
many children due to external and internal factors. Further, a policy that anticipates an arrival is 
illuminating a model that intrinsically needs protection by recognizing specific individuals as 
“others”—those students who may never feel at home. Hence, we encounter a version of our guiding 
question once again: Is it justified to assume adjustment as an endpoint for all newcomer immigrants? 

 
These stages influencing teaching practice are especially problematic considering that adults have 

depicted them while the child’s voice in the stages of adjustment is lacking. Perhaps instead of pre-
planned destinations, what might better serve such students is to linger on the bridge of in-
betweenness as they may be in no hurry to cross over.40 Thus, the challenge for educators lies in 
facilitating the in-betweenness of such children instead of anticipating their arrival at a pre-determined 
state.  

 
Given the abundance of longitudinal research dedicated to the educational and occupational 

roles such students fulfill, children of immigrant families are involuntarily swept into the lens of being 
viewed as one day becoming economically self-sufficient adults. In line with the tradition of promoting 
economic growth, most studies devoted to immigrant children have instead opted to measure the 
value in who they have become as adults to validate an adjusted status. Therefore, most research 
regarding newcomer children evaluates the mastery of the English language as a measurement of 
adjustment to life in the host country. English comprehension is a valuable skill in making one 
functional and integrated into society but does not reflect the mental and emotional complexities of 
migration. For example, English proficiency can have negative repercussions that can bleed into the 
family: When a child learns a new language faster than their parents, role reversals may occur whereby 
parents become incapable of assisting children in school-related affairs, paving distance between 
parents and children. 

 

                                                 
38 Edward W. Said, “Intellectual Exile: Expatriates and marginals,” Grand Street 47 (1993): 124, doi:10.2307/25007703 
39 British Columbia Ministry of Education, “English as a Second Language Learners: A Guide for ESL Specialists,” Ministry of 
Education Special Programs Branch, (1999): 1-62. 
40 See Ted T. Aoki, Curriculum in a New key: The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki, eds. William F. Pinar and Rita L. Irwin 
(Routledge, 2004).  



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Moreover, learning English can influence changes in nonverbal behavior as well. With a diverse 
range of students in Canadian classrooms, the expectation is that non-English speaking and English-
speaking students can interact harmoniously and work collaboratively. Even when fluency in English 
has been achieved, some reported feelings of helplessness and depression, for they assume being 
negatively evaluated by members of the host culture.41 Additionally, high grades may appear as an 
indicator of adjustment, but may also be stemming from the guilt students bear after witnessing the 
sacrifices made by their families to provide better opportunities. Consequently, such children can 
uphold high educational aspirations as a way of ridding their feelings of indebtedness to their 
parents.42 To escape the labels of acculturation theories and stages in policies, perhaps the focus can 
be diverted to how each student can create a culture congruent to their sense of self.43 The following 
section will heed the call of creativity lingering in the unheard struggles of newcomer children. 

 
Philosophical Inquiry with Newcomer Children 

 

By conceptualizing newcomers’ adjustment as a series of stages, as English proficiency or through 
research focused on the outcome, the risk is that we forego the present of the newcomer in exchange 
for who they have yet to become. Without addressing the varied experiences of each person, 
conformity may be enforced at the expense of individual particularity. For example, those who 
identify with belonging to the outside may be dismissed as unqualified to comment. Philosophical 
inquiry may provide an opening where the struggles of these children can not only be acknowledged 
but also incorporated into strategies to navigate the complicated experiences they may be 
encountering. 

 
How can facilitators recognize such students’ alienation without resorting to common 

misconceptions which impose sameness on them and, in turn, eliminate their particularity? To 
imagine that a Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI) can address this sense of alienation unveils 
further intricacies, since these challenges tend to thrive as a monologue within the self. Thus, the 
presence of newcomer children in the classroom calls upon facilitators to practice in “tensionality.” 
This tensionality in a pedagogical situation is a mode of being marked by mis-relations between 
teacher and students and mis-relations between teacher and instructional pressures to succumb to 
dated expectations regarding newcomers. Instead, facilitators may incorporate philosophical inquiry to 
engage in the tension between the present and the future that enables a critical process of self-
becoming.44 Attending to lived experiences in response to the forces of recognition requires an inquiry 

                                                 
41 Krystyna Nowak-Fabrykowski and Miroslav Shkandrij, “The Symbolic World of the Bilingual Child: Digressions on 
Language Acquisition, Culture and the Process of Thinking,” Journal of Instructional Psychology 31 no.4 (2004): 284-292. 
42 Cynthia Feliciano, “Beyond the Family: The Influence of Premigration Group Status on the Educational Expectations of 
Immigrant Children,” Sociology of Education 79 no.4 (2006): 281-303; Peter Burton and Shelley Phipps, "The Well-Being of 
Immigrant Children and Parents in Canada," (2010): In 31st general conference of the International Association for Research in 
Income and Wealth, St. Gallen, Switzerland. 
43 Mary Jalongo, “A Position Paper of the Association for Childhood Education International: The Child's Right to 
Creative Thought and Expression,” Childhood Education 79 no.4 (2003): 218-228, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2003.10521196; 
Angela Leung, William W. Maddux, Adam D. Galinsky, and Chi-yue Chiu, “Multicultural Experience Enhances 
Creativity: The When and How,” American Psychologist 63 no.3 (2008): 169-81. 
44 See Douglas McKnight, D, “Critical Pedagogy and Despair: A Move Toward Kierkegaard’s Passionate Inwardness,” in 
Curriculum Studies Handbook: The Next Moment, ed. E. Malewski (New York: Routledge, 2010), 500-507.  



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into the labor of the solitary self in collaboration with social practices. Thus, this article invites a pause 
from pedagogical recommendations in order to not startle the unsettled moments at work in the 
present—that no universal rule should dictate the conduct aimed at newcomer children.  

 
Many creative workshops have been used with immigrant children in order to help them 

construct meaning, structure their identity and work through their losses.45 An experimental study 
found creative workshops in a 12-week program with 138 immigrant children aged 7 to 13 years to 
boost their self-esteem.46 Such activities increase the understanding of teachers about newcomer 
students and enable them to reconstruct a meaningful personal world while also linking them to the 
larger classroom group.47 

 
Art therapy is another form of creative expression that has proved promising in assisting 

immigrant children in better understanding themselves as individuals and as part of a group.48 
Perhaps such positive outcomes occur because art is an activity where evaluation is subjective, thereby 
less stigmatizing.49 Myths and storytelling are forms of creative expression that allow the child to voice 
their inner reality and explore the tensions associated with belonging to two cultures.50 Providing 
different avenues of expression for immigrant children, such as verbal and nonverbal activities, can 
ease the existing language barrier.51 Therefore, CPI dialogues can achieve this because their communal 
structure promotes responsibility to evaluate differing viewpoints, and in turn, members can think 
creatively in searching for alternative meanings.52 Matthew Lipman saw the creative process as one 
that includes originality, transcends the present situation, and expresses itself in an individual's self-
definition, with imagination lying at its base.53 Facilitators who have effectively engaged children in 
philosophical inquiry have noticed creative thinking at play when members formulate questions, 
articulate problems, define concepts, construct solutions and search for counter-examples while 
reconstructing philosophical issues.54 
                                                 
45 Ditty Dokter, Arts Therapists, Refugees and Migrants: Reaching Across Borders (London: Jessica Kingsley, 1998); Kenneth E. 
Miller and Deborah L. Billings, “Playing to Grow: A Primary Mental Health Intervention with Guatemalan Refugee 
Children,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 64 no.3 (1994): 346-56. 
46 Cécile Rousseau, Aline Drapeau, Louise Lacroix, Déogratias Bagilishya, and Nicole Heusch, “Evaluation of a Classroom 
Program of Creative Expression Workshops for Refugee and Immigrant Children,” Journal of Child Psychology and 
Psychiatry 46 no.2 (2005): 180-5, doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00344.x 
47 Ibid. 
48 Hilda Wengrower, "Arts Therapies in Educational Settings: An Intercultural Encounter," The Arts in Psychotherapy 28 no. 
2 (2001): 109-115. 
49 Ibid. 
50 Nicole Heusch, Deogratia Bagilishya, Louise Lacroix, and Cécile Rousseau, “Working With Myths: Creative Expression 
Workshops for Immigrant and Refugee Children in a School setting,” Art Therapy 20 (2003): 3-10, 
doi:10.1080/07421656.2003.10129630 
51 Cécile Rousseau, Louise Lacroix, Abha Singh, Marie-France Gauthier, and Maryse Benoit, “Creative Expression 
Workshops in School: Prevention Programs for Immigrant and Refugee Children,” The Canadian Child and Adolescent 
Psychiatry Review 14 no.3(2005): 77-80.  
52 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 
95-111. 
53 Metin Demir, Hasan Bacanlı, Sinem Tarhan, and Mehmet Ali Dombaycı, “Quadruple Thinking: Critical 
Thinking,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 12 (2011): 545-51, doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.02.066 
54 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 
95-111. 



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My personal experience as a Graduate Research Assistant in a study in British Columbia which 
aimed to measure empathy in relation to CPI practices provides an exemplar of how such social 
practices can guide individual understanding. The study investigated the impact of the CPI on 
fostering children’s experiences of empathy and perspective-taking in grades five to eight across four 
different schools in Vancouver, British Columbia.55 One of the participants, Sia,56 had recently moved 
from Iran and spoke very little English in front of the class at large. As co-facilitators, we tried to make 
sense of the concerns over Sia as expressed by his teacher and we did not know whether Sia heard 
only bits and pieces of artificial-sounding language in the research sessions. To our surprise, his 
engagement in various topics throughout the program—from questions such as “What is the meaning 
of life?” and “Why do we do what we do?”—reflected in his journals near the conclusion of each 
philosophical inquiry session. His drawings and concise words conveyed to us where he stood in his 
imaginative responses and as a part of the classroom. Instances of autonomy in his answers to 
metacognitive questions were apparent where he stated that he had shared ideas with the class. 
Although he rarely contributed verbally, his journal allowed for his inner voice to be made audible. 

 
The Five Finger Model by Ekkehard Martens in philosophical inquiry, as described by Eva 

Marsal, can also serve the aims of multiculturalism by making a newcomer child understandable while 
understanding the other. This can unfold through step-by-step reflective practices by facilitators as they 
cover its tenets: Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Analysis, Dialectics and Speculation.57 In this 
context, “Phenomenology” pertains to describing one’s lived experiences. This resonates with 
newcomers flooded by memories of their past that become veiled and trapped in their present. To 
address such memories phenomenologically, one can confront the body as a site of memory. John 
Dewey insisted that successful education connects what happens in the classroom with real-life 
experiences outside of the school.58 Stimuli integrating historical accounts or the stories of children 
about familial experiences can welcome the family identity into the public sphere of each child. Such 
inquiry can reinforce the dialogue between children and their parents about positive aspects of their 
past, helping them bridge the gap between home and school. In other words, descriptions that are 
integral to the child's home culture can symbolically introduce the family into the classroom.  

 
Next, “Hermeneutics” allows for understanding, more specifically, how each person understands 

something. This involves not only dialogue following the reading of texts but also interpreting 
messages outside of the context. To delve into these inner workings, facilitators of inquiry can explore 
how identities have been fragmented due to public recognition in school. For example, writing letters 
to friends or valued individuals from their home culture or journaling can support metacognitive 
thinking and assist expression from those members who may be quiet in group settings.59 These 
writing practices are a suitable mode of expression for those who may be more comfortable writing in 
English than speaking it. These varied expressions can support newcomer children to cope with the 
past, find a balance between their two worlds in the present, and help them imagine a future in their 
                                                 
55 Mahboubeh Asgari, Barbara Weber, Kimberley Schonert-Reichl, and Jenna Whitehead, “Engaged Inquiry with 
Children: Fostering Empathy and Perspective-Taking,” (in progress).   
56 Name of participant has been changed.  
57 Eva Marsal, “Socratic Philosophizing with the Five Finger Model: The Theoretical Approach of Ekkehard Martens,” 
Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis 35 no. 1 (2014): 39-49. 
58 John Dewey, How We Think (New York: Dover Publications, 1910). 
59 Melissa Freeman and Sandra Mathison, Researching Children's Experiences (New York: Guilford Press, 2009). 



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control. Although such activities are suitable for all students, they recognize each newcomer for their 
particular identity rather than what may be deemed cultural tourism, where a child’s home culture is 
reduced to a time-frame of celebrating diversity, national foods, and festivals—which risks reinforcing 
stereotypes.  

 
The “Analytical” aspect involves a conceptual verification of the arguments made. This process 

can lead to an exploration of particularities that are potentially shared with others. Before I 
experienced the philosophical inquiry sessions within classrooms over two months, I anticipated 
students ready to engage with the materials that the Principal Investigator carefully prepared. This was 
much like the language created by the curriculum planners: I saw hidden voices like Sia’s on the verge 
of disappearing into the shadow due to policies that were planned for faceless students, shedding 
them of their uniqueness. I could not help but also sympathize with educators who were also narrowly 
defined in their performance roles. The paradox of philosophical inquiry when it comes to newcomers 
is that the anecdotal traces in journals or other forms of expression are telling of something particular 
while addressing the universal.60 

 
Next, the “Dialectical” step involves a reciprocal dialogue of arguing about the issues raised in 

order to arrive at further clarification. Personal conceptions are considered and even altered. 
According to Taylor, the particularities of individuals stem from how they reflect and modify their 
cultural heritage and that of others they encounter.61 This is a dialogical formation of identity that 
includes how one responds to relations, including their dialogue with others. Finally, the last step 
involves “Speculation,” which invites imagining into how to understand something as completely 
different. This can come through if one remains creatively open and can fantasize about specific 
questions through philosophizing. The creative process generates an intermediate space that belongs 
neither to the internal psychological reality nor the external reality of the individual.62 Creativity 
requires skill, knowledge, and control.63 Although creative thinking relies on imagination, it is not 
imaginative thinking; creative thinking involves evaluating the solution or idea. Therefore, the creative 
thinking in a CPI is not just a cathartic expression but undergoes evaluation through critical thinking 
by the individual and the CPI members as a group, including conflict resolution skills and improved 
manifestation of emotions, as well as consideration of the thoughts of other children.64,65 For children 
of immigrant families, especially, such a transitional space welcomes play in external realities until 
coherence and security are achieved in their inner worlds. In the case of Sia, no matter how loudly or 
silently in solitude philosophical inquiry was conducted, he reminded me that I am a facilitator to 

                                                 
60 William F. Pinar, William M. Reynolds, Patrick Slattery, and Peter M. Taubman, Understanding Curriculum: An 
Introduction to the Study of Historical and Contemporary Curriculum Discourses (Peter Lang, 2006), 42.   
61 Charles Taylor and Amy Gutmann, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition (New Jersey: Princeton University 
Press, 1994). 
62 Nicole Heusch and Cécile Rousseau, “The Trip: A Creative Expression Project for Refugee and Immigrant 
Children,” Art Therapy 17 (2000): 31-40, doi: 10.1080/07421656.2000.10129434 
63 Ken Robinson, interview by Amy M. Azzam, Why Creativity Now?: A Conversation With Sir Ken Robinson, Alexandria: 
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, September, 2009.  
64 Metin Demir, Hasan Bacanlı, Sinem Tarhan, and Mehmet Ali Dombaycı, “Quadruple Thinking: Critical 
Thinking,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 12 (2011): 545-51, doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.02.066 
65 Deirdre Grogan and Joan Martlew, “Exploring Creative Environments Through the Child's Lens,” Creative Education 5 
no.16 (2014): 1528-1544.  



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myself, then to others—although it is not always sequenced linearly. As long as the question for inquiry 
could resonate with Sia, then the intended multicultural educational theory could be contextualized 
and communicated to students. Creating spaces in classrooms where children can access these ideas 
can facilitate meaningful experiences.66 Paulo Freire believed interactions must start with the people’s 
positions in order to be emotionally engaging.67 John Dewey suggested that reflective thinking could 
reconstruct unsettling experiences into coherent and meaningful situations.68 To go beyond the 
problematic experience in actuality, the imagination enables the individual to understand and 
transform reality.69 Imagination calls upon the individual to draw upon an experience in an inventive 
way and formulate rich and varied mental images by using past experiences to construct alternative 
possibilities in problematic situations.70,71 As immigrant children experience exclusion in school, the 
CPI can serve as a “playground of thought” where children can recreate their interpretations of their 
experiences and, in turn, achieve ownership of their understandings.72,73 Through deliberation with 
others and reconstruction of their experiences with the world, philosophical inquiry can transform 
their identities in this process of achieving self-realization.74 

 
Perhaps, newcomer children and youth can acknowledge how their history suffuses with the 

present and accompanies their self-consciousness. By giving space to newcomer children to explore 
their questions, the practice of philosophical inquiry can encourage comfort in uncertainty. This is 
especially helpful for newcomer immigrant children because new and often conflicting experiences 
characterize their world. To inquire into their struggles promotes an understanding that issues in life 
may not be so fixed. Children can perhaps understand that their journey is in their control by gaining 
comfort with the uncertainties in life in a group setting. In practice, the CPI addresses belongingness 
by encouraging eye contact during the inquiry and having its members situated in a circle that secures 
interconnectedness on a nonverbal level.75 Such may not only be appreciated for newcomers who 
often get separated from their classroom for English instruction but also discourages pre-recognizing 

                                                 
66 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 
95-111. 
67 Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 1989). 
68 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 
95-111. 
69 Ibid. 
70 Mary Jalongo, “A Position Paper of the Association for Childhood Education International: The Child's Right to 
Creative Thought and Expression,” Childhood Education 79 no.4 (2003): 218-228, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2003.10521196 
71 Jennifer B. Bleazby, “Dewey's Notion of Imagination in Philosophy for Children,” Education and Culture 28 no.2 (2012): 
95-111. 
72 Barbara Weber, “Childhood, Philosophy and Play: Friedrich Schiller and the Interface Between Reason, Passion and 
Sensation,” Journal of Philosophy of Education 45 no.2(2011): 235-50, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00804.x 
73 Damian Spiteri, “The Community of Philosophical Inquiry and the Enhancement of Intercultural Sensitivity,” Childhood 
& Philosophy 11 (2010): 86-111. 
74 Barbara Weber, “Childhood, Philosophy and Play: Friedrich Schiller and the Interface Between Reason, Passion and 
Sensation,” Journal of Philosophy of Education 45 no.2(2011): 235-50, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00804.x 
75 Michael J. Emme, Anna Kirova, Oliver Kamau, and Susan Kosanovich, "Ensemble Research: A Means for Immigrant 
Children to Explore Peer Relationships Through Fotonovela," Alberta Journal of Educational Research 52, no. 3 (2006): 160-
181. 



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the other by concluding the facial expressions of others.76 Miscommunication can occur since given 
messages are decoded per one’s cultural upbringing. Thus, nonverbal translation is a vital asset in 
adjustment to a new culture, though its importance receives very little attention in classrooms. 

 
In philosophical inquiry, the alternating opportunities for personal expression and small group 

discussions facilitate the emotional understanding and expression of children’s experiences while 
allowing them the distance they need from it. Therefore, when newcomer children engage in creative 
play of sharing their experiences, the CPI connects them to others in a space with no cultural borders 
that could bind or limit their self-definition while assuring their voices are heard in the group or 
journals.77 The recognition it requires for newcomers does not entirely develop from intersubjective 
understanding but from the realization that one will never fully understand the other and can only 
listen and bear witness to the monologue of the other. Educational opportunities that embrace this 
diversity can become broader, more tolerant and more stimulating learning environments. The 
practice of philosophical inquiry has been linked to self-correction and open-mindedness—qualities 
that depend on the capacity for imagination. Perhaps, with greater practice, the more likely newcomer 
children can think creatively about new experiences rather than surrendering to the dominant culture 
or succumbing to peer pressure. 

 
I have shared adversities facing newcomer children from various aspects to break from a proper 

way of being alienated, one in which all alienated individuals must partake to achieve adjustment. 
Such work runs a danger of replacing one form of estrangement with another. Alienation needs to be 
explored as a lingering in-betweenness between the public and the private and the tensions it holds in 
the complexities of in-betweenness. This can be a different approach to designing philosophical 
inquiry; as an indispensable means for thinking through issues of recognition and difference and 
understanding relations to others while questioning identity as a point of departure.  

 
Many contextual factors influence their experiences in Canada, and to say that all will fall under 

a category, is to pave over the inequities faced by many newcomer children. Viewing adjustment as a 
series of stages or labels allows for ease in conceptualization and formulation of outcomes. To assign 
labels and designate phases to each newcomer dictates how the adult should behave around that 
specific child. David Kennedy suggested that the problem with any stage theory is that the adult has 
already pre-planned the child’s journey and destination.78 At the community level, a combination of a 
lack of culturally inclusive programs and limited awareness of community resources and services has 
resulted in low participation of immigrant children and youth in such services.79 Although 
educational guidelines, research and theoretical frameworks contribute to understanding the 
newcomer population in Canada, such domains have not facilitated their present subjectivity and 
                                                 
76 Anna Kirova, “Loneliness in Immigrant Children: Implications for Classroom Practice,” Childhood Education 77 no.5 
(2001): 260-267, doi: 10.1080/00094056.2001.10521648 
77 Barbara Weber, “Childhood, Philosophy and Play: Friedrich Schiller and the Interface Between Reason, Passion and 
Sensation,” Journal of Philosophy of Education 45 no.2(2011): 235-50, doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9752.2011.00804.x ;Wendy 
Turgeon, "Multiculturalism: Politics of Difference, Education and Philosophy for Children," Analytic Teaching 24 no. 2 
(2005): 96-109. 
78 David Kennedy, The Well of Being: Childhood, Subjectivity, and Education (Albany: State University of New York Press, 
2006). 
79 Barbara Schleifer and Hieu Ngo, “Immigrant Children and Youth in Focus,” Canadian Issues 29 (2005): 29-33.  



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their voices. If we listen to their voices, instead of imposing an external interpretation of their 
complex struggles, we can understand the meaning of lived experience within the community. To 
locate oneself on the margins or between the ridges of two cultures, one's lived experiences are marked 
by tension. The practice of philosophical inquiry may prepare students for living life worthy as 
outsiders, where the gap between the self and cultural identity can be a valuable human condition. 
Philosophical inquiry can expose the overcasting, lingering qualities of settlement, which should not 
be mistaken with cultural differences. This practice of “tensionality” can bring comfort with 
discomfort, for it promises a deeper understanding of oneself and others, resonant with a more 
human way of recognition than one based on criterion. Perhaps the presence of individuals like Sia in 
the CPI can encourage a redraft of the curriculum—one that invites voices from newcomer students, 
where they can project themselves into the past, scrutinize its felt structures and weave their unique 
through-line in their present.  

 
 
Address Correspondences to:  
Parmis Aslanimehr, 
Doctoral Candidate, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia,  

Email:  parmisa23@gmail.com  
 

mailto:parmisa23@gmail.com

