Looking through the Lens of Newcomer Families (2019-2021)

In 2019, ECCRC partnered with our local settlement agency, the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia (ISANS), to investigate how newcomer families locate and utilize programs and services for their young children.

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC, Insight Grant stream), we employed photovoice methodology to understand the lived experiences of newcomer families to answer our research questions. In this project, newcomer families and early childhood educators took photos that reflected how they found and used programs for their children, and engaged in discussions to further explore their feelings and understandings behind their pictures.

Mobilizing Innovative Models in Early Childhood Education and Care for Newcomer Families and Children (2021-2022)

After completion of this project, we conducted a jurisdictional scan of settlement organizations across Canada that provide child care for newcomer children. We chose to explore child care provided by settlement organizations as participants in our previous project identified them as one of the main organizations that support families and newcomer children’s transition into Canada.

After the jurisdictional scan, we conducted surveys or short interviews with 38 organizations that support newcomers across Canada to gain in-depth information about how they support newcomer children’s social and emotional well-being through child care. Publication is currently in press. SSHRC also funded this study through the Child and Youth Refugee Research Coalition (CYRRC).

Amplifying the voices of young newcomer children to support social and emotional wellbeing (2024-2027)

Hearing from newcomer families, educators, and service providers, we sought to develop a research project that would enable us to directly gather insights from newcomer children regarding their transition and social and emotional well-being. This research, which is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Insight Grant stream), employs participatory visual methodologies. While research is beginning to explore the experiences of newcomer parents, much less is known about the settlement experiences of young children.

There are several ways to conduct research with children, like drawing and using photographs, to ensure a child’s comfort in sharing perceptions and reduce the power imbalance between the child and researcher. Participatory visual methodologies provide suitable research methods for working with newcomer children from diverse language and cultural backgrounds.

We completed the program mapping of available services for newcomer children in Nova Scotia, which aims to support their social and emotional well-being to answer the research question one. To address the second question, we are planning four to six family visits with newcomer children and their families in a familiar setting to amplify their voices about their experiences during their settlement journey. This study incorporates various modes of culturally and developmentally appropriate data collection to document the experiences of children and their families. Stay tuned for more details once the family visits conclude.

Finally, we are conducting a scoping review of experiences of immigrant educators working in Western countries (Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and the USA). Stay tuned for more of this review.