Integration through Trust

Subproject 1 examined the conditions under which refugee parents build up trust towards ECEC supported through the media. Our hypothesis was that media have their own potential for improving relationships of trust through their integration into the everyday life of families. To pursue our research interest, we conducted interviews with refugee parents and early education professionals and implemented a social function analysis of the relevant media.

Contact: Dr. Marek Winkel
Subproject lead: Prof. Dr. Henrike Friedrichs-Liesenkötter

Subproject 2 was concerned with the conditions under which refugee parents can build up trust in ECEC with the help of persons and organisations of the social services. To this end, interviews were conducted with refugee parents and professionals of social services.

Contact: Hila Kakar
Subproject lead: Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandermann

Subproject 3 addressed the role of civil society in relation to access to ECEC for refugee families. We conducted interviews with refugee parents, volunteers and representatives of selected communities.

Contact: Dr. Anna Siede
Subproject lead: Prof. Dr. Sybille Münch

Subproject 4 investigated the potential for shaping a communication based on trust between refugee parents and professionals or volunteers with regard to ECEC. Relevant work areas were accompanied and interviews are conducted with parents, professionals and volunteers.

Contact: Vanessa Schwenker
Subproject lead: Prof. Dr. Anna Henkel

Subproject 5 created an extended data basis through a broad-based quantitative questionnaire survey of refugee parents throughout Lower Saxony. The standardised questionnaire covered the overall topic of access of refugee families to early educational services in Lower Saxony. It compared which functions and roles e.g. social services, volunteers and digital media play in access and trust-building from the perspective of refugee parents.

Research Tools

Download pdf file - Questionnaire

Contact: Laura Wenzel
Subproject lead: Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandermann, Dr. Onno Husen

In subproject 6, the results generated in subprojects 1 - 5 were made available for practical use by creating continuing education modules. The modules that were developed were aimed at professionals, volunteers and organisations that are in contact with refugee parents of children aged 0 - 6 or would like to be. In context of our cooperation with practice partners involved in the fields of family, migration and ECEC, we were particularly interested in an exchange between science and practice and a joint development of further education modules.

Contact: Laura Wenzel
Subproject lead: Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandermann, Dr. Onno Husen

Linked to the research project, a teaching research project with students of the Social Education Master's programme at Leuphana took place. In a one-year field research project, the positioning and subjectivisation of refugee parents in the field of early childhood education in Lower Saxony was investigated on the basis of parent interviews, interviews with professionals, document analyses and observation methods.

Lead: Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandermann, Vanessa Schwenker

At the practice transfer workshop with professionals in the field of early childhood education in Hessen, central research results of the project were discussed with the participants and reflected on with regard to their applicability. The participants emphasized the applicability of the contents and developed concrete measures for a diversity- and language/culture-sensitive further development of their own institutions.

The "Kinderstuben" of the RuhrFutur Foundation are dedicated, among other things, to the task of enabling culturally sensitive and low-threshold access to the day care system for children in Germany. Based on this, various possibilities for the implementation and use of the developed training modules for early childhood educators were discussed with the participants. A recording of the lecture can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Mq6XGNujk

Due to high demand, an additional three-hour online workshop was organized in cooperation with the Agency for Adult and Continuing Education and the Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development on the topic "Proximity and Distance in Building Trust with (Refugee) Parents. Possibilities of incorporating scientific results into further and advanced training for early childhood educators". In addition to theoretical inputs based on our empirical project results, various possibilities of implementing and using the developed training modules for early childhood educators were discussed.

In cooperation with the Agency for Adult and Continuing Education (AEWB) and the Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development (nifbe), Philipp Sandermann, Onno Husen and Laura Wenzel held a three-hour workshop on "Proximity and Distance in Building Trust with (Refugee) Parents. Possibilities of incorporating scientific results into further and advanced training for early childhood educators". The free qualification and conception workshop in an online format was aimed at course instructors, trainers and process facilitators who already design and conduct training courses for professionals in early childhood education or are planning to do so and want to take greater account of aspects of parental trust building in the context of migration, diversity and inclusion.

The duration of our project "Integration through Trust. Conditions of Building Trust of Refugee Parents with 0 - 6 year old Children towards Early Education Offers in Lower Saxony" ends on May 31, 2022. We presented the overarching project results as well as the practical transfer within the framework of a hybrid final event at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg and discussed it together with our project partners, interview partners and various representatives from science and practice as well as the interested (university) public. The program of the day can be found here.

University West in Trollhättan, Sweden, is a partner university of Leuphana University Lüneburg. In the course of intensifying the international cooperation with the University West, Philipp Sandermann and Onno Husen held a workshop with our Swedish colleagues to discuss selected results of the project and to compare them with the results of Swedish research on refugee migration.

The "Kinderstuben" of the RuhrFutur Foundation are dedicated, among other things, to the task of enabling culturally sensitive and low-threshold access to the regular system of day care for children in Germany. Philipp Sandermann presented the main results of the project in order to discuss starting points for the transfer of the concept.

At the round table on Early Childhood Education and Care, organised by the Agency for Adult and Continuing Education (AEWB), Philipp Sandermann and Laura Wenzel presented the overall results of the project and discussed them with participants from the field of continuing education for early childhood education professionals, day care centre advisors and the state and municipal administration.

The practice transfer workshop with actors from the field of further education and training of early childhood education professionals from the district of Lüneburg in cooperation with the regional transfer office NorthEast of the Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development (nifbe) took place in an online format. In addition to the research results, we presented and discussed the training outline developed from the results with the participants to determine its applicability in practice development. The participants confirmed the relevance of the research results for their working environments and assessed the interaction between science and practice as valuable.

The practice transfer workshop with further education trainers in the field of Early Childhood Education and Care in cooperation with the regional transfer office NordOst of the Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education and Development (nifbe) took place in an online format. On the one hand, the results of the project on shaping relationships of trust in early childhood education and care were presented, and on the other hand, the participants exchanged views on the relevance and didactic integration of the project results in their work. In particular, the potential to support the development of mutual trust and communication between parents and professionals through process orientation was highlighted.

The three-day conference on "The Making and Doing of Family in, through and with Education and Social Work" brought together scholars from different disciplines, such as anthropology, educational science and social work. Onno Husen and Philipp Sandermann presented the perspectives and results of the project on addressing refugee parents through social services and early childhood education services and discussed them with the participants.

As usual, a high number of international scholars came together at the annual conference of the network IMISCOE to discuss current topics in the fields of migration and integration, this year in digital format. Our project team contributed actively with two presentations. Laura Wenzel, Onno Husen and Philipp Sandermann presented the methodological approach of our quantitative survey, focussing on challenges related to the pandemic. Anna Siede shared empirical results from the qualitative interviews concerning the role of volunteers in facilitating refugee families to build trust in ECEC.

As part of the BMBF-funded study "ReGES - Refugees in the German Educational System", the Leibniz Institute of Educational Progress invited to a virtual conference and interdisciplinary exchange on the topic of “Arrived? On the Situation of Refugee Children and Young People in the German Education System”. Hila Kakar and Laura Wenzel presented first multi-methodological results on the conditions and processes of trust-building of refugee parents towards Early Childhood Education and Care services.

At the second meeting with the project partners, including in particular practioners, we presented the empirical results of subprojects 1 - 5. Afterwards, we had a discussion focusing on the relevance of the results for the practice transfer. The expectations and remarks of the practitioners provided valuable insights from the field on the interface between professionalization, trust and migration research, in which the project is located. The practice partners emphasized the importance of information materials and the reduction of barriers in accessing early childhood education and care services. In the coming months, training modules will be developed based on the practical experience of the project partners.

Serving as a platform for the discussion and networking of researchers in the field of refugee and forced migration studies, the network's three-day conference took place digitally this year. The conference focused on questions concerning the contexts of displacement, refugee protection and forced migrants’ lives. We were invited to participate with two presentations. Anna Siede, Laura Wenzel and Marek Winkel addressed “The Role of Informal Networks in Refugee Families’ Access to Early Childhood Education and Care.” Hila Kakar, Vanessa Schwenker and Philipp Sandermann focused on “Transorganizational Perspectives on Integration and Trust.”

The conference jointly organised by GESIS (Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences) and IMIS (Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies) addressed issues of migration and integration of young (refugee) people and their families. Researchers from Germany and Canada presented their research results on this topic and discussed methodological and conceptual questions. Sybille Münch and Anna Siede were invited to present the planned approach and initial findings from subproject 3 in the panel "Integrating Recently Settled Refugees and Migrants into the Education System and Society". Further information on the event can be found here.

The conference was organised as part of the CEASEVAL research project on the evaluation of the Common European Asylum System. Anna Siede presented the planned approach and initial findings from subproject 3 in the context of the panel "Care and Vulnerable Groups in Refugee Regimes". Further information on the event can be found here.

The conference of the Lower Saxony Institute for Early Childhood Education was held based on the guiding principle "Diversity in Dialogue - Strengthening Networking" and offered a framework to enable and strengthen the exchange between research and practice. Philipp Sandermann and Laura Wenzel presented the research project to interested practitioners within the field of knowledge transfer and subsequently discussed various questions, especially regarding the transfer of the project into practice.

The two-day conference on Migration and Mobility Studies addressed various aspects of transnational relations and movements. The topic of refugee migration was also to be discussed at several sessions. We were invited to present our project in the thematic panel "Families on the Move". Following our presentation, we received positive feedback and helpful suggestions from the international guests.

Already in the planning phase of our research project, we have endeavoured to involve actors who engage in a practical and often coordinating way with the provision of ECEC in Lower Saxony. At the kick-off meeting, we were able to discuss project planning and content aspects with some of these practical partners. We received valuable suggestions on how to access the field of research and exchanged theoretical and practical perspectives on the problems of refugee parents building up trust in ECEC.

Sandermann, P., Friedrichs-Liesenkötter, H., Husen, O., Kakar, H., Münch, S., Schwenker, V., Siede, A., Wenzel, L. & Winkel, M. (2023). Integration durch Vertrauen? Hauptergebnisse einer explorativen Mixed Methods-Studie zum Vertrauensaufbau geflüchteter Eltern gegenüber frühpädagogischen Angeboten. Migration und Soziale Arbeit 45(2), 166-172.

Sandermann, P. (2023). Vertrauensaufbau mit geflüchteten Eltern. In: Lamm, B. (Hg.). Handbuch Interkulturelle Kompetenz in der Kita. Freiburg, Basel & Wien: Herder Verlag, S. 89-99.

Schwenker, V., Sandermann, P. (2023): The Making and Doing of Migrant (M)Others in Germany. Subjectivation in the context of early childhood education and care. In: Bollig, S., Groß, L. (eds.) Doing and Making Family in, with and through Education and Social Work. Bielefeld: transcript, in press.

Winkel, M. & Friedrichs-Liesenkötter, H. (2022). Between Usability and Trustworthiness – The Potential of Information Transfer Using Digital Information Platforms for Refugees. Journal of Technology in Human Services 40(4), 379-407. FOX link.

Wenzel, L., Husen, O. & Sandermann, P. (2022). Surveying Diverse Subpopulations in Refugee Studies: Reflections on Sampling, Implementation and Translation Strategies Drawn from Experiences with a Regional Quantitative Survey on Refugee Parents in Germany. Journal of Refugee Studies 35(3), FOX link.

Wenzel, L., Kakar, H., Sandermann, P. (2022). Vertrauensaufbau zwischen geflüchteten Eltern und frühpädagogischen Angeboten. Ausgewählte Ergebnisse einer explorativen Mixed-Methods-Studie. Neue Praxis 52(1), 61-81. FOX link.

Winkel, M. (2022). Digitalization, structuration and agency in organizations concerned with the placement of refugee parents in institutions of early childhood care and education. In: Blättel-Mink, B., Noack, T., Onnen, C., Opielka, M., Späte, K., Stein-Redent, R. (eds.) Organisationen in Zeiten der Digitalisierung. Springer VS, Wiesbaden, 257-269. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-36514-1_1. FOX link.

Winkel, M. (2022). So fern und doch ganz nah? Die Rolle raum-zeitlicher Entbettung in der medial unterstützten Beratung und Informierung geflüchteter Eltern zum frühpädagogischen System. Zeitschrift für Sozialpädagogik 20(1), 82-100. DOI: 10.3262/ZFSP2201082. FOX link.

Siede, A. (2021). “They Are Stumbling Around Quite Helplessly”: How Supporters of Refugee Families Frame Vulnerability and Agency Relating to Childcare. In: Fromm N., Jünemann A., Safouane H. (eds.) Power in Vulnerability. Studien zur Migrations- und Integrationspolitik. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-34052-0_10. FOX link.

Sandermann, P., Wenzel, L., Winkel, M. (2022). Special, but not exotic. Heterogeneity-sensitive refugee-family research in the context of social work. In: Soziale Passagen 13(2), 389-403. DOI: 10.1007/s12592-021-00400-6. FOX link.

Siede, A., Münch, S. (2022). An interpretive perspective on co-production in supporting refugee families’ access to childcare in Germany, Policy & Politics, DOI: 10.1332/030557321X16427784089756. FOX link.

Friedrichs-Liesenkötter, H., Winkel, M. (2021). Between Information and Guidance. Social Service’s Utilization of Digital Media for Connecting Refugee Parents With the Early Childhood Education and Care System. In: James, W. B., Cobanoglu, C., Cavusoglu, M. (eds.) Proceedings of the global conference on education and research 4, 47-49. DOI: 5038/2572-6374-v4 . FOX link.
 

Our Team

The project was located at the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Leuphana University Lüneburg and was jointly led by Prof. Dr. Philipp Sandermann, Prof. Dr. Henrike Friedrichs-Liesenkötter, Prof. Dr. Anna Henkel, Prof. Dr. Sybille Münch and Dr. Onno Husen.