Academic Performance of Immigrant Students and Teachers’ Expectations

Desempenho Acadêmico de Alunos Imigrantes e Expectativas Docentes

Rendimiento Académico de los Estudiantes Inmigrantes y Expectativas Docentes

Abstract

This study focuses on whether teachers’ thinking is prophetic, that is, whether these attitudes and actions permeate the students and condition their academic performance. To this end, we analyzed the beliefs of 167 teachers of Early Childhood, Elementary and High School Education in the province of Córdoba (Spain). A questionnaire was used to know the relationship between teachers’ beliefs about immigrant students and their possible influence on academic achievements. In the first place, the findings show the teachers’ lack of confidence in non-native students, a phenomenon that is largely unconscious; in the second place, lower school results in these students in relation to natives; and, finally, an external attributional style in teachers, for whom the families and the organizational resources of the school institution, not them, are the determining factors of school achievement.

Keywords:
immigration; competence; cultural diversity; academic achievement; teacher expectations

Resumo

Este estudo teve por objetivo investigar se o pensamento dos professores é um pensamento profético, ou seja, se suas atitudes e ações sugestionam os alunos e condicionam o seu desempenho acadêmico. Para este fim, são analisadas as crenças de 167 professores de Educação Infantil, Educação Básica e Ensino Médio da província de Córdoba (Espanha). Foi utilizado um questionário para saber a relação entre os alunos imigrantes e sua possível influência no desempenho acadêmico. Os resultados mostram, em primeiro lugar, a baixa confiança dos professores nos alunos não nativos, fenômeno em grande parte inconsciente; em segundo lugar, registra-se um desempenho acadêmico mais baixo neste corpo discente em relação aos autóctones e, finalmente, um estilo de atribuição externo aos professores, para os quais as famílias e os recursos organizacionais da instituição escolar, e não eles, são os fatores determinantes do desempenho acadêmico.

Palavras-chave:
imigração; competência; diversidade cultural; rendimento escolar; expectativas do professor

Resumen

El presente estudio de investigación se centra en conocer si el pensamiento del docente es un pensamiento profético, es decir, si esas actitudes y acciones docentes penetran en el alumnado y condicionan su desempeño académico. Para ello se analizan las creencias de 167 docentes de Educación Infantil, Educación Primaria y Educación Secundaria de la provincia de Córdoba (España). Se utilizó un cuestionario para conocer la relación entre el alumnado inmigrante y su posible influjo en el logro académico. Los hallazgos evidencian, en primer lugar, la escasa confianza del profesorado en el alumnado no autóctono, fenómeno que es en gran medida inconsciente; en segundo lugar, resultados escolares más bajos en este alumnado con relación al autóctono; y, finalmente, un estilo atribucional externo en los docentes, para quienes las familias y los recursos organizativos de la institución escolar, no ellos, son los factores determinantes del logro escolar.

Palabras clave:
inmigración; competencia; diversidad cultural; rendimiento escolar; expectativas del profesor

In the second half of the 20^th century, we witnessed a proliferation of studies focused on teachers’ thinking as with direct responsibility over school results (Leder, 2006; Robinson, 1983; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1980). It is certainly a powerful thinking, predictive and ominous, reason why we agreed upon calling it «prophetic thinking». What teachers think about their students, more or less consciously, ends up happening as a tangible phenomenon in conventional reality since, in education, thinking and happening are concatenated actions. Therefore, the universe of the teacher’s values has correspondences and empathies with what happens in the classrooms.

The history of humanity is permeated by geographical displacements. Human beings have been migrants since their very origins. Moving through the territory is a human prerogative, a normal phenomenon guided by the common and ancient desire to improve the living conditions. In the current world, the phenomenon has reached unprecedented dimensions due to factors such as globalization, interconnection across cultures, the increasing difference in the living conditions across the countries, and the visibilization of the benefits of emigration or technological development, which facilitates human displacements (Livi Bacci, 2012).

If we focus on Spain, we must say that, in the mid-1990s, the country became an important destination for immigrants coming from the North of Africa, America, East Europe and the rest of the world. Our country was an immigration focus for the first time in several centuries. From these events it is derived that the presence of immigrant students in the Spanish educational centers is a consolidated fact which, as pointed out by Fernández Batanero (2004), sets out the challenge of not limiting their expectations or maintaining biases about them (Almeida Gonçalves, 2015). Undoubtedly, ensuring foreign students’ schooling is not enough, reason why it becomes necessary to analyze the socially-constructed notion of immigrants, since teachers learn the cultural patterns and incorporate them, unconsciously and in a subtle way, into their practices, which can be discriminatory in nature (Angulo-Quiñonez & Quiñonez-Ortiz, 2020).

A number of studies verify that the type of answer that is given to the students (e.g., course repeat) can be affected by the cultural differences perceived by the teachers (Alonso-Tapia, Ruiz, & Huertas, 2020; Castejón & Pàmies Rovira, 2018; Gil del Pino, García Fernández, & Manrique Gómez, 2017; Gil-del-Pino & García-Segura, 2019). That points to the student collective culture as an important factor in the teachers’ perceptions.

In a recent study, Micó-Cebrián, Cava and Buelga (2019) found that the attitudes and behaviors of the national students towards their peers from minority cultures are affected by those shown by their teachers, in whom they find rational and moral reference or support. For the aforementioned authors, learning respect, appreciation and positive attitudes towards others who are culturally different is completely related to the conception of friendship, to the degree of support and to the concern conveyed by the teacher.

Taking the Spanish context and the different measures adopted to serve the student collective in all the educational levels as a reference, it is worth asserting that educational centers need to devise a curricular project as an integrating element (García Prieto & Pozuelos Estrada, 2017; Ortiz Hernández, 2006). True pedagogy, which is inexorably ethical, implies establishing quality relationships among all the students and between them and the teacher. If they come from different cultures, it will be necessary to devise a common cultural space which supposes identity enrichment and not losses (Fernández Batanero, Hernández Fernández, & Colmenero Ruiz, 2020).

To devise such space, it is necessary to refer again to the fact that, in the classroom daily reality, the students assimilate the hopes deposited in them by their teachers, hopes which, as we have already mentioned, have operational nuances. It is as if the teachers told their students, ‘you admit that what I think about you is real and take the beliefs that I convey to you as true’. In such circumstances, if the students perceive that their teachers believe in them, they will feel strong and legimitized and will improve their behavior to such an extent that they will benefit in their learning process and in their academic situation (Borrero López & Blázquez Entonado, 2018). If, on the other hand, they perceive little faith in them and in their competences, they will adapt their behavior to their perceptions and will learn to underperform. In either case, what the teachers think about their students’ competence is a key factor of the academic results, since it produces a consequent behavior and eventually becomes a reality (Mares Miramontes, Martínez Llamas, & Rojo Sabaleta, 2009).

In fact, and supported by abundant scientific research, there is a strong link between teachers’ expectations and academic performance, expectations that are shaped based on the teacher’s attributional style (Fernández, Arnaiz, Mejías, & Barca, 2015; Lebrija, Flores, & Trejos, 2010; Navas, Sampascual, & Castejón, 1992), constituting, as pointed out by Micó-Cebrián et al. (2019), the main element in the establishment of positive relationships among the students, in the improvement of their well-being, and in fostering attitudes of respect and appreciation towards diversity.

One of the most renowned experiments on the phenomenon we are analyzing -correspondence between what the teacher thinks and academic achievements- is the one conducted by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1980). The power of the teacher’s thinking was clearly evidenced in the study. Certain teachers’ behaviors towards the students of the list (greater attention, more challenging tasks, more trust and empathy, etc.) made their expectations a reality (García Vargas, 2015). This phenomenon is known as the Pygmalion Effect.

But it is not only the teacher’s thinking that has repercussions on children’s and adolescents’ academic behavior; it is also their parents’. Therefore, it is not difficult to find references centered on the family as a universe of values guiding the students’ responses (Garreta-Bochaca, Macià-Bordalba, & Llevot-Calvet, 2020; Gil-del-Pino & García-Segura, 2019; Santos Rego, Lorenzo Moledo, & Priegue Caamaño, 2019). Various studies found that low family expectations are totally linked to lesser involvement in the educational centers (Garreta Bochaca & Llevot Calvet, 2017; Llevot & Bernad, 2015). Therefore, the scarce presence of immigrant families in them is associated with the limited (theoretical) value they concede to their children’s educational path, which ends up constituting a (real) deterrent to their academic success.

The importance of the general participation of the parents in the school setting, as well as that of the immigrant children in particular, is a prominent topic in numerous texts published in recent years. Both the experts and the teachers absolutely agree on this issue. Mares Miramontes et al. (2009) point out that they “attribute the causes of class disruption to factors out of their control and centered on the family, to the student’s personality and to the sociocultural context, among others; that is, to factors alien to their intervention” (p. 972). As asserted by Maslow (1991), basic needs are a priority and, as long as they are not met, it is not possible to aspire to respond to the higher-order needs such as those of recognition and self-fulfillment.

Therefore, the research purpose focuses on determining if the teachers’ thinking is prophetic, that is, if these teaching attitudes and actions permeate the students and condition their academic performance.

Method

Participants

The sample consisted in 167 teachers (65.7 % female and 34.3 % male) from 14 non-university educational centers in the city of Córdoba (Spain). Specifically, 12.7 % were Early Childhood Education teachers, 34.3 % worked in Elementary Education, and 53% were High School teachers. Regarding years in teaching, the distribution was as follows: 5-10 years = 24.7 %; 11-20 years = 38 %; 21-30 years = 22.9 %; and 31-41 years = 14.5%. The teachers’ age group was that of 22-64 years old and was distributed as follows: 0.6 %, 20-25 years old; 27.1 %, 31-40 years old; 27.1 %, 41-50 years old; and 24.3 %, 51-65 years old. Other sociodemographic data of interest are that 36.1 % of the teachers who comprised the sample did not have children, that 73.5 % was married, and that 60.5 % was involved in some volunteer activity.

Instrument

After elaborating the questionnaire, we proceeded to its validation, for which we selected five experts with wide recognition in research and teaching (Rubio, Berg-Weger, Tebb, Lee, & Rauch, 2003). For their selection, we took into account the criteria pointed out by Escobar and Cuervo (2008), such as experience in assessments and decision-making based on evidence or expertise, reputation in the community, availability and motivation to participate, impartiality and inherent qualities like self-confidence and adaptability.

The instrument was named Cuestionario sobre las expectativas y la percepción del profesorado en relación con el alumnado extranjero (Questionnaire on the teachers’ expectations and perception in relation to foreign students) and consisted of two major blocks: (a) sociometric data, and (b) the questionnaire itself.

The sociometric data block consisted in eight questions related to gender, age, number of children, marital status, religious beliefs, years in teaching, educational level in which they taught, and if they performed any volunteer work. The questionnaire itself consisted in a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = Totally disagree; 5 = Totally agree) with 21 items referring to the teacher’s beliefs about national and foreign students’ performance, about the attitudes, beliefs and involvement of the families in their children’s education, about the students’ academic performance, and about the opportunities and resources offered by the school.

Procedure

Data collection. The research was conducted during the 2017-2018 school year. Incidental non-probabilistic sampling was performed where the sample was assembled according to accessibility to the educational centers and to the teachers. Formal contact was established via email, through which instructions were sent indicating the research nature, purpose and objectives. After the educational centers and the teachers accepted to participate, the questionnaire was sent and its confidential and voluntary nature was emphasized. Finally, it was filled out individually and online. The mean completion time varied between 20 and 30 minutes.

Data analysis. Before proceeding to the analysis, and with the intention of knowing the psychometric properties of the test, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed using the principal components method with Varimax rotation. To corroborate the factor structure yielded by the EFA, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed using the Robust Maximum Likelihood estimation method. This is a method that is recommended when working with samples which follow non-normal distribution (normalized Mardia’s coefficient = 30.158; p ≤ 0.001). The model’s fit was assessed considering Satorra-Bentler Chi-square significance value (S-Bχ2) (values above 0.01 indicate good fit), the Comparative Fit index (CFI) (>0.95), the Non-Normality Fit Index (NNFI) (>.95), the Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) (>0.95), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) (<0.08), and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) (<0.08) (Byrne, 2006; Hu & Bentler, 1999). The program used was EQS 6.3.

To find the relationship between the beliefs and the sociometric variables (gender, age, years in teaching, educational level taught, volunteer work and marital status), the ANOVA and Student’s T tests were performed, as univariate analyses. The SPSS statistical package, version 22.0 in Spanish, was used for data coding and analysis.

Ethical Considerations

This paper adheres to the considerations set forth by the Committee of Ethics in Research with Human Begins (Comité Ético de Investigación con Humanos, CEIH) of Universidad de Córdoba (Governance Council Agreement dated March 21^st, 2013).

Results

Previous analyses

An exploratory factor analysis was performed to establish the factors of the Questionnaire on the teachers’ expectations and perception in relation to foreign students instrument. The KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) measure of sampling adequacy, with a value of 0.83, and Barlett’s sphericity test, which presented statistical significance [± 2(153) = 969.021; p < 0.01], confirmed the pertinence of performing an EFA. The total percentage of explained variance with the 4-factor model was 56.85 %. The results on the interpretation of the EFA with the Varimax rotation method yielded a first factor, which was called Creencias sobre la actitud e implicación de la familia en la educación de sus hijos (Beliefs about the attitude and involvement of the family in their children’s education) (α = 0.78), which explained 18.35% of the variance and consisted in 6 items. The second factor, called Creencias del docente sobre resultados y éxito académico de los alumnos inmigrantes (Teacher’s beliefs about the immigrant students’ academic results and success) (α = 0.80), explained 33.70% of the variance and consisted in 5 items. The third factor, called Creencias del docente sobre los recursos educativos y oportunidades que ofrece la escuela a los alumnos inmigrantes (Teacher’s beliefs about the educational resources and opportunities offered by the school to immigrant students) (α = 0.75), explained 47.05% of the variance and consisted in 3 items. The fourth factor, called Creencias e implicación del docente en relación a los alumnos inmigrantes (Teacher’s beliefs and involvement in relation to immigrant students) (α = 0.54), explained 56.85% of the variance and consisted in 4 items. The full scale’s internal consistency presented a high Cronbach’s Alpha value (α = 0.85). Reliability was considered adequate for the rest of the dimensions. Table 1 presents the univariate statistics of the items which comprise each scale. After the exploratory and confirmatory analysis was concluded, the final adjusted model was established, where two items (3 and 4) were excluded with values adjusted to those established by Byrne (2006) and by Hu and Bentler (1999).

Table 1
Descriptive results of the items

Factor	Item	M	SD	Kurtosis	Asymmetry
Family	5	3.090	1.034	-0.203	0.082
	6	2.757	1.025	-0.308	0.020
	7	2.563	0.970	-0.345	0.080
	8	3.4182	1.110	-0.585	-0.342
	15	3.454	1.061	-0.466	-0.309
	17	2.612	0.972	-0.638	-0.118
Academic success	9	3.33	1.135	-0.559	-0.391
	10	3.58	1.068	-0.134	-0.615
	11	3.32	1.155	-0.557	-0.339
	12	3.55	1.163	-0.379	-0.575
	14	2.98	1.160	-0.754	-0.118
Resources	16	1.77	0.958	0.126	1.019
	18	2.37	1.087	-0.800	0.215
	19	1.82	0.962	0.444	1.033
Teacher's involvement	1	2.83	1.199	-0.820	0.160
	2	3.63	1.006	-0.351	-0.352
	20	1.162	-0.149	-0.829	-0.149
	21	1.238	-0.012	-0.967	-0.012

The results of the CFA developed in the second sample corroborated the factor structure suggested by the AFE, presenting the following fit indexes: S-Bχ2 = 234.146; p = 0.000; NNFI = 0.084; CFI = 0.86; GFI = 0.85; RMSEA = 0.07; and SRMR = 0.075. In addition, the results evidenced high factorial loads with low measurement errors (Figure 1), with all the standardized factor weights above 0.35 and statistically significant.

Figure 1
4-factor structural model of the scale of teachers’ beliefs about immigrant students.

Descriptive results

The descriptive results reflect the teachers’ beliefs in relation to certain variables such as the family, the school organization or that of the Educational System itself, academic success or the expectations they project onto the immigrant students (Table 2). In general, the percentages reflect that those referring to the immigrant students’ academic performance and success are based on the educational effort and support they receive from the teachers, them being those who need to make the greatest efforts.

Table 2
Descriptive results of each variable

Item	%
1. The school organization allows for educational attention adapted to the specific needs of foreign students.	71.1% agreement
2. When a new foreign student comes to your class, it is easy to gather information about their academic background.	44.6% agreement
3. A foreign-origin student, born in Spain, has the same opportunities for academic success than a national student.	82.7% agreement
4. The students' possibilities for academic success are conditioned by the type of family to which they belong.	75.3% agreement
5. Foreign-origin families are less involved in the educational center's activities.	28.3% agreement
6. Foreign-origin families are less involved in their children's education.	19.9% agreement
7. Foreign students are usually reluctant to integrating into the Educational System.	14.4% agreement
8. The teacher has to devote more effort to convey the importance of studying to foreign families.	50.6% agreement
9. In general, national-origin students usually achieve better results than their foreign peers.	49 % agreement
10. Foreign students require more effort and educational attention than their national peers.	59.7% agreement
11. Foreign-origin students need educational support in specific classes.	46.4% agreement
12. In your class, the students with higher academic levels are Spanish.	56.9% agreement
13. In your class, foreign students are involved in most of the conflicting behaviors.	1.8% agreement
14. Foreign students usually present more difficulties learning.	34.6% agreement
15. The problem presented by foreign students is not lack of ability but lack of stimuli and resources on the part of the families.	49.4% agreement
16. Trying to make my foreign students achieve good academic performance is an unattainable objective.	6.1% agreement
17. Foreign families are reluctant to integrating and/or participating in society and in school life.	17% agreement
18. The foreign students' grades lower the school's mean.	13.9% agreement
19. The teaching quality is affected by the presence of foreign students.	6.1% agreement
20. There is a social and economic inequality gap between foreign students and their Spanish peers, which explains non-uniformity in performance.	32.9% agreement
21. The teachers' expectations about the students exert a decisive influence on their academic results.	36.8% agreement

On the other hand, considering the 4 factors derived from the EFA, the descriptive analyses determined statistically significant differences in relation to age and to years in teaching. However, they did not evidence differences outside the random zone in relation to the teachers’ gender, their marital status, their religious beliefs, their participation in volunteer activities, or to the educational level in which they teach.

In this sense, the findings reflect that “years in teaching” is an explanatory factor for the beliefs about the attitude and involvement of the families in their children’s education and about the immigrant students’ academic results. Therefore, they indicate that teachers with fewer years in the profession would point to the family as an influencing factor in the immigrant students’ academic success. In addition, the group of teachers with more experience presents higher mean values in their beliefs about the foreign-origin students’ academic results and success, considering that they achieve worse academic results and require more effort and pedagogical help (Table 3).

Table 3
Teachers’ beliefs and their relationship with years in teaching

	Years in teaching	N	M	SD	F	Sig.	Games-Howell/ Tukey
Family factor	5-10 years	41	-0.396	0.883	7.382	0.000	1st≠3rd,4th
	11-20 years	58	-0.155	1.016			2nd≠3rd
	21-30 years	36	0.530	0.847			3rd≠1st,2nd
	31-41 years	22	0.281	1.001			4th≠1st
	Total	157	0.000	1.000
Academic results and success	5-10 years	41	-0.405	1.017	4.010	0.009	1st≠4th
	11-20 years	58	0.063	0.930
	21-30 years	36	0.096	0.946
	31-41 years	22	0.429	1.036			4th≠1st
	Total	157	0.000	1.000
Educational resources and opportunities	5-10 years	41	-0.163	0.923	1.592	0.194
	11-20 years	58	-0.109	0.991
	21-30 years	36	0.230	1.103
	31-41 years	22	0.214	0.938
	Total	157	0.000	1.000
Teacher's beliefs and involvement	5-10 years	41	-0.026	1.123	1.243	0.296
	11-20 years	58	0.141	0.793
	21-30 years	36	0.008	1.142
	31-41 years	22	-0.338	0.981
	Total	157	0.000	1.000

The results about the teachers’ age reflect that it is an explanatory factor for the beliefs about the attitude and involvement of the family in their children’s education and about the educational resources and opportunities offered by the school to foreign students. Consequently, the data show that the age group from 51 to 65 years old presents higher mean values than that from 31 to 40 years old, which shows that older teachers believe that the families constitute an influencing factor regarding foreign students’ academic success. Likewise, the groups made up by older individuals (41-50 years old and 51-65 years old) point out that the educational resources and opportunities offered to immigrant students limit their academic success (Table 4).

Table 4
Teacher’s beliefs and their relationship with age

	Teacher's age	N	M	SD	F	Sig.	Games-Howell/ Tukey
Family factor	20-30 years old	18	-0.249	1.124	3.633	0.014
	31-40 years old	60	-0.215	0.922			2nd≠4th
	41-50 years old	42	0.050	0.978
	51-65 years old	37	0.414	0.981			4th≠2nd
	Total	157	0.000	1.000
Academic results and success	20-30 years old	18	-0.412	1.111	2.436	0.067
	31-40 years old	60	-0.104	0.926
	41-50 years old	42	0.066	1.050
	51-65 years old	37	0.294	0.942
	Total	157	0.000	1.000
Educational resources and opportunities	20-30 years old	18	-0.581	0.549	3.307	0.022	1st≠3rd,4th
	31-40 years old	60	-0.079	0.950
	41-50 years old	42	0.159	1.145			3rd≠1st
	51-65 years old	37	0.230	0.975			4th≠1st
	Total	157	0.000	1.000
Teacher's beliefs and involvement	20-30 years old	18	-0.414	1.080	1.953	0.123
	31-40 years old	60	0.198	0.953
	41-50 years old	42	-0.080	0.925
	51-65 years old	37	-0.028	1.075
	Total	157	0.000	1.000

Discussion

The results presented confirm that the teacher’s thinking is prophetic, that is, thinking which, through a repertoire of attitudes and actions, takes root in the student and becomes a reality. Therefore, our paper is in the line of the research studies that were initiated in the second half of the 20^th century and which continue up to the present day (Borrero López & Blázquez Entonado, 2018; Leder, 2006; Mares Miramontes et al., 2009; Robinson, 1983; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1980), studies that confirm the power exerted by the teachers’ beliefs on their students’ lives (Alonso-Tapia et al., 2020; Sánchez-Burgos & Berger-Silva, 2019).

In addition, this research found that the teachers consider that the foreign students’ academic performance is extremely related to the concern and effort that the school organization and the educational system themselves must contribute through their teachers. As stated by García Prieto and Pozuelos Estrada (2017) and by Ortiz Hernández (2006), the formulation of a curricular project as an integrating element supposes an intercultural dialogical space, which is a space for mutual enrichment in which development of plurality of values from the different cultures is promoted. Another prominent and influencing factor pointed out by the teachers with more professional experience is the families’ weight on the foreign students’ academic results, which is line with the abundance of research studies on the important role played by the social-family context on people’s lives (Coleman, 1968; Garreta-Bochaca et al., 2020; Santos Rego et al., 2019). Therefore, the teachers participating in our study understand that foreign-origin families present lower levels of involvement in their children’s educational process, which has a bearing on their academic performance, reason why they need more academic support from the teachers.

Considering the contributions by Fernández Batanero (2004), the teaching process should be based on the following principles: need to despecialize the integration processes for ethnic minorities; personalization of the teaching processes; open curriculum and organizational flexibility in the centers; more significant learning; non-discriminatory tutoring and guidance, as an equal opportunity principle; educational interaction; construction of interculturality; interventions with the family; and educational compensation.

Having reached this point we conclude, in the first place, that the teacher’s cognitive architecture harbors the idea that foreign students achieve worse academic results and require more effort and pedagogical help, which would confirm what we set out in our first hypothesis. Undoubtedly, and unfortunately, the teachers place low expectations on foreign students, which certainly constitutes a powerful deterrent for them to display their value, uniqueness and unrepeatability. No such thing is possible without having trust and faith in them.

Our second conclusion is that, in general, teachers are not aware of the power exerted by their beliefs on their students’ performance. Only one third of those comprising our sample considers that these beliefs have some weight on the children’s and adolescents’ school life. This (partially) confirms our second hypothesis and authorizes us to assert that they have adopted the habit of not thinking about their own thinking. And this is extremely serious, especially when we continuously find that foreign-origin students present lower performance than their Spanish peers, an assertion acknowledged by more than half of the teachers who comprised our sample; and this would be our third conclusion.

We can even add a fourth conclusion. The teachers participating in the study manifest an external attributional style that would explain their attitudes and behaviors in relation to immigrant children and adolescents. For them, the families and the school institution’s organizational resources, not their own or even them personally, are determining factors of performance. As a consequence, the fourth and last hypothesis that we set forth above would also be accepted.

The previous conclusions lead us to immediately setting out two inter-related proposals. In the first place, reflection and self-criticism; secondly, formative overexposure and intellectual eruption.

For the first proposal, we resort to an authority argument. Aristotle (1999) distinguishes between production and action, which are two aptitudes of well-differentiated types. Whereas the former -τέχνη- is a technical activity that requires no reflection and whose purpose is different from it, action -πρα̃ζις- is prudent performance, that is, a practice subjected to continuous review whose purpose lies in itself; therefore: doing versus acting, τέχνη versus πρα̃ζις, productive action versus moral action. This is the dilemma that we extend to the education professionals, who must make a decision on whether to fall within the domain of the technique or within that of logic and ethics, which requires self-examination and reflecting on their own practice (Jiménez Jaimes, 2019).

Our second proposal is directed towards the need for teachers to implement an endless training spiral to permanently enrich their conscience with the largest possible number of fair, logical and ethical reasons, and make it erupt. They need to understand that immigration exerts a positive influence on the receiving society at many levels. In the case of Spain, it is proven that it renovates the structure of the country’s population, which is aging at a forced pace with the inherent economic, family and social problems. On the other hand, the immigrants’ arrival contributes to maintaining sectors and companies which are in crisis, as well as to the development of different economic sectors. At the sociocultural level, the diversity that it contributes enriches us, allowing us to learn to respect and value the differences, knowing other ways of life, and considering the amplitude of human nature, among other aspects.

Therefore, immigration is not to be perceived as a problem and we must not advocate cultural withdrawal (closing doors to immigration and to cultural blending) to preserve «the essences» of our culture (language, customs, traditions, etc.). The image of a compact society, structured around a unique system of values and certain socially-shared behavioral patterns has fallen apart. Uniformity and homogeneity have given way to complexity, plurality and blending. The same can be asserted regarding schools, which will have to acknowledge that not all of their actions contribute educational value since, while some are targeted at fuller human horizons, others are detrimental to the human condition. The teachers’ work consists in the fulfillment of individuals. This cannot be something alien to them but their drive, commitment and passion.

Regarding the research limitations, the sample size was an important one, reason why we propose replicating it with a larger population. Another of the paper’s weaknesses is having employed only the quantitative methodology and the questionnaire technique. It would have been very interesting to apply a mixed methodology and also focus on the study object from the qualitative paradigm, which would have allowed enriching the results obtained with others from interviews or discussion groups. These would have undoubtedly provided detailed information about the teachers’ work in increasingly complex classrooms, as well as about the teachers’ training and its influence on the improvement of their expectations.

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Edited by

Associate Editor:

Fabio Scorsolini-Comin

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  01 Nov 2021
• Date of issue
  2021

History

• Received
  02 Feb 2021
• Reviewed
  23 Mar 2021
• Accepted
  07 Apr 2021