ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I explain how children’s drawings can be used to investigate the topic of social interactions within schools catering for highly diverse student populations and the presence of friendship patterns as these develop in relation to children’s ethnic backgrounds. While studying for a Master’s degree at the University of Manchester, I had the opportunity to participate, along with three other colleagues, in a school-based inquiry project carried out in a school which catered for a multi-ethnic student population (Eliadou et al. 2007a). As was discovered while doing research at this school, the school staff collaborated in taking great measures to ascertain that all students at the school were included in all aspects of their everyday school experiences. Attention was paid to: ensuring the presence of all students at school on a daily basis; giving students opportunities for participation both during in-class activities and extracurricular activities; motivating them to achieve well academically; and encouraging a climate in which all students were socially included at school. This was a school where students were made aware of each other’s national
identities, the difference in languages spoken and the different cultures and customs existent in the school. Nonetheless, the school principal showed an interest in investigating in greater depth the topic of social inclusion. His concern lay with the fact that students from the same ethnic background seemed
to socialize independently of students from other ethnic backgrounds during break time. This piece of school-based inquiry was therefore preoccupied with identifying whether the social inclusion of students was compromised in any way due to the multi-ethnic character of the school, and, in case this was true, in exploring what the reasons giving rise to such findings might be. Hence, this project demanded the identification and use of a research method that would enable the investigation of students’ social interaction at school. The method adopted was a drawing technique followed by procedures of sociometric analysis, which allowed the diagrammatical representation of students’ social interactions at school. This research method identified that students from specific ethnic backgrounds were socializing in segregated groups. The findings suggested that even a school, which at first glance seemed to be very inclusive, still had a lot to struggle for in order to offer its students a more inclusive educational experience (Eliadou et al. 2007b). Following this project, and for the purpose of my Master’s dissertation, my
attention turned to the educational experiences offered to students within the educational system of Cyprus (my country of origin), which had only recently attempted to implement principles of inclusive education (Koutrouba et al. 2006). Moreover, this educational system had to face the challenge of having to respond to the increased student diversity (ethnic, linguistic, religious) arising from the increased immigration rates recorded in Cyprus over the previous two decades (MOEC 2005; MOEC 2008). I wondered, therefore, whether it would be appropriate to use the same research method, used in a school in England, to investigate social inclusion in a school in Cyprus? If schools in England, dedicated to promoting principles of inclusive education were still struggling to promote inclusion amongst their students, what would I find in Cyprus?
