ABSTRACT

This chapter explores refugee children’s identity and belonging in the UK Early Years Foundation Stage. Refugees experience a sense of loss when they leave their country of origin. This loss tends to have an adverse effect on children’s ability to develop a sense of connection within their new environment due to difficulties in comprehending and processing their experiences. The chapter, therefore, argues that pedagogical approaches that speak to diverse ways of knowing, being, and doing potentially contribute to a hospitable educational space that enhances the development of a sense of identity and belonging. The chapter draws on Derrida’s notion of hospitality to imagine what a pedagogy of hospitality might look like. Decoloniality is utilised as a useful theoretical tool to consider how practitioners can foster a sense of identity and belonging for refugees and all children.