Educational Practices for Immigrant Children in Elementary Schools in Russia

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this document it is not entirely clear whether the authors are based on intercultural education or multicultural education, which, in the case of different terms and practices, seems absolutely necessary.
I am not sure that the characteristic of being Muslim and being an Orthodox Christian can be defined as ethnicity. On line 160, there is a spelling error, which must be corrected.
The type of research, the method, or the design used are not established.
It is necessary that there be a discussion with works carried out in countries, in which intercultural education is understood beyond the action related to learning the language of the host country.
Also, it is important to establish which is the population, to which the investigation is directed and the type of sampling used, to determine the sample.
The specific objectives of the research are not specified, so it is not possible to know what the script of the applied interview is, which, on the other hand, is not specified in the article.
There is no way of knowing whether or not the scientific method has been followed when designing it.
It seems necessary to specify the code system obtained. 

Author Response

Reviewer 1

1. In this document it is not entirely clear whether the authors are based on intercultural education or multicultural education, which, in the case of different terms and practices, seems absolutely necessary.

- Response: We appreciate this point and have examined references suggested by this and other reviewers. We now acknowledge in the introduction on page 3, lines 66-83, that Russia has its own history and traditions of polycultural, multicultural, or intercultural education, given it is a country that spans 11 timezones and is home to over 190 different ethnic groups.  We cite a recent analysis by Russian scholars (Valeeva and Valeeva, 2016) who argue that all these approaches have similarities, and use “intercultural” as an umbrella term. We also note that given Russia’s distinctive history, an analysis of how education with diverse students in Russia is distinctive from intercultural and multicultural approaches described in the Western literature is beyond the scope of this paper. In the limitations and conclusions section we recommend that this be pursued in future research.

2. I am not sure that the characteristic of being Muslim and being an Orthodox Christian can be defined as ethnicity.

• Response: We now clarify that ethnic Russians are primarily Orthodox Christians and ethnic Tatars are Muslim. – lines 177-178

3. On line 160, there is a spelling error, which must be corrected.

• Response: we conducted extensive editing of the text by a native English speaker to correct spelling and grammatical errors.

4. The type of research, the method, or the design used are not established.

• Response: We state that the study employed an exploratory qualitative design, provide citations, and describe our coding approach – line 170

5. It is necessary that there be a discussion with works carried out in countries, in which intercultural education is understood beyond the action related to learning the language of the host country.

• Response: we addressed this important point by noting different approaches to intercultural and multicultural education in the introduction on page 3, lines 66-83

6. Also, it is important to establish which is the population, to which the investigation is directed and the type of sampling used, to determine the sample.

• Response: We have clarified, starting with the abstract, that we studied teachers who work with immigrant students in Tatarstan, Russia. As appropriate in exploratory qualitative research, our sampling was purposive rather than random.  We describe the sampling approach in the Methods section on page 5, lines 185-188.

7. The specific objectives of the research are not specified, so it is not possible to know what the script of the applied interview is, which, on the other hand, is not specified in the article.

• Response: we state the purpose of the study starting on page 4, in section 1.1 titled “Purpose of the Study.”

8. There is no way of knowing whether or not the scientific method has been followed when designing it.
   It seems necessary to specify the code system obtained. 

• Response: We employed exploratory qualitative methodology in this study, approaching the data collection and analysis systematically. We believe this approach was scientific (e.g. Sal & Thielk, 2018 here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0895435617308430), and is judged by different criteria than quantitative rsearch.  If the editor deems it necessary, we can provide citations to criteria for judging qualitative research that we followed. 

Reviewer 2 Report

Using a convenience sample of 20 elementary school teachers from Tatarstan (the Russian Federation), the present study analyzes the complex relationship between educational practices and immigrant children’s adjustment to the school system. The authors conducted and analyzed in-depth interviews with twenty elementary school teachers who have had the experience of working with migrant children. The analysis of the interviews revealed that teachers had to put a lot of effort into creating a favorable climate for children.

Although this study examines an interesting topic, there are a few issues that require the authors’ attention. Why is this study important? When was the study conducted? What recruitment strategies were employed? The study’s methodology is described as very sketchy. Please see more comments below:

Line 30: “Russia has one of the highest numbers of immigrants…” in the world? Since you do not provide the comparison group for the size of the immigrant population, I suggest re-writing this sentence along the following lines: Russia has a large number of immigrants...

Line 54: It is not clear what you mean by ‘immigrant children'. They can be first-generation immigrants (immigrated with their families) or second-generation immigrants (born in Russia to immigrant parents).  Their outcomes can be different depending on their generational status.

Lines 90-101: Remove the italics and downsize the font.

Lines 121-126: Same as above: remove the italics and downsize the font.

Line 147: “This study used the descriptive and interpretive methodology”. Please describe this methodology in more detail.

Lines 150: You state that participants were recruited from different cities. How did you recruit the study participants?

Line 159: “20. elementary school teachers…” should be “Twenty elementary school teachers”

Line 179: “The participants were not informed about the purpose of the research…” Maybe participants were not FULLY informed about the purpose of the research. The fact that participants were not informed about the research is a troubling reality from an ethical point of view.

Line 189: “as a researcher I kept…” But below the author refer to them as ‘we’ (line 204). Please use the personal pronouns consistently.

Line 45: “Although ethnocultural approaches are…” What do you mean by ‘ethnocultural approaches’? You did not mention any ethnocultural approaches in the text prior to the Discussion section. You need to expand this sentence and, at least, mention these approaches before this section. How do the study findings relate to these approaches?

Author Response

Reviewer 2:

1. Using a convenience sample of 20 elementary school teachers from Tatarstan (the Russian Federation), the present study analyzes the complex relationship between educational practices and immigrant children’s adjustment to the school system. The authors conducted and analyzed in-depth interviews with twenty elementary school teachers who have had the experience of working with migrant children. The analysis of the interviews revealed that teachers had to put a lot of effort into creating a favorable climate for children. Although this study examines an interesting topic, there are a few issues that require the authors’ attention. Why is this study important? When was the study conducted? What recruitment strategies were employed?

• Response: Thank you for this suggestion. We now explain in Section 1.1 “The Present Study” starting on page 4, that the significance of the study is to contribute to the literature on teacher practices with immigrant students by focusing specifically on teacher experience in Russia, as little research is available on this topic.
• In the Methods section we note the dates of the data collection on lines 202-203, and clarify recruitment strategies on lines 188-194.

2. The study’s methodology is described as very sketchy.

• Response: this was an exploratory study. We provide information about data collection and analysis in the methods section, consistent with how such studies are generally reported in the literature.

Please see more comments below:

3. Line 30: “Russia has one of the highest numbers of immigrants…” in the world? Since you do not provide the comparison group for the size of the immigrant population, I suggest re-writing this sentence along the following lines: Russia has a large number of immigrants...

• Response: Thank you for this question. We have added a citation to the United Nations as evidence that Russia had the fourth largest number of immigrants in the world in 2017 – lines 37-38. 

4. Line 54: It is not clear what you mean by ‘immigrant children'. They can be first-generation immigrants (immigrated with their families) or second-generation immigrants (born in Russia to immigrant parents).  Their outcomes can be different depending on their generational status.

• Response: Thank you for this comment, it is indeed important. We now clarify that we studied teachers working with first-generation immigrant children (line 164).  For this reason, we used the term “immigrant children” intentionally, rather than “children of immigrants” which can include second generation children. 

5. Lines 90-101: Remove the italics and downsize the font. Lines 121-126; Same as above: remove the italics and downsize the font.

• We have reviewed and adjusted formatting to be consistent with requirements of the journal. We used italics for quotations from participants, modelled after articles published in this journal.  When quotations were longer than 40 words, we used block text also in italics.

6. Line 147: “This study used the descriptive and interpretive methodology”. Please describe this methodology in more detail.

• Response: We described sampling, data collection, and analyses in more detail throughout the Methods section, and changes are highlighted in the text.

7. Lines 150: You state that participants were recruited from different cities. How did you recruit the study participants?

• Response: We clarified that the majority of participants were recruited during professional development courses held in the city of Kazan and the teachers attending were from different cities in Tatarstan - lines 190-191.

8. Line 159: “20. elementary school teachers…” should be “Twenty elementary school teachers”

• Response: thank you, done. 

9. Line 179: “The participants were not informed about the purpose of the research…” Maybe participants were not FULLY informed about the purpose of the research. The fact that participants were not informed about the research is a troubling reality from an ethical point of view.

• Response: Thank you for this suggestion, we followed it and elaborated that participant were informed about the general purpose of the study as focused on immigrant children, rather than specifically on teacher practices on page 6, paragraph starting on line 208.

10. Line 189: “as a researcher I kept…” But below the author refer to them as ‘we’ (line 204). Please use the personal pronouns consistently.

• Response: thank you for this suggestion, we now see the term "the interviewer" instead of "I". 

11. Line 45: “Although ethnocultural approaches are…” What do you mean by ‘ethnocultural approaches’? You did not mention any ethnocultural approaches in the text prior to the Discussion section. You need to expand this sentence and, at least, mention these approaches before this section. How do the study findings relate to these approaches?

• Response: we removed this term. We now discuss multicultural, intercultural, and polycultural approaches in the introduction on page 3, lines 66-83, and note them in the limitations/conclusions section – lines 607 - 611.

Reviewer 3 Report

Application of interviews might be described more in detail.

Author Response

1. Application of interviews might be described more in detail.

• Response: thank you for this suggestion. We added details about the interviews no page 6, paragraph starting with line 208.

Reviewer 4 Report

I would like to thank you for the opportunity of revising this manuscript, which deals with a relevant question for educational research.

The research is methodologically correct, however there are some few aspects that need to be clarify in order to improve clarity and validity. For this reason, I would suggest some major revisions before accepting it for publication

In general, I would suggest to have the English language checked by an expert native speaker.

Abstract

Line 4: what kind of practices (welcoming practices, literacy practices, teaching practices…)? Please specify.

Lines 7-8: since the current research adopted a qualitative methodology, I would suggest to use “information” instead of “empirical data”.

Line 11: what do the authors mean with “individual work”? Please explain

As in the end, Tatar migrants are mentioned, the topic of Tatar students in Russian school should be mentioned at the very beginning of the abstract.

Introduction

Line 38: could the author add a percentage or a range?

Line 39: please add a number

Lines 121-122: it seems there a bit of confusion about the concept of multicultural and intercultural. They are two distinct concepts, with specific features. This aspect should be necessarily clarify to better explain what are the practices adopted in supporting school experience for migrant pupils. To clarify this, I would highly recommend to refer to the these works:

Portera, A. 2010. “Intercultural and Multicultural Education: Epistemological and Semantic Aspects.” In Intercultural and Multicultural Education: Enhancing Global Interconnectedness, edited by C. A. Grant and A. Portera, 12–30. New York: Routledge.

Biasutti, M., Concina, E., & Frate, S. (2020). Working in the classroom with migrant and refugee students: The practices and needs of Italian primary and middle school teachers. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 28(1), 113-129.

Method

Table 1: what is the unit of measure of experience (I suppose years)? Please, specify.

In addition there is a discrepancy between Table and the text (the line below). Does the longest professional experience last 33 or 34 years? Please, correct.

Did the researchers check the accuracy of the transcription of interviews sending it to the interviewed?

Has been aby type of triangulation (researcher triangulation) for checking data

Discussion

How may these results impact current practices of teachers in working with migrant children? This aspect could be discussed more in detail.

Author Response

Reviewer 4:

1. I would like to thank you for the opportunity of revising this manuscript, which deals with a relevant question for educational research. The research is methodologically correct, however there are some few aspects that need to be clarify in order to improve clarity and validity. For this reason, I would suggest some major revisions before accepting it for publication. In general, I would suggest to have the English language checked by an expert native speaker.

• Response: Thank you for the kind words and for this suggestion.  We have substantially edited the writing for grammar and flow.

Abstract

2. Line 4: what kind of practices (welcoming practices, literacy practices, teaching practices…)? Please specify.

• Response: thank you for this suggestion, we include the term "welcoming" to describe practices for positive climate (e.g.  line 425).  In addition, we describe language and academic support practices throughout the manuscript.  

3. Lines 7-8: since the current research adopted a qualitative methodology, I would suggest to use “information” instead of “empirical data”.

• Response: We respectfully disagree with this reviewer, as qualitative research also involves collection of empirical data. While the data are different in format and the purpose of qualitative research is different from quantitative research, interviews are also empirical data.

4. Line 11: what do the authors mean with “individual work”? Please explain

• Response: we clarify that we mean working with a child one-on-one in the abstract.

5. As in the end, Tatar migrants are mentioned, the topic of Tatar students in Russian school should be mentioned at the very beginning of the abstract.

• Response: thank you for this suggestion, we have done so starting with the abstract.  

Introduction

6. Line 38: could the author add a percentage or a range? Line 39: please add a number

• Response: we have done so. 

7. Lines 121-122: it seems there a bit of confusion about the concept of multicultural and intercultural. They are two distinct concepts, with specific features. This aspect should be necessarily clarify to better explain what are the practices adopted in supporting school experience for migrant pupils. To clarify this, I would highly recommend to refer to the these works:

Portera, A. 2010. “Intercultural and Multicultural Education: Epistemological and Semantic Aspects.” In Intercultural and Multicultural Education: Enhancing Global Interconnectedness, edited by C. A. Grant and A. Portera, 12–30. New York: Routledge.

Biasutti, M., Concina, E., & Frate, S. (2020). Working in the classroom with migrant and refugee students: The practices and needs of Italian primary and middle school teachers. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 28(1), 113-129.

• Response: Thank you for this suggestion and recommendations of works to consider. We have consulted and cited them and added others (Gorski, 2006; Holm & Zilliacus, 2009) to describe distinctions noted in the literature about these approaches and cited Valeeva & Valeeva, 2017 to locate the way these issues are considered in Russia.  We now clarify that Russia has a distinctive history and traditions of multiculturalism on page 3, lines 66-83. We also note that an analysis of differences in these concepts and how they may or may not apply in Russia is beyond the scope of this paper, but note in the conclusions that we recommend this be explored in future research – lines 608-612.

Method

8. Table 1: what is the unit of measure of experience (I suppose years)? Please, specify. In addition there is a discrepancy between Table and the text (the line below). Does the longest professional experience last 33 or 34 years? Please, correct.

• Response: thank you, done.

9. Did the researchers check the accuracy of the transcription of interviews sending it to the interviewed?

• We did not check for accuracy of transcriptions because we assured teachers of confidentiality. However, transcripts were checked for accuracy of transcription from the audio recordings.

10. Has been any type of triangulation (researcher triangulation) for checking data

• Response: We note in the methods section that researchers came to a consensus when developing codes and categories on lines 234-235.  We also note that teacher interviews as a sole source of data is a limitation of the study and future research can be strengthened through observations of teacher practices on lines 602-604.

Discussion

11. How may these results impact current practices of teachers in working with migrant children? This aspect could be discussed more in detail.

• Thank you for this suggestion.  We added recommendations for teacher training, on lines 539-541; as well using Tatar language in support of teaching Russian as a foreign language lines 594-596).

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Author Response

Thank you! 

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript describes a study based on qualitative interviews of Russian elementary school teachers in Tatarstan (Russian Federation) that work with immigrant children. The purpose of the study was to identify educational practices that suit the needs of these children.

Overall, the manuscript is well-written, and the qualitative analyses are well suited for exploratory topics such as this. The authors have carefully revised their manuscript to accommodate the reviewers' concerns to the best of their knowledge. My only concern is that the authors are ambiguous about what they mean by "immigrant children". Are these children who immigrated to Russia with their parents/guardians (first-generation immigrants), or these are children of immigrants who were born in Russia (second-generation immigrants)? Depending on the definition of "immigrant children", the needs of this vulnerable population can be defined differently.

Author Response

RESPONSE TO REVIEWER:

My only concern is that the authors are ambiguous about what they mean by "immigrant children". Are these children who immigrated to Russia with their parents/guardians (first-generation immigrants), or these are children of immigrants who were born in Russia (second-generation immigrants)? Depending on the definition of "immigrant children", the needs of this vulnerable population can be defined differently.

RESPONSE:  Thank you for this comment. In our prior response to reviewers we clarified that we us the term "immigrant children" intentionally to refer to immigrants who are children. We do not use the term "children of immigrants", which can refer to first and second generation immigrants.  However, to be more precise, in the second revision of the text on lines 160-161 we state:  "The aim of the present study is to identify and describe educational practices elementary school teachers in Tatarstan use with first-generation immigrant children."  To address the reviews additional concerns we added on line 161:  "These children were brought to Tatarstan by their parents and came from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, and other countries."

(additions highlighted in yellow in the manuscript)

Reviewer 4 Report

I have read the revised manuscript with great attention and I have found it really improved. I have only a few minor suggestions before accepting it for pubblication. I indicated them here below.

Regarding the following authors' response:

"Response: We respectfully disagree with this reviewer, as qualitative research also involves collection of empirical data. While the data are different in format and the purpose of qualitative research is different from quantitative research, interviews are also empirical data."

Yes, empirical research may be quantitative or qualitative. However, conventionally, the  term "data" is related to numerical indications that refer to the intrinsic properties of a specific phenomenon (mainly quantitative) while information is mainly related to qualitative data. This is the distinction I would like to point out, for this reason I have suggested to replace "data" with "information".

In the Limitations section, this sentence "only quantitative research can document the prevalence of teacher supports and practices when working with immigrant children in Russia and Tatarstan." is very relevant, but I think it may be clarified. What the authors mean with the term "prevalence"? I suppose it means the most used or adopted supporting strategies and teaching practices by primary teachers. This sentence may improve if re-phrased.

Author Response

I have read the revised manuscript with great attention and I have found it really improved. I have only a few minor suggestions before accepting it for pubblication. I indicated them here below.

RESPONSE:  Thank you! 

Regarding the following authors' response:

"Response: We respectfully disagree with this reviewer, as qualitative research also involves collection of empirical data. While the data are different in format and the purpose of qualitative research is different from quantitative research, interviews are also empirical data."

Yes, empirical research may be quantitative or qualitative. However, conventionally, the  term "data" is related to numerical indications that refer to the intrinsic properties of a specific phenomenon (mainly quantitative) while information is mainly related to qualitative data. This is the distinction I would like to point out, for this reason I have suggested to replace "data" with "information".

RESPONSE:  Respectfully, we disagree, and believe that our use of the term "data" is consistent with what is used in the qualitative literature we are familiar with and have contributed to. Perhaps this is a question of alternative paradigms. The reviewer's term "intrinsic properties of a specific phenomenon" reflects a positivist epistemology that assumes that quantitative measurement captures the "truth." In the interpretivist tradition that we follow, qualitative research yields unstructured, text-based data with which the researcher constructs a rendering of "the truth".  We now use the term "interpretivist" to describe our approach on line 169. 

In the Limitations section, this sentence "only quantitative research can document the prevalence of teacher supports and practices when working with immigrant children in Russia and Tatarstan." is very relevant, but I think it may be clarified. What the authors mean with the term "prevalence"? I suppose it means the most used or adopted supporting strategies and teaching practices by primary teachers. This sentence may improve if re-phrased.

RESPONSE:  Thank you for this suggestion, we have followed it. We have edited the sentence on lines 605-606 to read: "how frequently the teachers use the kinds of supporting strategies and teaching practices".

changes ar highlighted in yellow