First of all, my warmest thanks to the 42 young people and their teachers who participated in the schools study, and without whom this research would not have been possible. I am profoundly grateful to the two teachers at the heart of this project—Mme M. in the French school and Mrs. O. in the New Zealand school—who were so positive and enthusiastic about the project, and who opened their classroom doors to me. These two extraordinary women entrusted me with an enormous amount of confidence, allowing me to sit in their classes and observe every intimate detail of the teaching and learning taking place (and all the human realities that go with that). All my gratitude and respect for their work, mana, and the care and kindness they bring to their students.
My warmest thanks to my PhD supervisor, Régis Malet, for his constant guidance, encouragement and inspiration throughout the thesis process. His support and astute feedback have been extremely valuable. Régis has opened many doors for me professionally and intellectually, and I am grateful for his support, expertise and direction. I express my gratitude to the jury members Martine Derivry, Magdalena Kohout-Diaz, Catherine Cohen, Stephen May, Stephen Dobson and David Crabbe, for accompanying me during the final phase of my work. I sincerely thank them for their interest in my project, and also for the various ways that their research work has informed my own and helped to develop the project.
I sincerely thank all members of the LACES team (Laboratoire Cultures-Éducation-Sociétés), a diverse group of multilingual professionals working in educational sciences, languages, culture and sports at l’Université de Bordeaux. Our many exchanges and discussions hugely enriched my thinking. The research process was robustly supported by LACES’s internal laboratory structure of doctoral seminars (Séminaires Doctorant(e)s), collegial sharing of research (Axe Diversités, Cultures, Sociétés), and international opportunities facilitated by LACES. These activities included funding towards my field research in New Zealand (March–June 2019), with ongoing proposals to publish and present, contribute to international collaborations in teacher education, and participate in transnational research projects in the areas of inclusive education and diversity.
A special thank you to Catherine Mendonça Dias, with whom it is such a pleasure to collaborate, and whose inclusive approaches really “walk the talk.”
I am also grateful to the Faculty of Education at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington in Aotearoa New Zealand, who warmly welcomed me
This project was enriched by the participation of many committed and caring people in both countries, working in refugee resettlement, in support of asylum-seeker families, and in schools with young migrants, whom I met during the project. I thank and acknowledge all of the people who form a support network around young migrants, and who gave of their time and energy for this research project—teachers, teacher aides, teacher educators, school principals, parents, education experts, and other professionals. Their voices are heard throughout this book.
My loving thanks to my son Jacob, whose own journey from being a bilingual child in Japan to now working in refugee resettlement in Aotearoa New Zealand, is part of the backdrop. Ka pai he mahi, e tama!
My most tender loving thanks to my husband Frédéric, who has walked with me every day, offered courage in moments of doubt, and delighted in moments of success.