Care that transcends legal citizenship: Teachers advocating for undocumented migrant children

Abstract

Theoretically framed by caring scholarship in education, the current study aims to provide rich and detailed portraits of teachers in South Korea who serve a significant number of migrant and undocumented children. The findings of the study illustrate the ways teachers endeavor to create “spaces of belonging that supersede legal citizenship” (Gonzales et al., 2013, p. 17) in a school for the undocumented migrant children. Teachers attended to the everyday realities of undocumented migrant children and the material, physical, and emotional challenges caused by restrictive immigration policies and their precarious legal status. Teachers further provided undocumented migrant children with a variety of resources, support, and care and cultivated reciprocal and loving relationships with them. The findings of the study offer insights into the critical and pivotal roles of teachers in supporting and empowering undocumented migrant children amidst exclusive and xenophobic immigration regimes. The study also offers implications for educators, researchers and policymakers worldwide to promote more caring, resilient, and structurally inclusive environments for undocumented students.