Social Integration in Social Isolation: Newcomers' Integration during the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Abstract

Attending to immigrants’ social integration is a complex challenge for adult educators in ordinary times, and the complexity has significantly increased with the COVID–19 pandemic. This exploratory paper begins by outlining four aspects of social integration: forming social networks, developing a sense of belonging, linking social integration to the workplace, and language learning. Working within an intersectionality framework that foregrounds migrants’ experiences of discrimination, this paper reveals ways that migrants have experienced increased discrimination and inequality in their social integration since the COVID–19 pandemic began. Recommendations are made regarding tending to migrants’ physical and psychosocial needs, countering discriminatory attitudes with empathy, addressing the digital divide, and using intersectionality to empirically examine migrant experiences.