Unaccompanied girls in England: (re)constructing spaces of belonging and learning

At a time of unprecedented highs in global migration and displacement, this study explores the lives of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people (UASC) in England, asking how they construct and experience belonging. Against a backdrop of increased immigration restrictions in the UK, a policy-enhanced ‘hostile environment,’ and the simultaneous duty of care which local authorities have to all children, including UASC, this study considers how the multiple, diverse threads of belonging interact and intersect with the relevant ideas of learning, identity, social connections, and space in the lives of four unaccompanied girls. As the majority of UASC are male, unaccompanied girls have been largely overlooked in research and in practice, and this study helps to fill that gap. This study takes an epistemological approach of social constructionism and takes into account the right of a child to be “properly researched” as based on the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child. Within this approach, I use traditional data collection methods – interviews and focus groups – which are innovatively adapted from a more structured question-and-answer presentation to a more casual, open format and include brief English lessons and mind maps. As the unaccompanied girls in this study are English language learners, these adaptations are not only helpful for encouraging engagement in the research, but ethically necessary in ensuring that they understand the research in which they are involved. In this way, the research process is more accessible to the unaccompanied girls and co-constructed alongside them where possible and appropriate. This is in line with a more relational ethics approach which seeks to go beyond “do no harm” by building trust and maintaining ongoing consent with vulnerable groups. This thesis makes a contribution to research around UASC by developing understandings of spaces of interaction and belonging through relations. Alongside exploration into everyday learning, identity and social connections, it highlights the uniqueness of an unaccompanied girl’s constructions and experiences. Findings also reveal how practices around food and faith can contribute to the construction of spaces of belonging and demonstrate that experiences within a setting such as college are comprised of social as well as academic interactions, which can also contribute to constructions of belonging. Finally, this research illustrates the powerful influence of the temporary in social interactions and its positive impact in building belonging, and it reflects on gender in UASC literature and the usefulness of ‘belonging’ as a lens for research.