The role of culturally responsive social and emotional learning in supporting refugee inclusion and belonging: A thematic analysis of service provider perspectives

Young refugees resettled to the U.S. from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region face significant acculturative stressors, including language barriers, unfamiliar norms and practices, new institutional environments, and discrimination. While schools may ease newcomer adjustment and inclusion, they also risk exacerbating acculturative stress and social exclusion. This study seeks to understand the opportunities and challenges that schoolwide social and emotional learning (SEL) efforts may present for supporting refugee incorporation, belonging, and wellbeing. We completed semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 40 educators and other service providers in Austin, Texas, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Detroit Metropolitan Area, Michigan as part of the SALaMA project. We conducted a thematic analysis with transcripts from these interviews guided by the framework of culturally responsive pedagogy. The findings revealed that students and providers struggled with acculturative stressors and structural barriers to meaningful engagement. Schoolwide SEL also provided several mechanisms through which schools could facilitate newcomer adjustment and belonging, which included promoting adult SEL competencies that center equity and inclusion, cultivating more meaningfully inclusive school climates, and engaging families through school liaisons from the newcomer community. We discuss the implications of these findings for systemwide efforts to deliver culturally responsive SEL, emphasize the importance of distinguishing between cultural and structural sources of inequality, and consider how these lessons extend across sectors and disciplinary traditions.

Jump-Starting the Socialization Experience: The Longitudinal Role of Day 1 Newcomer Resources on Adjustment

We examine the newcomer adjustment patterns of 985 new hires at a Fortune 500 technology organization across their first year on the job. Data were collected from newcomers, their managers, and company records from organizational entry (employee’s first day) to the end of the first year of employment. We examined, first, whether newcomer resources (material, personal, social, and status resources) related to early newcomer adjustment levels (role clarity, task mastery, and acceptance) and rates of adjustment and, second, how newcomer resources and the rate of adjustment related to manager ratings of newcomer adjustment at 9 and 12 months post-entry. The average of every adjustment variable was higher at the latest data collection point, indicating that time was on newcomers’ side and was related, overall, to higher adjustment levels. Finally, we explored which resources related to the three newcomer adjustment indicators and the shapes adjustment trajectories took depending on resources at organizational entry. Results indicated that personal resources (proactive personality, optimism, and organizational knowledge) were related to early adjustment. Regarding material resources, having a work station ready the first day on the job was related to adjustment. For social resources, meeting one’s manager the first day on the job was related to early social acceptance. For status resources, greater newcomer job level was unexpectedly not related to early adjustment. We found partial support for the direct relationships between early adjustment levels or adjustment rates and manager ratings of adjustment at 9 months but limited support for manager ratings of adjustment at 12 months.