The Challenges Facing Second-Generation Return Migrants from The US to Palestine: Palestinian Schools 2022/2023 رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

This study is an exploration of the multifaceted challenges that second-generation returning migrants from the United States encounter in the Palestinian schools during the school year (2022/2023). It delves into the experiences of 25 different school students, who lived in the United States, returned with their parents to Palestine and enrolled in the Modern English School (MES) in Ramallah city. The study investigates the returnees’ transition to new educational and cultural environments at school. For this qualitative case study, a triangulation of research methods was applied. The tool kit included observations of the participating students, semi-structured interviews with the students, their teachers and parents, beside two focus groups. Results reveal several key difficulties, including cultural adjustment, language barriers and identity formation in the context of Palestinian schools. Contextualizing the strategies that students employ to overcome these challenges within the broader framework of acculturation theory illuminates the use of integration and assimilation techniques. Returning migrant students appear to assimilate into the Palestinian school system rules in terms of discipline, attendance and examination criterion. Whereas they preserve American cultural features, they integrate with the surrounding Palestinian one. Living in Palestine and attending school expands their knowledge about its culture, which is the main goal for parents to return to their homeland. However, they need their parents’, teachers’ and the local community’s support to make their transition process a successful one.