Language education for integration

Language competency is a key factor in integration and developing a sense of belonging. Working in collaboration with the Welsh Refugee Council, the Learning and Work Institute and Adult Learning Wales, Professor Mike Chick researches the provision of language education to refugees and people seeking sanctuary in Wales.

Language skills are essential to the integration of people seeking safety from war or persecution. Professor Chick’s research explores innovative and practical ways in which the language classroom can act as a vehicle to promote integration and thus help forced migrants to build new lives in Wales.

For over 10 years USW students, led by Prof Chick, have been organising and delivering valuable English language classes in collaboration with the Welsh Refugee Council at their Cardiff Headquarters.

The Refugee Council view these classes are hugely important, not only for language development but also for the social opportunities and psychological support they provide to people who very often are not allowed to work or study. Since 2014, hundreds of sanctuary seekers have attended these classes, and trauma-informed language provision now forms part of the Welsh Refugee Council WRC 2026 Strategic statement.

As USW’s Refugee Champion, Prof Chick promotes the university’s Refugee Sanctuary Scheme, and works with external organisations such as CARA (the Council for At Risk Academics) to support displaced academics. He also oversees USW’s collaboration with its twinned Ukrainian partner university – the Kharkiv State Academy of Physical Culture.

LANGUAGE IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT AREA THAT CAN PROMOTE INTEGRATION FOR MIGRANTS. ENGLISH AND WELSH CLASSES CAN PROVIDE MORE THAN TUITION ALONE; THEY ARE A SOCIAL SPACE, PROVIDING A SENSE OF STRUCTURE TO DAILY LIVES, WHILE OFFERING BOTH LINGUISTIC AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SUPPORT.

Mike Chick

Professor of ESOL and USW's Refugee Champion

In 2023, Professor Chick and the Learning and Work Institute were commissioned by the Welsh Government to review their policy on language education for migrants in Wales.

Recommendations from the review have since informed both policy and practice. Prof Chick’s research and thinking around migrant language education led the Learning and Work Institute to include his work on Participatory Pedagogy within Citizen Curriculum Pilots for Welsh Government.

As result of this, the Institute has continued to work with Prof Chick and USW on piloting a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) package for language tutors, to test and learn more about embedding multilingual, trauma-informed participatory approaches to teaching and learning.

Funded by a grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Prof Chick is currently collaborating with academics from the three UK devolved nations to research the role the Welsh language might play in fostering a sense of belonging amongst those seeking sanctuary in Wales.