Academic adaptation strategies in immigrant students from basic and secondary education establishments in the city of Arica

This document presents the research results of the doctoral thesis titled “Academic adaptation strategies in immigrant students from Basic and Secondary Education establishments in the city of Arica”, work that is included in the line of research linked to social and community development. . The general objective of the research is to analyze the strategies used to promote the academic adaptation of immigrant students incorporated into basic and secondary education in the city of Arica. This type of research seeks “concrete universals” achieved through in-depth analysis of cases particulars and the comparison of that case with others. For this reason, an ethnographic approach is chosen, by virtue of appreciating reality as a construction that is only possible to know, based on the meanings delivered by the subjects who construct it. The collection of information combines analysis of documentary and statistical sources, with focus groups and in-depth interviews. The informants considered are teachers who work with migrant students, migrant parents and guardians, and migrant students, as well as institutional managers of regional education. After this, the data was reduced by categorization, according to thematic criteria. The coding process adopted a mixed character, and then used content analysis to delve deeper into the communications in a systematic way. The analysis of oral expressions was carried out from written transcriptions of them. In terms of data analysis, the use of double-entry matrices in which the verbal information is housed was chosen. The results of the research indicate that the Chilean cultural tradition shows that its predisposition to interculturality is limited. Schools start from the premise that it is the student who must adapt to the school system. This “formal equality,” considered a fundamental task of establishments, is reaffirmed through standardizing procedures. Thus, the mechanisms designed to support migrant students refer mainly to administrative support. Furthermore, there is a deep-rooted belief that the situation will “normalize over time,” which in practice translates into immobility.