Bridging borders: a spotlight on transnational families and education

Seyithan Demirdag is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University in Türkiye. He got a master's degree from Langston University in Oklahoma, and a PhD in educational leadership at the University of Oklahoma.

Tell me about how you came to be at RSU today.

I am participating in a few COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Actions. The specific one that brings me to Riga is about "transnational families", which I am working on together with RSU lecturer Ilze Trapenciere after we met in Durrës, Albania. COST Actions are about networking between researchers, and I could see that our understanding of certain concepts was very similar. I know that she focuses on social work, whereas my field is educational sciences, but nevertheless immigration is a common topic for us. Today, I was invited to RSU to present on my research of immigrant families. 

Is this your first time in Latvia?

This is my first time being in Latvia. I'm a very international person and I've visited many countries in Europe and North America, but this is my first time in Latvia. People are very friendly. I love the atmosphere here to be honest. 

Tell me more about the COST Action programme.

COST Actions provide certain opportunities for researchers to meet in one another’s countries and short-term scientific missions (STSM) were created for this purpose. I applied, was accepted, and got in touch with Ilze telling her that I wanted to conduct a study with her about school principals’ perception of immigrant students in Latvia and Türkiye. 

What are transnational families?

Transnational families are basically families that had to emigrate from their countries, mainly due to war, conflicts, and similar situations. In the Latvian context, Ukrainians are transnational families here, whereas from a Turkish perspective, Syrian immigrants are transnational families. 

Tell me more about the study.

In this particular meeting, Ilze and I focused on creating a tool to collect data which we are about to finalise. This tool will be in semi-structured interview form, and we will use it to interview school principals in Latvia and in Türkiye.  

The focus of our study is elementary, middle, and high school principles.

What will the interview be like?

This data collection tool will have three parts: personal information, a quantitative section, and a qualitative section. After we finalise this tool, Ilze will interview school principals in Latvia, and I will be interviewing school principals in Türkiye. 

The questions in the quantitative section will require binary answers. For example, the first question is "do you agree that you generally possess a positive attitude towards immigrant students?" The principle would have answer "yes" or "no". Another question is: "do you agree that you perceive immigrant students as valuable contributors to the cultural richness of your school?" And I'm jumping to the last one: "Do you agree that addressing prejudice is essential for creating an inclusive environment for immigrant students?"  

The questions in the qualitative section necessitate explanations, so we are going to collect data and do content analysis. The first question in this part is: "how do you perceive the integration of immigrant students in your school community?" Second: "What strategies do you employ to support immigrant students, academic and social success?" Third question: "what are the challenges or successes you have observed in your interactions with immigrant students?" Last one: "how do your interactions with immigrant students have shape your perceptions about them?" 

What do you hope to get out of the study?

When we have collected the data, me, Ilze and Head of the Department of Welfare and Social Work Lolita Vilka will write an article, and hopefully also participate in a conference in the summer in Europe. We are focusing on getting at least two publications out of the data. Those are our main goals.

From the left: Ilze Trapenciere, Assoc. Prof. Seyithan Demirdag, and Lolita Vilka

What were your interactions with the students like today?

My prior research is on how perceptions of transnational families have influenced education, health, and policy and I presented my findings to the students. They displayed a prior understanding and knowledge of the immigration situation in Türkiye, but my results enlightened them in more detail. I provided perspectives on education policies and health, and I basically supported my evidence with quotations directly from families. The students really engaged with this as they had never heard what these families think of being immigrants in Türkiye, what kind of challenges they face, what kind of opportunities they have.

They were very engaged, and their questions were good. I also learned a couple of things from them. This is how collaboration works – the students gave examples from their own countries, drawing parallels and spotting differences between them. 

What ideas for future collaboration do you see between the two universities?

Since we are collaborating as researchers, both our universities are also interested in a deeper collaboration. We would like for Latvian students to be able to come to Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University, and for Turkish students to be able to come to Rīga Stradiņš University and get an education in Latvia. We are trying to get an ERASMUS plus agreement. So far, I sent a draft application to Ilze that she has sent to the International Department. A mobility and exchange agreement would be very beneficial for both of us.