Dr. Anna Kirova’s appointment at the University of Alberta marked the beginning of a long-term research program that focuses on various aspects of the relationship between young immigrant children’s social competence and their social adjustment to school. To understand fully the culturally and linguistically diverse children’s experiences in school, her research examined the nature and experience of childhood that has been interrupted by immigration as well as the lived experiences of immigrant children in their day-to-day living between languages and cultures. The findings from this line of research challenged the dominant discourse of children and childhood in which children from nondominant cultural/ethnic backgrounds have often been treated as abnormal, lacking agency, competence, and knowledge. The creative relation-making processes in which children engaged as they perceived and reshaped relatedness among the scattered and conflicting events and experiences inevitably involved their families, the various communities they lived in, and society as a whole.
Her research’s findings deepened our professional understanding of this process by providing insights into pedagogical policies and practices in which we need to engage in order to build a truly multicultural society. Her wide-ranging repertoire of research methods includes hermeneutic phenomenology, arts-based methodologies, and community-based participatory action research aimed at gaining insights into human phenomena by including vulnerable populations in research that is both meaningful and empowering. Her most recent collaborative research in developing an intercultural early learning program for newcomer children in which children maintain their home language and culture while learning English has resulted in a government document providing guidance to early childhood educators in supporting young English language learners’ bilingual and bicultural identities which has potential to lead to socially just institutional reform in schools and curriculum development and implementation.
Research Interests: Diaspora, Immigrant, Refugees, Early childhood development.
| Institution: | University of Alberta |
| Fields of Expertise: | Collective Identity Cultural Diversity, Integration and Multiculturalism Education and Technology Ethnicity, Racism, and Xenophobia EU Policies Migration Youth |
| Research groups: | |
| Email: | akirova@ualberta.ca |
| Media outreach: | Yes |
| Languages: | English |
| Publications: | Jamison, N. M. & Kirova, A. (2024). Navigating cultural differences: A young newcomer child’s expressions of individual and social subjectivities within play and personal art-making activities. In R. M. Holmes & J. L. Roopnarine (Eds.), Culture, schooling, and children’s learning experiences. Oxford University Press. Yohani S, Kirova A, Georgis R, Gokiert R, Taylor M. & Tahir S. (2023) Creating community learning for empowerment groups: an innovative model for participatory research partnerships with refugee communities. Frontiers in Education. 8: 1164485. DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1164485 Kirova, A., Prochner, L., & Massing, C. (2020) Learning to teach young children: Theoretical Perspectives and implications for practice. London: UK: Bloomsbury. https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/learning-to-teach-young-children-9781350037786/ Kirova, A., Massing. C., Cleghorn, A., & Prochner, L. (2018). Complexities of insider-outsider positioning in a comparative education study in comparative education contexts. Collaborative Research Methodologies in Diverse Early Care and Education Contexts. New York, NY: Routledge. Georgis, R., Gokiert, R. & Kirova, A. (2018) Research Considerations in Collaborative Early Childhood Partnerships with Immigrant and Refugee Communities: Researcher Reflections. Collaborative Research Methodologies in Diverse Early Care and Education Contexts. New York, NY: Routledge. Kirova, A., & Emme, M. (2017). Co-Researching with Children: Children as Researchers as a Movement and a Construct. In M. Emme and A. Kirova (Eds.) Good Questions: Arts-based Approaches to Collaborative Research with Children and Youth. (pp. 229-250). Thunder Bay, ON: National Art Education Association. Prochner, L., Cleghorn, A., Kirova, A., & Massing, C. (2016). Teacher education in diverse settings: Making space for intersecting worldviews. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers. Kirova, A. & Thorlakson, L. (2015). Introduction. Policy, Inclusion and Education Rights of Roma Children: Challenges and Successes in the EU and North America. Alberta Journal of Educational Research Special Issue: Policy, Inclusion and Education Rights of Roma Children, 61(4), 371-380. Massing, C., Pente, P. & Kirova, A. (2015). The interactional dance: Immigrant parents and their children in shared art -making about sense of place. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 24 (1), 37-50. Kirova, A. & Thorlakson, L. (Winter 2015). Alberta Journal of Educational Research, Inclusion and Education Rights of Roma Children Theme Issue, 61(4). |
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