Facing the other: Development education and 'encounter' in contexts of migration and displacement

Migration and displacement to the global North have increased in recent years, and a growing number of social programmes have attempted to organise ‘encounter’ between young newcomers and their peers at school. Drawing on qualitative research during a large European Union (EU)-funded project for migrant and refugee wellbeing in two English secondary schools, this article examines the impact of school-based interventions on young people’s peer relationships in contexts of migration and displacement. It uses focus group data and ethnographic fieldnotes to foreground the perspectives of young people and professionals in the two English secondary schools. Taking the Levinasian view of encounter as inherently ‘unorganisable’, the article shows how school-based interventions can encourage self-definition and address migration-related stereotypes among young people, opening up (although never guaranteeing) possibilities for their encounter. At the same time, however, these interventions can reinforce alienating distinctions and overlook real inequalities shaping young people’s peer relationships in contexts of migration and displacement. The article draws out implications for development education policy and practice in these settings.