This article is part of the theoretical orientation of a growing body of work in the sociology of childhood and youth which highlights the continued need to lend pay attention to the voices, experiences and practices of young people. , as well as the contextual factors that shape their experiences and living conditions (Corsaro, 2015; James, Jenks, & Prout, 2005; James & Prout, 1997; Qvortrup, 2005; Qvortrup, Bardy, Sgritta, & Wintersberger, 1994). Young people are recognized as complex human beings, social agents and key contributors to society, but their lives are also seen as structured and lived within the context of institutional frameworks largely created and administered by adults. Furthermore, this document draws heavily on the normative framework set out by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which specifies the internationally recognized right of young people to be involved in decisions that affect their lives. As such, institutional decision makers, including educators and other school leaders, have a responsibility to meaningfully engage with the perspectives and experiences of children and young people (Bhabha, 2014). Scholars present diverse views on how schools function in democratic and capitalist societies. . Functionalist approaches assert that public education is an essential mechanism for producing consensus and stability in society. By socializing the next generation, schools transmit to “future citizens” common worldviews and normative orientations that contribute to the maintenance and continuation of social order (Ghosh and Abdi, 2004, p. 15-16). Other researchers have long been interested in the central role that schools play in the reproduction of social inequalities (Bourdieu & Passer...... middle of article ......ople (our social situation) which therefore involves subject formation processes (Devine, 2011, p. 133; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Willis, 1977) As Devine (2011, p. 133-134) reminds us, immigrant and refugee children must go. at school. these children and youth are exposed to various messages that shape them according to the various standards of what it means to be Canadian and who has the right to belong and participate in society. Immigrants and refugees are also offered supports to aid their social inclusion in Canadian society (LaVasseur, 2008). schools shape the social inclusion of immigrant and refugee youth, as well as how these young people make sense of the complex range of messages they receive.