On the brink of education: Experiences of refugees beyond the age of compulsory education in Austria

This paper offers first-hand accounts of refugees beyond the age of compulsory education having arrived in Austria during the last five years. Their accounts were collected using qualitative interviews and a visual method to allow for different approaches towards their educational biographies. Nine individual and two group interviews (altogether with 16 young people) were conducted, where the…

Barriers to higher education in displacement: Experiences of Syrian refugee students in Turkish universities

Many refugee youth aspire to complete higher education in order to pursue personal development, obtain secure employment, facilitate socio-economic integration, and build more stable futures in their new communities. However, they often face intersecting legal, economic, linguistic, psychosocial, and structural barriers to accessing higher education. Based on thematic analysis of in-depth…

The construction of “official outlaws”. Social-psychological and educational implications of a deterrent asylum policy

With the increasing numbers of immigrants seeking to obtain political asylum, the receiving conditions and the deportability of refused asylum seekers have emerged as major issues. Concern with these questions has been addressed through renewed asylum policies involving expeditious processing of applications, tight restrictions upon the right to work, removal of support or detention for failed…

Refugees’ pathways to German Higher Education institutions

Since 2015, Germany has followed a welcoming policy for refugees and has made efforts to integrate them in German society through initiatives such as development programs. However, very few refugee students have actually managed to enter German Higher Education (HE) institutions. Using a qualitative methodology, the researcher interviewed Arab refugee students studying in pre-academic and…

Safe and enabling elementary education environment for refugee and asylum seeking pupils

In Serbia, relevant ministry and state institutions cooperated with NGO’s in the process of including refugee and migrant children into formal education. Save the Children has taken part in the process by advocating for educational opportunities for children on the move, working directly with children, parents, teachers, local communities, and cooperating with the Ministry of Education in…

Experiences of the Polish teachers of primary schools in working with war refugee students from Ukraine: Selected problems, limitations and implications for pedagogical practice

The ongoing war in Ukraine has caused that millions of people, mainly women and children, were forced to flee their country. Poland, as a country bordering Ukraine, accepted the most refugees. In consequence, Ukrainian school-age children started studying in Polish schools but preparing Polish primary schools (schools which educate children who are 6/7–15 years of age) to accept such an…

Refugee Youth Educational Trajectories

This is an account of three refugee youth—Yaser, Abas, and Malek—who fled from their home countries and arrived in Greece after 2015 as unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors. All three youngsters were fluent in English and engaged in public narration at the Intercultural Forum in Nafplion Greece in June 2018. Through vivid narratives, they showcase their tireless efforts to obtain formal education…

Awareness of social studies teacher candidates on refugees in Turkey

The aim of this study is to obtain information about the awareness of social studies teacher candidates about the refugee problem in Turkey. In this regard, a group of teacher candidates are asked their opinion on the subject of refugees in Turkey and as to how they perceive the problem. Interview method is used in the study for data collection. The obtained data is subjected to content analysis…

Big dreams, did they come true? Opportunities and obstacles in the school trajectories of unaccompanied refugee minors [Grootse dromen, uitgekomen? Kansen en obstakels in de schoolloopbaan van alleenstaande minderjarige asielzoekers]

While many unaccompanied minors deal with their precarious situation by focusing on school success, there is a lack of knowledge about the diversity of factors that hinder and stimulate their life trajectories, including their school career. This article focuses on the long term school trajectories of unaccompanied minors who were highly motivated to have a successful school career when they…