England
Refugee Education: Theorising Practice in Schools
In the last five years, more child refugees have made perilous journeys into Europe than at any point since the Second World War. Once refugee children begin to establish their new lives, education becomes a priority. However, access to high-quality inclusive education can be challenging and is a social justice issue for schools, policymakers and for the research community. Underpinned…
2021
Extending the Welcome: The role of university–community partnerships in supporting refugees in England
As issues around refugee rights have come to public attention following the surge in asylum application in Europe in 2015, several responses have been developed by universities in England to extend the welcome to refugees in both local communities and on their campuses. While some institutions act on their own, others have created social relationships and collaborations with local and…
2020
Finding Their Way The Journey to University for Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Young people in Coventry
This research report explores the journey to higher education for refugee and asylum-seeking young people living in Coventry. It is the product of a partnership between Refugee Education UK and the University of Warwick's English and Comparative Literary Studies Department. The qualitative research study explores the barriers to university facing refugee and asylum-seeking young people in Coventry, and reveals the…
2022
Educators’ interactions with refugee pupils: knowledge, attitudes, and practices
The value of school for refugee and asylum seeking children is well established, in terms of their right to education under international law, their socio-emotional well-being, and their adaptation to living in a new country and culture. Yet there is a critical gap in our understanding of refugee education from the perspectives of educators – the people who interact with…
2022
Educators' positive practices with refugee pupils at two schools in England
Extensive evidence indicates that education is an integral part of the settling in process for refugee and asylum-seeking children. Furthermore, it has been suggested that positive teaching practice with refugee pupils should be asset-based and holistic in nature. The present study examines educators' positive practices with refugee pupils and explores factors that shape these practices. Data were collected through participant…
2022
Educational provision for newly arrived unaccompanied sanctuary seekers aged 15–16
Local Authorities in England are rarely able to find a school place for newly arrived unaccompanied sanctuary seekers when the young person arrives in their locality aged 15–16. Criticisms regarding this exclusionary practice are plentiful; that said, it has been argued the dominance of debate regarding access to mainstream education for pupils aged 15–16 obfuscates critical analysis of the educational…
2022
Understanding the experiences of school belonging amongst secondary school students with refugee backgrounds
Research into refugee students’ settlement in host countries highlights school belonging as essential to their wellbeing and academic achievement. This research aimed to understand how secondary school refugee students experience school belonging in the North East of England. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to understand the views of refugee students. Four superordinate themes were developed: agency, participation, safety and separation.…
2022
Practitioners’ perspectives and needs: Developing skills to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs) in experiencing ‘belonging’ in English educational spaces
This article builds on Yuval-Davis’s (2006, 2007, 2011) theories of belonging, in order to relay how practitioners can support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASCs) in developing a positive sense of belonging in educational spaces in England. To do so, the article synthesises literature surrounding theories of belonging, UASCs’ educational access in England and practices supporting UASCs’ educational attainment and sense of…
2022
SIRIUS Watch 2021: Towards inclusive digital education for migrant children
SIRIUS Watch 2021 presents trends and developments on the effects of digitalisation in education on migrant children both pre- COVID-19 and during COVID-19. It will build on national and EU-level research, as well as the results of the SIRIUS Online Digital Workshop. The results include a clear framework of challenges and recommendations to support the development of an inclusive digital…
2021
The educational outcomes of refugee and asylum-seeking children in England
New research from the Education Policy Institute, supported by Unbound Philanthropy, finds that asylum-seeking children who enter the UK separated from their parents are on average over three years behind non-migrant children at school by the time they take their GCSEs. The new EPI working paper, which is the first study to examine the educational outcomes of the majority of…
2021
The impact of educational achievement on the integration and wellbeing of Afghan refugee youth in the UK
An unprecedented number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) have arrived in Europe over the last decade, and young Afghans account for the highest proportion of UASC across England, Scotland and Wales. Despite a wealth of UK policies aimed at ensuring positive outcomes for young people who have been through the care-system, and a rich body of research exploring the…
2021
Previous experience, trickle-down training and systemic ad hoc-ery: educators’ knowledge acquisition when teaching refugee pupils in one local authority in England
Schools play a key role in the lives of young refugees and asylum seekers, yet it is unclear to what extent educators are prepared to effectively teach this population. In this study, we examined how educators acquire knowledge relevant to teaching refugee pupils through a survey (n = 295) and nestled case studies of 17 teachers at two schools in England. Educators…
2021
Understanding networks of actors involved in refugee access to higher education in Canada, England and France: A digital comparative approach
In times of intense migrations, securing a brighter future through education has become a growing concern in many societies. In particular, access to higher education for refugees has been the object of multiple initiatives among governments, civil society and non-government organisations. However, only 3 per cent of refugees access higher education, and there is a need to better understand, support…
2021
Theorising policy and practice in refugee education: Conceptualising ‘safety’, ‘belonging’, ‘success’ and ‘participatory parity’ in England and Sweden
Across the world, children are forced to leave their homes for far-flung destinations. This global phenomenon has particular impact in Europe, where there are now more child refugees than since World War II. Education plays an important role for children with extraordinary experiences seeking to build meaningful lives in their new context. This article offers a new theoretical approach to…
2021
Education transitions for refugee and asylum-seeking young people in the UK: Exploring the journey to further and higher education
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) enshrines the right to education for all children. This right is not suspended when children are forced to flee their home countries. Amidst the uncertainty and adversity of forced displacement, education is a source of hope, a space of safety and a gateway to opportunities for the future. Yet…
2020
Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children: Childhood, agency and integration
This thesis investigates the practices and understandings of integration of asylum-seekers, under 18, who arrive in the UK without parent, guardian or carer. The recognition of children as active participants in society is widespread across the social sciences, yet this critical enquiry into the integration of unaccompanied minors brings new understandings concerning the form and complexities of agency. Unaccompanied minors…
2020
The neglected minority: Higher education opportunities for refugee background students in England and Poland
At the end of 2018, there were almost 26 million refugees and 3.5 million asylum seekers worldwide. Only an estimated 3% currently have access to higher education (HE) (UNHCR, 2019). While international organisations have begun addressing this HE access issue, the body of relevant research remains relatively underdeveloped. Using a qualitative simultaneous multimethod research design (Morse, 2003), employing both quantitative…
2020
Participatory parity in schooling and moves towards ordinariness: a comparison of refugee education policy and practice in England and Sweden
Within the current global refugee crisis this paper emphasises the fundamental role of education in facilitating the integration of young new arrivals. It argues that a humanitarian problem of such scale requires a commensurate humanitarian response in the form of socially-just educational policies and practices in resettlement contexts within Europe. Utilising the theoretical concepts, ‘participatory parity’ (Fraser) and ‘resumption of…
2020
Barriers to the inclusion of refugee and asylum-seeking children in schools in England
This article reports a study of the barriers faced by headteachers seeking to include young asylum seekers and refugees into secondary schools in England. We trace the new discourses and assemblages of authority created at city level by recent policy changes. Drawing on in-depth interviews with headteachers, we share their experiences of navigating layered ecologies of systemic challenges to their…
2020
The super-disadvantaged in higher education: barriers to access for refugee background students in England
In view of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ which began in late 2014, there is a growing potential demand for higher education opportunities amongst refugee communities in England and more widely in Europe. Whilst exact numbers are not certain, it is necessary to establish whether such demands can be met at all. Based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with nineteen refugees and asylum…
2020
Improving ESOL provision for displaced adult migrants in Scotland: Key recommendations and findings
ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) provision for asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland is devolved to the Scottish Government’s (SG) education brief and has developed independently of and diverged from UK Government approaches in England. The SG’s ESOL Strategy, now in its second iteration, Welcoming Our Learners (2015-2020), interacts with other policy areas, including Adult Literacies, Community Learning…
2019
Engaging Parents, Preparing Teachers and Understanding the Role of Mental Health in Learning – National Roundtable of England 2019
England did not participate in the 1st NRT round (2017-18: Setting the scene workshop). For this reason, the ‘Setting the scene’ stage was incorporated in the preparation activities of the 2018-19 workshop. Specific topics were identified as priority policy areas both through a review of the findings from recent research carried out in these areas and through consultation with a…
2019
Identiti(es) and investment in learning English: An ethnographic study of Syrian refugees in the UK
This PhD project explored the experiences of 14 adult Syrian refugee language learners, recently arrived in the North East of England, as they learned English and negotiated their sense of self in their new environment. It sought to uncover the ways in which identities, identity transformations, and relations of power were implicated in the Syrians' investment in learning English. Further,…
2019
Analysis of care and education pathways of refugee and asylum-seeking children in care in England: Implications for social work
There are currently 4,560 refugee and asylum-seeking children in care in England, but little is known about their care histories and educational outcomes. This study analysed the educational outcomes of unaccompanied refugee and asylum-seeking children in care at age 16 (n = 167) in 2013, using secondary data analysis. It compared their care histories and educational experiences with other children…
2019
Higher education as a space for promoting the psychosocial well-being of refugee students
Objective: This study aimed to investigate how well a single higher education institution (HEI) was perceived to be meeting the psychosocial support needs of refugee students and to identify possible ways in which the HEI might better promote refugee students’ psychosocial well-being. Design: Adopting an exploratory, focused case study design, the research employed a qualitative interpretive approach utilising three data…
2019
Conceptualising educational provision for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in England
The right to education for all children, including asylum-seeking children, is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, there is little research available to describe the educational provision provided to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in England. Crucially, it is not known whether the educational needs are met by the provision available to UASC. In the…
2019
Multi‐country Partnership to Enhance the Education of Refugee and Asylum‐seeking Youth in Europe - PERAE
The ‘Multi‐country Partnership to Enhance the Education of Refugee and Asylum‐seeking Youth in Europe ‐ PERAE’ was initiated by the SIRIUS Network – Policy Network on Migrant Education in 2016 with the support of the Mercator Foundation. The initiative builds up on the SIRIUS ‘Agenda on Migrant Education’ (SIRIUS, 2014) and the Statement on Urgent Response for the Education of…
2018
Education for refugee and asylum seeking children: Access and quality in England, Scotland and Wales
In 2017, UNICEF UK commissioned research to understand how far refugee and asylum-seeking children are currently accessing their right to education in the UK. For children on the move who come to the UK, education is one of the first and most critical services they need access to. This report, produced by Refugee Support Network, provides an up-to-date overview of…
2018
The educational needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in UK in one local authority in England: Professional and child perspectives
This two-part small-scale research is positioned within a social constructionist interpretive epistemology. Both parts of the research used qualitative methods. Part One explores the perspectives of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in relation to their educational experiences in the UK. It also considers the experiences, opportunities and challenges for school and college staff with supporting the educational needs of UASC in…
2018
Interview
Integration & assimilation
Inclusion
English
Access & participation
Unaccompanied & separated children
Secondary data analysis
Formal education
Tertiary education
Language education
England
Curriculum
Participatory action research
Thematic content analysis
Socio-emotional learning & development
United Kingdom
How do refugee children experience their new situation in England and Denmark? Implications for educational policy and practice
As the number of individuals who have been forced to flee their homes and country of origin has increased rapidly in recent years, the need to understand how best to support such individuals, especially the youngest of them, becomes pressing. This study presents findings from interviews with adults who had arrived as asylum-seekers in one of two countries, Denmark or…
2018
Revisiting the issues of access to higher education and social stratification through the case of refugees: A comparative study of spaces of opportunity for refugee students in Germany and England
This paper presents new insights into the relationship between inequality in access to higher education and social stratification through the analytical lens of refugees' access to high participation systems of higher education (HPS). Taking stock of the growing numbers of refugees and their increasing-yet still marginal-demand for accessing higher education, the paper analyses the specific statuses and rights they are…
2018
Let refugees learn: Challenges and opportunities to improve language provision to refugees in England
Refugees are people, like you and me. They have been forced to flee their homes by war or persecution, often leaving behind virtually all their worldly possessions. Once they have been recognised as refugees here in the UK, they have a chance to rebuild their lives in safety. But new challenges very rapidly arise. This report is concerned with one…
2016
Syria’s lost generation: Refugee education provision and societal security in an ongoing conflict emergency
Education policy is uniquely placed to address the soft security concerns of refugee resettlement, with educators equipped to recognise, react and respond to the unique education needs and welfare of the Syria’s next generation. An appropriate education policy response to the refugee crisis can reduce the risk of stigma, isolation, intra-community tensions, marginalisation and even radicalisation. The protracted nature of…
2016
A well-founded fear’: Children’s literature about refugees and its role in the primary classroom
This study begins by identifying a new genre in writing for young people which has developed rapidly since the millennium, namely that of children’s literature about refugees. It questions whether these books have a role to play in understanding and validating the circumstances of refugees in the primary classroom. Taking as my starting point the UNHCR definition of a refugee…
2015