Primary education
Unlocking learning: The use of digital learning to support the education and inclusion of refugees and migrant children in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in the country has increased from just a few dozen arrivals annually prior to 2017 to 95,000 between 2018 and 2022. This increase has put incredible strain on the country's education systems. This research presents critical findings on the implementation and effectiveness of the Akelius digital learning application in…
2023
Assessing the criteria for equality of the right: Refugees’ higher education from the perspective of human rights [Hak Eşitliğine İlişkin Kriterlerin Değerlendirilmesi: İnsan Hakları Perspektifinden Mültecilerin Yükseköğrenimi]
With the Syrian refugee crisis, the subject of refugees’ access to HE, which was only partially funded owing to donor reluctance, was prominently covered in the news, with concepts such as preventing the lost generation, resilience, reconstructing countries, and education as a human right. With the Ukraine crisis, the issue of supporting the higher education of refugees came to the…
2023
Vocabulary Teaching in Refugee Children within the Context of the Greek Formal Education
The aim of the present study is to investigate vocabulary teaching in children with refugee backgrounds. The effectiveness of three vocabulary interventions-flashcards, pantomime, and use of contextual cues-is examined within the context of formal primary education in Greece. The improvement of the children's vocabulary is also assessed in association with factors related to the students' background as well as factors…
2023
Child friendship patterns at a refugee center in Greece
Since 2015, Greece has seen a large influx of refugees, resulting in increased needs for accommodation and education provision. As most newcomers come in family units, innovative educational measures were established to assist schooling and inclusion for refugee children. Schools provide opportunities to young refugee communities for initiating connections and maintaining friendships with local native peers. However, segregated accommodation structures,…
2023
Implementation and quality of an early childhood education program for newly arrived refugee children in Germany: an observational study
Early childhood education [ECE] can foster the social-emotional adjustment and development of young refugee children. Still, the large numbers of newly arriving refugee families challenge the ECE capacities of host countries. In Germany, state authorities have subsidized flexible ECE programs for refugee children in response to this situation. The goal of this study was to examine the implementation and quality…
2023
Tutoring project for children from a refugee community: tutor perspectives
Background: The question of how best to support children who are refugees to resettle and thrive in a new country is important and complex. One of the many challenges experienced by such children is disrupted education. It is widely recognised that a sense of belonging and integration within a new school and community are key to enhancing children’s chances of…
2022
Planning for Belonging: Including Refugee and Asylum Seeker Students
The education of students from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds is an international concern. It calls for inspired teachers, sensitive interventions, and informed leadership. This writing discusses the views of students, teachers, general staff, parents, and the principal of a primary school in regional New South Wales, Australia regarding the sense of belonging that is so critical to the very…
2022
Summer Preschools for Syrian Refugee and Host Community Children in Turkey: A Model of Contextually Sensitive Early Intervention
Research Findings: This study evaluated the impacts of the Summer Preschools Program on 5-to-6-year-old Syrian refugee and local children from vulnerable communities of Turkey. Developed as a community-based contextually sensitive early intervention model, the program aimed to promote developmental well-being and school readiness of children from forced displacement and abject poverty backgrounds by supporting cognitive, language, and socioemotional development prior…
2022
Mental health problems in refugee and immigrant primary school children in Flanders, Belgium
Background: European countries face the challenge of promoting refugee and immigrant children’s well-being within their host communities, invoking the necessity of adequate mental health assessment. This study aims to contribute to document the psychosocial well-being of primary school refugee and non-refugee immigrant children in Flanders, Belgium. Method: A total of 120 children (8–12 years old) with migration backgrounds participated in the…
2022
Understanding Syrian parents’ educational involvement in their children’s primary education in Turkey
Parental involvement in education is significant for children's schooling experience and their cognitive and academic development. It also plays a role in refugee children's success and integration in the host country. However, understanding refugee parents’ educational involvement can be a complex issue because of their different cultural beliefs and unique challenges as refugees. Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews with Syrian…
2022
Educational Integration from the Perspective of Refugee Parents and Children [VKLJUČEVANJE V VZGOJNO-IZOBRAŽEVALNI SISTEM IZ PERSPEKTIVE STARŠEV IN OTROK BEGUNCEV]
This article is based on a research project executed by the authors in 2021. It revolves around the experiences of refugee children and parents within the Slovenian educational system. Data was acquired from twelve families. Interviewees spoke about the positive and negative aspects of educational integration. Those mainly consisted of language difficulties, learning difficulties, and discrimination. The presented research aims…
2022
The Life of Syrian Asylum-Seeking Children in a Temporary Shelter Centre in Turkey: An Ethnographic Study on Primary School Education
This research aims to describe primary school children’s life and education experiences who escaped from the war environment in Syria and took refuge in Turkey. The study was conducted with an ethnographic research design. The study participants comprised fourth-grade students, teachers, parents, and the close social circle of Syrian nationals who stayed in the temporary shelter in Turkey. Observation, interview,…
2022
Grappling with the transformative potential of translanguaging pedagogy in an elementary school with Syrian refugees in post-coup Turkey
Translanguaging pedagogies have been documented to support language minoritized students in various ways, such as supporting their academic learning, affirming their bi-/multilingual and cultural identities, and disrupting the colonial and monolingual ideologies dominating school curricula. Yet, very few scholars have pointed to the existing barriers in schools and societies hindering educators from fully achieving the transformative potential of translanguaging pedagogy.…
2022
Socio-Emotional Problems and Learning Skills of Roma and Recently Arrived Refugee Children in German Elementary Schools
Background: In Germany, many recently arrived and minority families live in multi-ethnic, high-poverty districts. Multiple risk factors threaten their children s development. Aims: We examined the socio-emotional problems of these children in relation to their academic learning skills and executive functioning. Method: We compared teacher-rated socio-emotional problems of n = 112 Roma children (90% foreign-born), n = 101 refugee children…
2022
“We would love to, but…”—needs in school integration from the perspective of refugee children, their parents, peers, and school staff
Existing research on the education of refugee children has been conducted in countries with a longstanding tradition of refugee integration. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the integration process of refugee children in Croatian schools. Croatia is a small EU country with limited experience in refugee integration. The phenomenological approach was used to examine the experiences…
2022
Non-verbal cognitive development, learning, and symptoms of PTSD in 3- to 6-year-old refugee children
As IQ tests are commonly used as key assessment method, we address the question whether our commonly used standardized IQ tests are appropriate for children from families of diverse cultures and different educational levels in a refugee population. We examined 109 refugee children aged 3–7 years (M = 5.10 years, SD = 1.25) with the “Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children “ (KABC-II;…
2022
Hahnefeld A.
Sukale T.
Weigand E.
Dudek V.
Münch K.
Aberl S.
Eckler L.V.
Nehring I.
Friedmann A.
Plener P.L.
Fegert J.M.
Mall V.
Special education
Cognitive learning & development
Randomised control trial
Correlational analysis
Caregivers
Gender
English
Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Assessment
Camp setting
Formal education
Language education
Germany
Primary education
Experimental & quasi-experimental study
Early childhood education
Special Needs Assessment in Bilingual School-Age Children in Germany
Educational and (psycho-)linguistic research on L1 and L2 acquisition in bilingual children sketches them as a group of language learners varying in many aspects. However, most studies to date have based evaluations of language proficiency or new assessment tools on data from heritage children, while studies on the appropriateness of assessment tools for school-age refugee children remain a notable exception.…
2022
Longitudinal evaluation of friendship project: A multicultural – antiracist program for elementary school children
This study presents the results of the evaluation of Friendship Project-Greek version (FP-GR), a school based multicultural and anti-racist program aiming to develop intercultural skills and positive intergroup relationships, as well as familiarize and sensitize children with refugees’ life circumstances and difficulties. The aim of the study was to adapt FP in the Greek context and evaluate its longitudinal effectiveness…
2022
‘Refugees here and Finns there’ – categorisations of race, nationality, and gender in a Finnish classroom
Schools represent a central meeting place where societal inequalities are reproduced and questions of social justice become important. This study focuses on categorisations related to race, nationality, and gender in interactions in Finnish teaching environments, as well as teacher reflections on these situations. We discuss the implications of the categorisations on social justice and the role of the teacher in…
2021
The promise of refugee lifelong education: A critical review of the field
The increasing number of refugees, coupled with the protracted nature of refugee situations around the globe, underline the critical importance of refugee education. Since 2010, education has been one of the global strategic priorities of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), but much of the focus and resourcing has been on primary education and, to a lesser extent, secondary education.…
2021
Relationship between school performance and breakfast quality in refugee children: Case study of mardin region
Background: Many studies have found that the academic success of school-age children is proved to be in close relation with regular and healthy nutrition. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the relationship between breakfast quality and academic success of refugee primary-school children. Methods: After scanning 24 schools in the city center, 384 students who were refugee Syrians from primary schools…
2021
Schooling contexts of refugees at primary schools in two hotspots: comparison of italy and turkey [İlkokullardaki̇ mülteci̇leri̇n eğİti̇msel bağlamlari: İtalya ve türki̇ye karşilaştirmasi]
This study aimed to investigate refugee pupils’ schooling contexts, their social relationships with teachers and native peers in math, social studies, and native language courses at primary schools. The research is a combination of two parts that originated from the observations in Italy to highlight the refugees’ schooling contexts in classrooms, then followed by the part that took place in…
2021
School performance of children whose parents suffered torture and war-a register-based study in Denmark
Background: Young refugees and descendants of refugees have different preconditions for learning than their peers without refugee background. Children growing up in families where parents have suffered torture and war trauma may represent a particularly vulnerable group. This study investigates whether children of torture survivors living in Denmark achieved different test scores throughout primary and secondary school compared to children…
2021
Building Social Cohesion in Ethnically Mixed Schools: An Intervention on Perspective Taking
We evaluate the effect of an educational program that aims to build social cohesion in ethnically mixed schools by developing perspective-taking ability in children. The program is implemented in Turkish elementary schools affected by a large influx of Syrian refugee children. We measure a comprehensive set of outcomes that characterize a cohesive school environment, including peer violence incidents, the prevalence…
2021
‘Feeling at Home Away from Home?’ Social Participation of Refugee Students in Cyprus: A Mixed Methods Case Study Design
In the context of increasing numbers of refugee students being integrated into the national school system of host countries globally, the necessity of inclusive school environments for these students is growing. Yet schools may not be well prepared and supported to meet the unique needs of refugee students, who may struggle to adjust to their new reality. In this paper,…
2021
Attitudes towards inclusion of refugee girls with and without disabilities in Austrian primary schools
This study addressed the concept of ‘intersectionality’ relating to refugee status and disability. It examined whether differences in attitudes depending on disability type (physical disability vs. behavioural disorders) are present and how the refugee status and disability in girls interact to influence attitudes. The attitudes of 1377 participants towards the inclusion of Austrian girls with disabilities as well as of…
2020
What are the educational conditions (in theory and practice) for minor refugees who arrive in Lesvos, Greece?
Since late 2014, Greece has had to confront not only the economic crisis but also the increase of migration flows from the Middle East region. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), Article 28 referred to the right of the child to education and that the State has the obligation to make primary education compulsory and…
2020
Identifying the best practices for the integration of refugee students into the German national school system
Integration is a complex and widely discussed concept, central to the refugee crisis that Europe is currently experiencing. With the large number of minors and young adults entering European countries, the inclusion of refugees (and of other migrants) into national education systems is an important topic to be understood and discussed. Germany is the European country which has taken in…
2020
The Influence of Media on Students’ Views Regarding Refugeehood in Turkey: A Phenomenological Study of Seventh-Grade Students
In Turkey today, one of the most frequently mentioned issues in the media is the influx of refugees, mostly from Syria. While most refugees are attempting to reach Europe by crossing through Turkey illegally, some consider Turkey an asylum center. This study used a phenomenological approach and qualitative experiment to determine how the phenomenon of refugeehood discussed in the media…
2020
Teaching non-italian students: Italian adaptation of the questionnaire on teachers’ perspectives * [Insegnare agli studenti non italiani: Adattamento in italiano del questionario sulle percezioni degli insegnanti]
The survey of teachers’ perspectives on the teaching of refugees and immigrant pupils by Kurbegovic (2016) is used to evaluate five dimensions of teachers’ self-perception: Self-efficacy, Implementation Practices, Cultural Competence, Competence/Preparation and Student Needs. The present study is aimed at analysing the self-awareness of primary school teachers of the teaching of refugee and immigrant students in Italy. The survey of…
2020
Learning Experiences Of Syrian Refugee Students During The Outburst Of Covid-19 Pandemic [Göç Mağduru Surİyelİ Öğrencİlerİn Covid-19 Salgini Sürecİndekİ Öğrenme Deneyİmlerİ]
In this study, it is aimed to determine the feelings and thoughts of Syrian refugee primary school students regarding the difficulties and opportunities they face in their learning processes in distance education during the Covid-19 outburst.Using the case study design of the qualitative research approach, study was conducted with 36 4th grade students who came to Turkey due to forced…
2020
Educational leading as pedagogical love: the case for refugee education
From a normative perspective, education serves a double purpose, that is, to prepare students to live well in a world worth living in. The practices of educational leadership are crucial elements in achieving this telos. In this article, we reimagine leading practices as pedagogical love, orchestrating conditions which enable refugee students’ academic achievements and overall school wellbeing. The article draws…
2020
Attitudes’ analysis of fifth grade Spanish and Greek pupils towards refugee children: The cases of Granada and Alexandroupolis
In 2015, the largest refugee crisis since World War II occurred in Europe with a constant increase in the number of people crossing the Mediterranean Sea seeking protection. It is estimated that half of the refugees and asylum seekers are children. In order for these children not to lose opportunities, host countries worked to provide them access to education, both…
2019
A word frequency study and refugee students in turkey [Bir sözcük sıklığı Çalışması ve türkiye’deki mülteci Öğrenciler]
Word frequency studies can be described as studies conducted to determine which words are used more frequently in written or verbal texts in a language. In this study, it was aimed to do a word frequency study on the 6th grade Turkish textbook for 2017. In this way, it was desired to determine word frequency for refugee students having education…
2019
Education for Syrian Refugees: The New Global Issue Facing Teachers and Principals in Turkey
This study addresses the educational status and needs of Syrian school-age children at Turkish public schools and the perspectives of teachers and school principals who work with Syrian refugee students. Data was collected from an ongoing qualitative interpretive case study research project using semistructured interviews with teachers and principals who worked with Syrian refugees in 2 inner-city elementary schools in…
2019
Labour market participation among young refugees in Sweden and the potential of education: a national cohort study
This register-based study examined the importance of education on labour market participation among young refugees in Sweden. The study population consisted of unaccompanied (n = 1606) and accompanied refuges (n = 4142), aged 23–26 years in 2006–2010, after 7 years of residence in Sweden. Native Swedish, aged 24 years (n = 347,255) constituted the comparison population, with intercountry adoptees (n…
2019
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 assessing the needs…
2018
International Perspectives on the Pedagogies of Educational Transitions
There has been a great deal written recently about children starting school, particularly primary school. All of the stakeholders in these transitions to school have been considered, along with matters of readiness – for the child, family, educators, schools and communities; adjustment and adaptation; continuity and change in curricula and learning; and the opportunities, aspirations, expectations and entitlements encompassed in…
2017
Guiding, shaping and resisting: Refugee mothers’ educational strategies as they navigate ‘unsettlement’
Contrary to popular media tropes of the ‘young, lone, male refugee’ arriving at Europe’s borders, Greece has in fact seen a steady flow of female refugees arriving since 2015. Most newcomers come in family groups, and many, including teenage girls, are mothers – many of whom aspire to continue (or begin) their schooling. While access to formal education has increased…
2022
Growing Together—Effects of a school-based intervention promoting positive self-beliefs and social integration in recently immigrated children
We present a school-based intervention geared to foster the social integration of recently immigrated (RI) primary school children by creating repeated positive contact situations with classmates brought up in the receiving society. Coaches encouraged groups of tandems, consisting of one RI and one child brought up in Germany each, to engage in cooperative activities designed to strengthen positive self-beliefs and…
2020
Promoting Positive Attitudes toward Refugees: A Prejudice-Reduction, Classroom-Based Group Intervention for Preadolescents in Greece
The present study examined the effectiveness of a novel 6-session, prejudice-reduction group for Greek preadolescents. The sample consisted of 106 elementary school students aged 10–12 years, allocated to the intervention (n = 55) or control group (n = 51). Results indicated that, compared to the control group, participants in the intervention group showed more positive attitudes toward refugees as well as an increase…
2020
Cooperative learning in swedish classrooms: Engagement and relationships as a focus for culturally diverse students
The ongoing refugee crisis makes intercultural competence and culturally responsive education crucial issues in schools. At the same time, increased migration poses new challenges for social cohesion in countries around the world. How schools and classrooms can be fair and inclusive in terms of experiences and outcomes for migrant and refugee students is therefore a key question. This paper will…
2020
Academic Achievement and Psychosocial Adjustment in Child Refugees: A Systematic Review
Child refugees are at high risk for problems with academic achievement and psychosocial well-being. We aimed to review the literature concerning these outcomes in primary school–aged child refugees. This study was a systematic review and included studies that reported on outcomes of interest in child refugees between 5 and 12 years of age. Our search generated 3,172 articles; we selected…
2020
Building autonomous pathway for unaccompanied foreign minors and young adults – National Roundtable of Italy 2019
The context is provided on the basis of the conclusions of the Access to Educational Report for refugee and migrant children in Europe, carried out jointly by Unhcr, Unicef and Iom. A greater effort is needed to ensure that all minors who are migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have access to quality education and guarantees for the continuation of their…
2019
Refugee, Migrant Education and Social Policies in Greece: Finding Synergies and Sustainable Policies – National Roundtable of Greece 2019
On 7th July 2019, a new government has been elected in Greece, for the forthcoming four years. The new Minister of Education as well as the new vice Minister of Migration Policy will be interviewed in order to select data about the new forthcoming education policies. Amongst the first announced structural changes are the transfer of the Autonomous Department of…
2019
Critical inquiry into the education for refugee and migrant pupils: The construction of primary teachers’ practices in one city in Scotland
Schools and teachers play key roles in promoting positive re-settlement outcomes for refugees and migrants. As such, this requires schools and teachers to identify and respond to their diverse linguistic, cultural and emotional needs (Pastoor, 2015; Block et al., 2015; Hek, 2005). As a result, teacher roles can stem beyond their traditional expectations when presented with refugee and migrant pupils…
2019
Education of refugee students in Greece: Teachers’ experiences
Greece encountered an unparalleled flow of people in 2015, what has been described as a “refugee crisis”. A substantial proportion of the refugee population comprised of children under the age of 18. The Greek state has been called to provide these children with the fundamental right to education. Considering that the need for refugee education provision at such a large…
2019