Secondary education
Unlocking learning: The use of education technology to support disadvantaged children’s language learning and social inclusion in Italy
In Italy, more than 700,000 asylum seekers and migrants arrived in the country between 2014-2020. Newly arrived children including refugees and migrants need to quickly acquire Italian skills to succeed in school and society. To help address this urgent need, the Akelius digital learning application was introduced in Bologna and Rome for Italian and English language learning in the 2021/22…
2023
Intergenerational spillover effects of language training for refugees
Children of refugees are among the most economically disadvantaged youth in several European coun-tries. They are more likely to drop out of school and to commit crime. We find that a reform in Denmark in 1999 that expanded language training for adult refugees and was shown to improve their earnings and job market outcomes permanently, also increased lower secondary school…
2023
Exploring the impact of teachers’ past migration experience on inclusive education for refugee children
Teachers play a key role in shaping students' experiences in the learning environment. Studies on inclusive education in forced migration contexts, however, rarely examine what determines teachers' positive behaviour and attitudes toward refugee students. This study examines how teachers' past migration and occupational experiences impact their attitudes towards students who arrived through forced migration and whether they rely on teaching…
2023
The role of recent refugees’ educational selectivity in their children’s educational decisions in Germany
This paper uses the example of newly arrived refugees to examine the role of recent migrants' educational selectivity in their children's educational decisions in Germany. Building on a theoretical model that understands participation in the educational system as the sum of investment decisions of rational individuals, we assume that positively selected parents are more ambitious about having their children admitted…
2023
Associations between social factors and school belonging among newcomer and non-newcomer youth in Sweden
Feeling a sense of belonging at school is associated with important positive outcomes for youth and requires youth to engage in positive social relationships. Yet there is a limited understanding of the social factors most associated with youths' school belonging and limited evidence about whether correlates of school belonging vary for marginalized groups like newcomers compared to majority groups. Sweden…
2023
Teachers’ ideological dilemmas: lessons learned from a Language Introduction Program in Sweden
In this qualitative study, we draw on theory and practice in relation to the concepts of fixity and fluidity in language education (i.e. the simultaneity of bounded, named languages; and the need to transcend language boundaries). We use data from focus group interviews to investigate the entangled ideological dilemmas facing four teachers in a Language Introduction Programme in an upper…
2022
Determinants of Refugee Children’s Social Integration: Evidence from Lebanon, Turkey, and Australia
This paper investigates the determinants of refugee students’ social integration in Lebanon, Turkey, and Australia. This paper seeks to understand how legal status and the corresponding length of refugee asylum shape refugee children’s social integration. The three host countries offer refugees different legal statuses ranging from short-term in Lebanon, medium-term in Turkey, and long-term in Australia. Therefore, our data collection…
2022
Chances and discrimination in dual vocational training of refugees and immigrants in Germany
This article depicts the obstacles within the vocational education for trainees with escape and migration experience in Germany. The structure of the highly formalised vocational training system in Germany is based on the assumption of a ‘normal case’ of an educational biography. However, this neither applies to the often-broken educational pathways of refugees and immigrants, nor to an increasing number…
2023
World-mindedness of young people during the rise in migration in Europe: a case study of Czechia, Finland, Germany and The Netherlands.
During the 2015 sudden rise in migration movements in Europe, approximately 2.4 million refugees arrived in Europe and 1.2 million asylum applications were received in the European Union countries. We were interested in finding out whether these rapid changes and the polarised attitudes represented in the media affected young people's attitudes towards people with different cultural backgrounds. This study, therefore,…
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
New migrants, new challenges?-Activating multilingual resources for understanding mathematics: Institutional and interactional factors
New adolescent migrants from Arabic-speaking countries face complex challenges when participating in regular mathematics classes in Germany: They have been educated in their family language(s) and are obliged to adapt to a new (second or target) language and to different styles of teaching. In contrast, 3rd generation multilingual students, who usually are schooled in German only, have rarely ever used…
2022
Mental Health of Refugee and Non-refugee Migrant Young People in European Secondary Education: The Role of Family Separation, Daily Material Stress and Perceived Discrimination in Resettlement
While scholarly literature indicates that both refugee and non-refugee migrant young people display increased levels of psychosocial vulnerability, studies comparing the mental health of the two groups remain scarce. This study aims to further the existing evidence by examining refugee and non-refugee migrants’ mental health, in relation to their migration history and resettlement conditions. The mental health of 883 refugee…
2022
Educational Assimilation of First-Generation and Second-Generation Immigrants in Germany
Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for 1984–2018, we analyze the intergenerational education mobility of immigrants in Germany by identifying the determinants of differences in educational stocks for first- and second-generation immigrants in comparison to individuals without a migration background. Our results show that on average, first-generation immigrants have fewer years of schooling than native-born Germans and have a…
2022
Educational Policies Matter: How Schooling Strategies Influence Refugee Adolescents’ School Participation in Lower Secondary Education in Germany
This article investigates the educational participation of refugee adolescents in Germany as a main European destination country of refugee migration. Opportunities and restrictions for school participation vary not only across countries–, but in the case of the Federal Republic of Germany, also within countries. The influence of different regional educational policies on refugees' educational participation and the extent to which…
2022
Sexual risk-taking behaviors among young migrant population in Sweden
Background: Migration is a complex process of high uncertainty with adjustments to new contexts and experiences influencing individuals’ health. This study aims to assess the prevalence of self-reported sexual risk-taking behaviors among migrant youth population in Sweden, fulfilling the research gap in that field. Methods: A pre-tested, web-based self-administered cross-sectional survey was used to collect data among 1563 migrant youth…
2022
How vocational education and training (VET) systems can support Ukraine: Lessons from past crises
Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine has led to the most important humanitarian crisis in the OECD area since World War II, affecting millions of people and a severe economic, social and educational shock of uncertain duration and magnitude. This policy brief discusses how VET systems in host countries can become more inclusive and supportive of Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s large-scale…
2022
School Adaptation of Students Under Temporary Protection (From the Eyes of Turkish and Syrian Students) [Geçici Koruma Altında Bulunan Öğrencilerin Okula Uyumları (Türk ve Suriyeli Öğrencilerin Gözünden)*]
This study aims to examine the school adjustment of Syrian children who were obliged to leave their country for different reasons and who are under temporary protection in Turkey according to the opinions of Turkish and Syrian students. The study, which was carried out in accordance with qualitative research methods, has participants consisting of 10 Turkish and 10 Syrian students…
2022
Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education in Primary and Secondary Classrooms in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and the UK
This chapter shares an overview of students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) in the United States and three other prominent English-speaking countries with a growing number of SLIFE: Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Thus, this chapter has been organized into four main sections: (1) introduction to SLIFE, (2) in-depth overview of SLIFE in primary and secondary U.S.…
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
Classroom culture and cultures in the classroom: engagement with Holocaust education in diverse schools
This paper explores the engagement and attitudes of students in a UK school learning about the Holocaust, with a focus on refugee students. This paper explores students’ behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement with the subject, with a focus on the students’ experiences. Findings revealed an enthusiasm and understanding from most students, but particularly refugee students. The culture in the classroom…
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
Post-Migration Education Among Refugees in the Netherlands
Refugees face significant barriers in the labor markets of western countries due to limited transferability of educational credentials. Post-migration education can increase refugees’ chances in the labor market, but little is known about the prevalence and underlying patterns of such post-secondary educational investments. I contribute to the literature by analyzing survey data from the Netherlands on post-migration education among more…
2022
Parental Posttraumatic Stress and School Performance in Refugee Children
Refugee children in the Nordic countries have been reported to perform poorly in school and carry a high burden of familial posttraumatic stress. The present study aimed to investigate the impact of maternal and paternal posttraumatic stress on the school performance of refugee children. We used national register data on school grades at age 15–16 along with demographic and migration…
2022
Labour market marginalisation in young refugees and their majority peers in Denmark and Sweden: The role of common mental disorders and secondary school completion
Background Due to the circumstances of their early lives, young refugees are at risk of experiencing adverse labour market and health outcomes. The post-settlement environment is thought to play a decisive role in determining how this vulnerability plays out. This study compared trends in labour market marginalisation in young refugees and their majority peers during early adulthood in two national…
2022
Integration of newly arrived students in primary and secondary education in the Netherlands: The challenges that teachers face and their strategies to overcome them
The integration of newly arrived migrant students (NAMS) in a new educational system has become commonplace in the education literature. Teachers are the agents of inclusive practices to the changing demographic of schooling. Yet, little is known about their struggles when teaching NAMS. This study investigates the challenges that teachers face when it comes to the integration of refugee and…
2021
Bordered Trajectories: The Impact of Institutional Bordering Practices on Young Refugees’ (Re-)Engagement with Post-15 Education in Greece
Greece has been a site of various crises in recent years: firstly, the financial crash of 2008; secondly, the ongoing ‘refugee crisis’, which peaked in 2015; and thirdly, the current COVID-19 pandemic. This paper addresses the first of these crises, and particularly how state responses to increased migration flows shape young refugees’ (aged 15–25) (re-)engagement with post-15 learning opportunities upon…
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
‘The teacher makes us feel like we are a family’: students from refugee backgrounds’ perceptions of physical education in Swedish schools
Background: Over the past five decades, the number of people from refugee backgrounds in developed countries has been on the constant rise. Although the field of refugee and forced migration studies in relation to education and sport has grown considerably in recent years, very little is known about refugee-background students’ perceptions of Physical Education (PE). Purpose: The aim of this…
2021
An exploration of teachers’ perceptions of Syrian students in Turkey and implications for school social work
Low rates of school enrolment emerge as a significant problem among Syrian students in Turkey; however, enrolment in the school brings about new challenges not only for the Syrian refugee students but also for Turkish students and their teachers. In order to address this issue, this study aims to depict the perceived problems experienced by Syrian and Turkish students and…
2021
Educational structure of refugees
Since 2015, the Federal Republic of Germany has accepted more than one million refugees. In many cases, the refugee crisis in Germany is seen as an opportunity to compensate for the need for skilled labour. By 2030 there will be a shortage of around 3 million skilled workers. Therefore, this article focuses on the educational structure of refugees in the…
2021
The Role of Vocational Education and Training in the Integration of Refugees in Austria, Denmark and Germany
Context: Vocational education and training (VET) plays a crucial role in the social inclusion of refugees. The aim of this paper is to examine how the VET systems of Austria, Denmark and Germany responded to the arrival of young refugees since 2015. VET in these countries is categorised as system of collective skill formation, which offers apprenticeships in addition to…
2021
Hopes of Syrian refugee students about the future
Investigating the hopes of Syrian students about the future is important in terms of their future expectations, life goals and their level of commitment to Turkey as a host society. Therefore, the present study, using a qualitative case study method, aims to study Syrian refugee high school students’ hopes about the future. The study points to a complex phenomenon.
2021
Refugees in the Educational System: Views of Turk and Refugee Students
One of the most important topics in the field of education is refugee education as a result of the rapid increase in refugee numbers in recent periods in Turkey. The aim of this research is to investigate opinions of refugees and Turkish students about education given to refugees in Turkey. The basic assumption of the study is that the characteristics…
2021
“Wie soll ich das Kind bewerten?” Between Standardization and Differentiation in the Assessment of Plurilingual Refugee Students in Foreign-Language Classes in Germany: A Qualitative Study of Teachers’ Practices and Perceptions
In this chapter, we analyse the practices and attitudes of German teachers regarding assessment of refugee students learning Spanish or English as foreign languages. The data were collected through interviews with ten Spanish or English teachers dealing with refugee students in their classrooms in secondary schools in Hamburg in 2017 (Thölkes, “Schaffen die das?”. Die Leistungsbeurteilung geflüchteter Kinder und Jugendlicher…
2021
How a School Setting Can Generate Social Capital for Young Refugees: Qualitative Insights from a Folk High School in Denmark
Many of the refugees who have recently arrived in Denmark and other European countries are young people. In order to support refugee youth, it is important to understand how institutions and initiatives in the receiving countries may best facilitate their social inclusion. Drawing on the concept of social capital, this article explores school practices supporting refugees through a qualitative case…
2021
The Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) of UNICEF for teaching history in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms in Greece
Our study pertains to the development of new teaching material for the subject of History, to be used in the low Greek secondary education (Gymnasium), either in reception or in mixed classes attended mostly by refugee and immigrant children, approximately 13-15 years old, who are taught and learn Greek as their second language (L2). Our design aimed at the development…
2021
The psycho-social needs of displaced Syrian youth in Turkish schools: A qualitative study
This study investigates major challenges encountered by Syrian refugee youth in public high schools in Turkey, focusing on three sources of assessment: the refugee students themselves and their parents and educators. Based on qualitative interpretive research methodology, twenty-three individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. The study simultaneously hears the voices of the Syrian refugee students as well as those of their…
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
Does Studying with the Local Students Effect Psycological Symptoms in Refugee Adolescents? A Controlled Study
Integration of refugees into the education system at the resettlement country is a significant issue. In this study, we investigated how refugee students are affected in terms of psychological symptoms by studying in the same classroom with their local peers. This cross-sectional study was conducted during the school year in Mardin, Turkey. Participants consisted of 105 Syrian refugee adolescents and…
2021
Integration of Recently Arrived Underage Refugees: Research Potential of the Study ReGES – Refugees in the German Educational System
With the strong immigration of refugees at the end of the last decade, many minors came to Germany. Their integration into the German educational system will be one of the central tasks of German society and is important for the medium- and long-term integration of incoming young refugees in various areas of society. Data from the ReGES panel study enable…
2021
The role of civil society organisations in labour market integration of young immigrants in Sweden: An analysis of the organisation Right To Play
During the year of 2015 and the large migration wave that hit Europe, many unaccompanied young refugees came to Sweden. For this particular group, the challenge is to become integrated to the labour market in order to receive a permanent residency permit in Sweden after they graduate their upper secondary education. Over the past few years, it has become more…
2020
“It’s very hard, but I’ll manage.” Educational aspirations and educational resilience among recently resettled young refugees in Norwegian upper secondary schools
Purpose: This article explores the question: what shapes young refugees’ often high educational aspirations? A sense of mastery and future hope are among the numerous factors that can positively predict school achievements. High aspirations may thus contribute to both young refugees’ improved educational outcomes and wellbeing. Method: We discuss findings from semi-structured interviews in three Norwegian upper secondary schools in…
2020
Young refugees’ pathways in(to) education. Teacher and student voices: Challenges, opportunities and dilemmas
This report addresses the findings of the qualitative research project Educational and psychosocial transitions encountered by young refugees upon resettlement in Norway (TURIN). The TURIN project is a substudy (3a) of the Nordic research project ‘Coming of Age in Exile’ (CAGE) (2015–2020) and has been conducted by researchers from the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) and…
2020
Experiences and expectations of successful immigrant and refugee students while in upper secondary schools in Iceland
The influx of refugees and immigrants into Iceland continues to affect the society socially, culturally, and politically. Like many other European countries, Iceland has become home to many refugees and immigrants, including young adults. This influx has affected the education system, and many schools have developed different models to serve the diverse needs of the increasing number of immigrant children…
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
Language introduction as a space for the inclusion and exclusion of young asylum seekers in Sweden
Purpose: In this article, we focus on the language introduction (LI) programme for newly arrived migrants aged 16–19 in Sweden. We ask how it is organized for inclusion and what kinds of exclusion arise from such an organization. More specifically, we ask the question: in what ways do different settings for LI exclude at the same time as they include?…
2020
A study on the relationship between cultural adaptation and religious coping of refugee students [Mülteci öğrencilerin kültürel uyumlari ile dinî başa çikmalari arasindaki i˙lişki üzerine bir araştirma]
The aim of this study is to determine what kind of religious coping activities the refugee students forced to emigrate to Turkey due to the devastating reasons such as war and violation of rights apply in order to overcome their traumatic lives and the relationship be-tween the use of these religious coping activities and their adaptation to the culture they…
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