Learning, particularly learning English is presented as a key part of integration for adult migrants in the UK. England and Scotland differ in how their policy approaches to integration include adult learning. This article aims to explore and uncover the ways in which adult education, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers is embedded and included in policy for integration of…

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…

Ample research has shown the importance of collaboration between practitioners, researchers, and policy makers to ensure holistic, inclusive, and effective policy making, particularly in the field of refugee education. Many countries, however, still face challenges in engaging with stakeholders during all the stages of the practice – research – policy transfer in the context of refugee education in a meaningful…

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 asylum seekers. These asylum…

Sweden’s Art and Music Schools (SAMS) have assumed some responsibility for facilitating refugee children’s social inclusion. This article investigates how the inclusion of refugee children in SAMS is introduced by leaders as well as how the theme is constructed and addressed as a topic in policy documents (related to the national policy process for SAMS). Two data sets constitute the…

Utilizing the post-migration ecological lens and the synthesized model of culturally relevant leadership formed by the authors, we aim to compare and analyze the policy outlines and school leadership responses to refugee education in Turkey and Germany; as the two main hosts of the largest number of refugees. Through comparative phenomenology, we draw on the semi-structured interviews, observations, and document…

This article is about navigating asylum, employment and language policy in a new country as an asylum seeker. Through the story of one individual, we show that profound inequalities are exacerbated when forced migrants are limited in their choice of language they might study or use. The individual is Tailor F, an Iraqi man seeking asylum, and the country is…

In this article, we analyse a recent case of educational policymaking in the city of Oulu in Finland. The case concerns a ban on asylum seekers’ visits to local schools and day-care centres. Our primary aim is to study the role that negative political emotions play in the decision making process of our case. We primarily utilise Martha Nussbaum’s work…

Many of the refugees, who have recently come to Germany, are between 18 and 25 years old and thus in a stage of life, when the entry into vocational training normally takes place. The so called dual system represents an opportunity for refugees to the labor market. The task in the federal multilevel state is to design an appropriate framework of the…

This chapter describes the current policy environment as it impacts on the education of newly arrived refugee children in England. It begins by reflecting that there is in fact little in the way of a coherent policy for this group, and then describes some of the key pieces of legislation which affect them, along with the funding arrangements for education.…

Apart from teaching, research and service to society, since 2015 higher education systems and institutions in Europe have faced an additional expectation–to respond to the largely unexpected yet nevertheless growing demand for higher education by refugees. This study explores system and organizational level responses to such environmental pressures in Germany and Flanders, both affluent systems, but different in terms of…

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…

The refugee influx in the European context has challenged national systems and individual higher education institutions to develop and iterate solutions for prospective and, increasingly, enrolled university students. In the German setting, enormous federal investment has supported a robust response, though one which in several aspects lacks cohesion. This paper discusses possible implications of refugee student enrolment in German universities,…

This article examines challenges experienced by teachers of asylum-seeking pupils in Sweden, where the right to education is part of a policy of promoting “normal life” during the asylum process. A theoretical framework contributed a deepened understanding of the teachers’ experiences as street-level bureaucrats. Interviews indicated that institutional factors, lack of training, and insufficient support within the educational system constrained…

REUK has 12 years’ experience working with Afghan refugee children and young people in the UK, as well as in Afghanistan, and has published leading research for the United Nations on education for young Afghan refugees in the UK. Drawing on this expertise, this document sets out key urgent policy priorities for supporting the education and psychosocial wellbeing of young…

Enabling the successful integration of refugee students into the German schooling system poses a crucial challenge for the coming years. Drawing from the human rights framework of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies standards, we applied a rights-based approach to policy analysis on educational provisions for refugee students from 2012 to 2018. According to international and European law, Germany…

The globalized world is facing increasing refugee flows over the past years, which brings challenges for the receiving countries. One important part of this challenge is the education of refugee children. Particularly unaccompanied minor refugees are often not noticed by the society and policies. Therefore they are even more vulnerable than other refugee children. Providing a quality education as stated…

In this paper, we investigate whether integration policy improves refugees’ economic performance, specifically examining the effects on refugees’ income of Sweden's 2010 reform of the introduction programme (or IP). We also evaluate how the reform effects vary depending on refugees’ gender and educational attainment. Our key finding shows a strong positive effect of the reform on refugees’ income, immediately after…

This chapter reviews the integration experiences and policies in Germany before and after the so-called “refugee crisis’. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s famous words ‘wir schaffen das’ (we manage this) have mobilized both policy actions and a massive grassroots engagement. In this context, we discuss the scope, efficiency and impact of German integration and adaptation policies. We review critically how Germany has…

The UK government’s austerity cuts have negatively impacted many voluntary-sector interventions that provided support to refugees. One such intervention, the Refugee Integration and Employment Service (RIES), is discussed in this paper. The RIES was a UK Border Agency-funded integration programme for recognised refugees and operated through voluntary-sector organisations nationwide. Findings of this small, qualitative study tentatively suggest that without bespoke…

MOOCs and free digital learning (FDL) are among the tools used to respond to the education needs of migrants and refugees in Europe. However, there is little guidance on how to design institutional initiatives and supporting policies in this area. This paper presents the main findings of a study exploring the potential of MOOCs and other FDL offers for the…

This article reports on the initial findings from an ethnographic study conducted in a preparatory class for young refugees in Cologne, Germany. Focusing on the current language policy which aims to integrate newly arrived children into the German society through language assimilation in schools, this study examines how such policies (re)produce the monoglossic hegemony. We hold that language policies at…

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…

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…

This report is about Germany's integration system. Germany is a “reluctant” immigration country. Despite its post-World-War-II history of immigration, Germany has never adopted a coherent strategy or policy of integration. Immigration was considered a transitory phenomenon as the notorious term “guest workers” suggests. Considering the expected return of immigrants to their countries of origin, integration policy making has long remained…

Employment is a core part of the refugee integration process: it not only provides an income, but also builds social networks, status and confidence, and enhances independence, as well as physical and mental health. Integration through employment can also contribute to host countries by boosting their working-age population and contributing to human capital, taxes and social income. Despite the demonstrable…

Austria's exclusive model of citizenship, and restrictive policies on migration, refugee reception and asylum, dating back to the 1990s, create structural barriers to refugee integration in the country’s economic and socio-cultural life. In this article, we shed light on Vienna, a city renowned for its comprehensive social policies. However, the inclusive integration approach adopted by the city clashes with the…

In Europe and North America, the arrival of heightened numbers of refugees and asylum seekers in recent years has challenged the ability of governments and service providers to both meet initial reception needs and provide effective long-term integration services. Young children make up a significant share of these newcomers. As a result, there is a pressing need for early childhood…

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…

This article explores the linguistic strategies of young refugees (ages 12-23) in the Netherlands. The study takes place within a societal context in which new migrants and refugees are increasingly pressured to learn Dutch as key to their integration, but English is becoming more and more dominant, and in which learning Dutch is not considered necessary for other newcomer groups…

Europe is currently experiencing what the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)1 defines as the largest refugee crisis since the end of World War II. An estimated 700,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe in the last year along dangerous land and sea routes, from Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (UNHCR,…

Background: There is a dearth of literature that reports on what first-generation immigrants, asylum seekers and refugee young people see as effective self-help tools in matters relating to mental health. Some 50 million first-generation migrant children and young people may have experienced violence, loss and displacement. This can lead to young migrants suffering with negative psychological and social impacts, and…

The arrival of large numbers of refugees in Germany since 2015 has led to unprecedented levels of civic participation in service delivery. This is supported in integration policy, including through local coordination. We connect this empirical case with the conceptual debate on co-production, adopting an interpretive approach. We explore how volunteers and local coordinators interpret encounters between civic and state…

Labour market conditions in the UK create significant barriers for refugees seeking employment. These include: ethnic and racialised penalties, barriers related to immigration controls, barriers related to employers’ perceptions of these controls and the effects of the ‘hostile environment’. As a result, refugees are more likely to be unemployed or under-employed than a British citizen. GLIMER Stakeholders reported the same…

This report is about language training and education for adult asylum seekers and refugees in Sweden with a particular focus on the situation in the region of Scania. It responds to questions about the governance of language training and education with a particular focus on gender and the role of civil society. As a field of governance, language training and…

Access to the labour market is a key element of displaced migrants’ ‘integration’ experiences. Labour market access provides displaced migrants with financial stability and sustainability, the development of community networks and positive health outcomes. It also provides benefits to local and national economies. Displaced migrants bring new skills-sets, perspectives and experiences to the labour market, and the medium to long-term…

Even though Iceland is yet to host as many refugees as other European countries, the number of young refugees seeking resettlement is growing rapidly. Little Icelandic research has been devoted to refugee youth and their social or educational inclusion to date. This study focuses on how young refugees are represented in the Icelandic context in relation to often-conflicting ideological perspectives…

What happens when we require newcomers to learn a country’s dominant language before they can work, study and become citizens? At first blush, this may seem beneficial for newcomers and local communities alike. In fact, language proficiency requirements across Europe are often treated as innocuous components of broader immigration policies. However, recent scholarship in linguistic anthropology and related fields has…

This policy memo provides a brief overview of national and school-level approaches to the inclusion of unaccompanied migrant children in formal education systems across EU Member States. The memo also discusses wider policy responses to the integration of these children into the host societies.

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…

Education could pave the way towards a more stable and brighter future for children seeking and benefiting from international protection, after often several years of flight and insecurity. Many of them see education as an opportunity to re-build their lives in a new environment and they typically arrive highly motivated to continue school after long periods of absence. Still, law,…

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…

This concluding chapter brings together the voices of both authors and reflects upon the learning from Sections 1 and 2. It articulates the ways in which the book has developed an inclusive model for the education of refugee children and illustrates enabling factors for realising this in the English context. The chapter asserts that it is to the benefit of…

Europe has been a scene of mass migration unparalleled in scale since the World War II in the last couple of years. With the recent migration flow, higher education institutions have confronted with the new challenge of managing a diverse student body from refugees and asylum seekers. Likewise, refugee and asylum seeking students have encountered various barriers in accessing higher…

Sweden is often singled out as having comparatively inclusive integration policy measures for migrants in general and refugees and their families in particular. Still, the employment gap between the native born and foreign born is among the largest among OECD countries, and the situation for refugees is especially difficult. Persistently high unemployment rates among refugees and their families have prompted…

This country research report, prepared within Work Package 4, is focused on the reception conditions and reception policy in Poland and delivered under the H2020 project RESPOND—Multilevel Governance of Mass Migration in Europe and Beyond. In Poland, reception in legal and institutional terms means assistance for foreigners applying for international protection. Its basic scope is governed by the national provisions…

Problem Statement: Historically, Turkey is an immigrant country. It has experienced various migration waves from Asia, Awrupa and Africa. Recently, Turkey has confronted a huge wave of migration. Turkey tries to meet many needs besides the educational needs of refugees, but there is not enough study on refugess in the field of educational sciences in Turkey. Purpose of the Study:…

The Sirius first open access book entitled 'Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers' Integration in European Labour Markets. A Comparative Approach on Legal Barriers and Enablers' discusses how, and to what extent, the legal and institutional regimes and the socio-cultural environments of a range of European countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), in the…