This article explores unaccompanied young refugees’ participation in various learning contexts beyond school. Drawing from a qualitative study based on interviews with unaccompanied young refugees, educators and social workers in Norway, the findings emphasise the need for a holistic approach to refugee education in and across contexts of learning. The refugees originate from countries where access to formal schooling was…

The right to education of children and youth from asylum seeker and refugee families is currently being threatened in Europe. Two factors explain this: the sudden and disorganised arrival of large numbers of asylum seeker families, and the inconsistent integration of those seeking refugee status and those who have gained such status. The actual implementation of the right to education…

Current events today put forward the arrival of political refugees in large numbers. Many are trying to find asylum in European countries. Which welcome should Europeans give, enlightens the problems of conflict of civilizations, difficulties of social integration, unemployment, exclusion, academic failure but also that of the disparity regarding health issues… The question of living together arises in a crucial…

The article illustrates the potential of engaged arts-based pedagogies in higher education with respect to integration interventions for young refugees in Europe. It discusses the conception and implementation of the collaborative initiative “Find Refuge in Art”, which was part of the research Project PRESS at the Hellenic Open University. This example shows how artistic synergy may become an integral part…

Refugees face transitions in their lives: at an individual, a social and a cultural level. This book covers various aspects of these transitions and their intersections with educational experiences. Studies from different country contexts show the complex relationships between individual, culture, society and institutions. Examining these relationships and experiences during transitional processes aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of…

As unprecedented numbers of unaccompanied African minors requested asylum in Europe in 2015, Annika Lems witnessed a peculiar dynamic: despite inclusionary language in official policy and broader society, these children faced a deluge of exclusionary practices in the classroom and beyond. Frontiers of Belonging traces the educational paths of refugee youth arriving in Switzerland amid the shifting sociopolitical terrain of…

Although not usually trained therapists, in many contexts around the world 'teachers are on the front line of coping with the outcomes of displacement', one of which is trauma, and, consequently, 'language learning classes are increasingly seen by many agencies as a potential space in which to deliver psychosocial support' (Capstick, 2018: 60). However, research and training into appropriate trauma-informed…

Stories are one way that experiences, ideas and culture are shared with children in educational settings. Commercially published books are the standard means in schools for sharing stories. Qualitative content analysis was carried out on 30 personal narrative-based children's picture books. While the range of stories told in books is vast, our research focuses on refugee stories for children in…

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…

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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…

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.…

This chapter describes the practical reality of day-to-day life for refugee children and for those working for them in a single region of England. It is based around on-the-ground reportage and on interviews with young people, with practitioners working in the voluntary and public sectors and with the staff at an independent school which has welcomed a number of recent…

This chapter delves into history in search of examples which could prove useful or interesting to those who seek to change, implement or improve today’s educational policy environment. Starting with the arrival of the Huguenots in the 17th Century and finishing with the Vietnamese who came on resettlement programmes between 1978 and 1988, it uses a series of case studies…

This chapter begins with a portrait of life at Fern College, a bespoke post-16 provision for refugee and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The chapter then explains the context for the development of this full-time provision, which is a pilot project whose holistic curriculum was heavily influenced and shaped by the theoretical concepts of safety, belonging and success. The chapter then analyses…

The chapter begins with Gare’s reflections upon the ways in which he is now able to consider a future in his new context and in so doing introduces the concept of success within education provision for refugee children who have very differing start and end points from their peers. The chapter illustrates how success takes on different forms through the…

This chapter begins with a further extract from an interview with Gare, which illustrates how he has experienced a sense of belonging as he has built connections within and outside his education provision. The chapter then moves to a portrait of Jasmine Gardens Academy, which offers a rich case study of how one institution works to foster a growing sense…

The chapter opens with an extract from Gare’s story, which illustrates the importance of the concept of safety through education for one refugee child. The chapter then offers a descriptive case study of Larkspur School, focusing on the practices and organisational structures that are in place to help refugee children experience a sense of safety. The case study portrait draws…

This chapter introduces the second theoretical framing for the book, Nancy Fraser’s theory of social justice as ‘participatory parity’, and the associated tripartite components of redistribution, recognition and representation. The chapter argues for a socially just frame for inclusion. It begins with an overview of the concept of social justice in relation to the topic of meaningful and high-quality inclusion…

This chapter begins with an overview of the context of the movement of people across borders, the notion of a refugee ‘crisis’ in Europe and the political responses to this. Despite hostile and complicated bureaucratic barriers, people still seek refuge in destinations far from their starting points. Often, for young people this is due to the pull of education. This…

The aim of this study is to determine the problems of social studies teachers due to differences in language and culture and inadequate education with refugee students, their methods of solution, the mission of the social studies course and the values that teachers want to teach to refugee students. As a qualitative research method, the case study design was used…

This research explains the essential characteristics of the organisation of compensatory education programmes as they are implemented in a centre in the Community of Madrid (Spain), It also presents the typology of compensatory education and approaches the results of the investments made in them according to their modalities and to a specific theoretical analysis. Once the study was contextualized, sets…

This article explores the assessment of foreign academic certificates in Flanders between January 2014 and February 2019. It examines data NARIC (National Academic and Professional Recognition and Information Centre) Flanders gathered on its applicants, their applications, and its subsequent decisions. As professional recognitions, providing access to regularised professions in Flanders, are given by the designated authorities in their field, it…

This study aimed to investigate the perceived social support and hopelessness levels experienced by 416 Syrian refugee women coming to Konya city since 2011 and compare refugee women’s perceived social support and hopelessness levels with the duration of stay in a new country. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and the Beck Hopelessness Scale were used to collect the…

This article reports on the 18-month formative evaluation of a model project aimed at preparing young adult refugees (YARs) for entry into vocational education training (VET) as an essential step toward the labor market. Qualitative methods were used to gain insight into the perspectives of YARs, program staff, and vocational instructors as well as explore program dynamics. Within a longitudinal…

Background: The number of refugees worldwide has increased in recent years, and with this, there has been an increase in the numbers of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors (UASMs) in the UK. Refugees have been found to experience notable difficulties upon resettlement, and there is evidence to suggest that education can provide a supportive role for young refugees. Although there has been…

The current Syrian refugee exodus to Europe has created an urgent need for European societies to implement faster integration methods, to reduce the risk of social and economic alienation. Since the latest refugee wave includes more highly educated people, higher education institutions might serve as a strong inclusion instrument to integrate them into local communities. Norway has established a novel…

In the mid-2000s, large numbers of refugees from North Africa and the Middle East sought to reach Europe to escape persecution, war, and famine. Images of children, women, and men in inhumane conditions attempting to reach the mainland began to circulate worldwide. This phenomenon culminated in 2015 with the worst immigration crisis in Europe since the end of World War…

Inspired by Hip-Hop pedagogy and the Krip-Hop movement, this paper aims to address the limits of inclusive education for disabled migrant students, by drawing on the community event “I am Hip-Hop” that took place in June 2019 in Italy. Through this community intervention, migrant and disabled migrant youth were provided a creative platform to reflect critically about their identity and…

The beginning of life in exile is a period of transition with a profound change of life trajectory. It requires adaptation to a new context and initiates profound identity processes. In this situation, investing in a vocational training project means a particular commitment to construct a new life course. This paper looks into asylum seekers' various motivations to get engaged…

Migration is now an integral part of global issues and the integration of migrants is of increasing concern to public authorities and these populations. In Switzerland, provisionally admitted asylum seekers are one category that encounters more integration difficulties related mainly to their status. Among difficulties, those relating to access to the labor market and vocational training are still crucial despite…

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…

Turkey arranges for the protection of about 1.7 million Syrian refugee children on its territory. This article addresses initiatives and policies towards Syrian children in Turkey, considering characteristics and paradigm shift of refugee education in which hosting large refugee populations. It focuses on experiences of refugee community organizations (RCOs) working on the matter of education. Drawing on an exploratory case…

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…

This paper examines refugee students' experiences in the Austrian mainstream school system. It highlights four areas: school connectedness, social exclusion, support systems and friendships. In the study, 55 refugee students between 8 and 21 years old enrolled in primary and secondary education participated in a semi-structured interview. Data were analysed with directed qualitative content analysis, whereby codes were created deductively…

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…

Many teachers find themselves working with immigrant and refugee learners who have complex psychosocial needs. This study examines qualitatively how 11 teachers of preparatory classes in Danish public schools approach and respond to the care needs of newcomers. Through an ethics of care lens, we show, one, how teachers care for newcomers, and two, how external support structures and individual…

In this article, we explore new materialist ‘common world’ approaches to early childhood environmental and sustainability education and the ambition of these approaches to challenge social–material and nature–culture dichotomies often taken for granted in Western education systems. Firstly, we point out the socio-cultural inequalities inherent in taken-for-granted approaches to children and nature in Denmark, and argue that attention to children’s…

Rising refugee movements have affected global society in general and the social system of sports in particular. The main structures and discourses of the sports system are also reflected in physical education (PE) at schools, which can, therefore, be regarded as an integral part of it. PE can play a significant role in the sports biographies of young people from…

In the present study, perceptions of Turkish school administrators and teachers towards Syrian refugee children were examined through metaphors. 71 school administrators and 242 teachers from 27 different provinces of Turkey participated in the study. As a result of the study, the metaphors produced by school administrators were grouped into four categories: "child with cultural adaptation and belonging problems", "fragile…

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…

This article explores refugee girls’ talk about friendship formation. Friendship is a complex process and a subjective experience. The study participants stressed similarity and cultural affinity as important criteria of forming friendships. Those who attended schools with a mixture of students described their native peers as having different temperaments and interests. Relatives were referred to as being best friends who…

Our paper tests the hypothesis that living in limbo could have negative consequences for the socio-economic integration of refugees. We define limbo as a protracted period when asylum seekers are waiting for the decision concerning their permanent refugee status. Relying on the French survey of migrants, France's longitudinal survey of migrants (ELIPA), we measure integration by labour market participation, fluency…

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…

Though Germany has long provided education for children speaking a heritage language and received two recent waves of refugees, reliable assessment tools for diagnosis of language impairment or the progress in the acquisition of German as a second language (L2) by refugee children are still lacking. The few tools expressly targeting bilingual populations are normed for younger, early successive bilingual…

In the context of the arrival of Syrians as of 2011 and the subsequent humanitarian assistance received in light of the EU-Turkey deal in 2016, there has been increased control over civil society organizations (CSOs) in Turkey. Through the case study of language education, this paper examines the relationship between the state and CSOs as shaped by the presence of…