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…

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…

During the so-called refugee crisis of 2015, approximately 300,000 underage asylum seekers came to Germany. We examine whether their legal status and their subjective perception of their status are equally important for their educational integration. On the basis of rational choice theory, we hypothesize that refugees’ legal status should affect their educational outcomes. Our study finds no differences among students…

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…

Opening its door to 3.6 million Syrians, Turkey is host to the largest refugee population today (UNHCR 2020). In addition to providing them with humanitarian aid, Turkey has made academic and financial reforms to enhance Syrian refugees‘ access to higher education (Ergin and de Wit 2019). Thanks to these reforms, over 27,034 Syrian refugees accessed Turkish universities as of the…

In the aftermath of the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in 2015, unaccompanied minors have been depicted as potential threats and challenges to receiving countries in the Swedish public debate. Through narratives of unaccompanied youngsters from 2011 to 2012, this article will illustrate that these youngsters were already struggling with the ambiguous refugee figures of the ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ prior to the…

Swedish language training and education for adult immigrants occurs under the intersecting policy areas of integration, labour market participation and education. Since the first initiatives in the 1960s, it has undergone numerous reforms. Today it is, for the large part, a highly formalised education while at the same time some certain aspects of language training are practically unregulated. Importantly, asylum…

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…

In Italy, the acquisition of the Italian language is considered a fundamental means to guarantee access to local services and the beginning of an integration process. The teaching of the Italian language is entrusted with two providers: on the national government side, it is provided by the Centres for Adult Education (CPIA); from the third and private sector, these courses…

In Italy, the acquisition of the Italian language is considered a fundamental step to guarantee access to the territory for a period of more than one year and the beginning of the integration process. The teaching of the Italian language is entrusted to two channels: from the government side, it is provided by the Provincial Centres for Adult Education (CPIA);…

Adult language training for asylum seekers and refugees has historically been offered through public services as well as a service offered by the third sector. As language is considered key to the integration of third country nationals into Cypriot society, over recent years, relevant training has been provided via projects implemented by NGOs, governmental organisations and the private sector. While…

This research report focuses on the policies and practices that are aimed towards developing the language capacities of migrants and refugees in Cyprus. It provides a detailed assessment of educational initiatives and language training approaches by the state and third sector as they apply to adult asylum seekers and refugees. The report focuses specifically on the main language training programmes…

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…

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…

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…

The National Round Table (NRT) 2019 program was structured around 4+1 topics related to educational integration of refugee children. The 4 main topics were chosen by the participants in the NRT 2018 in Sofia as the most relevant nationally. To take advantage of the pan-European nature of the SIRIUS Network and its spin-off projects, a special focus was put on…

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…

The role of MOOCs and OERs as effective resources for social inclusion of disadvantaged groups has been greatly emphasized in recent years due to the increased numbers of refugees and migrants, especially in European societies. A recent study carried out by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission on free digital learning (FDL) opportunities for migrants and refugees…

Taking place at the University of Edinburgh – a founding member of the ACU – from 7-8 March 2019, 'Extending the welcome' brought together academics, policymakers, students, and partners from across the Commonwealth and beyond to explore the role of universities in supporting displaced people worldwide. Providing a forum to share best practice, the event showcased innovative approaches to supporting…

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) provision for asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland is distinctive within the UK. The Scottish Government waives ESOL fees for asylum seekers, meaning that ESOL provision is not formally restricted according to immigration status. The ESOL environment in Scotland is currently characterised by complexity. ESOL providers include: colleges, local authorities, ALEOs, the third…

This study focuses on a group of refugee women from the Middle East who were forced to leave their homes, live in a refugee camp, and move to a small town in Iceland. Interviews were conducted to explore their experiences of resettlement in their new home. Five themes emerged: receptivity of the community, “Islamic way of life,” gender roles, lack…

Background: As of February 2020, Northern Ireland (NI) has welcomed 1,815 Syrian refugees, almost half of whom are under the age of 18 (NI Department for Communities, 2020), and many of whom have special educational needs. This study aims to explore the reasonable adjustments made by educational communities thus far, to minimise the impact of potential barriers to learning for…

Three UN agencies are calling on European States to increase resources and practical support for their school systems to ensure all refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant children can access and stay in quality education. In a briefing paper published today, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, detail the obstacles…

This report outlines how individuals at the University of Leicester’s English Language Teaching Unit (ELTU) re-evaluated their role as Gatekeepers to the University by implementing new measures to facilitate the admission of a group for whom the gates would typically be shut: refugees and asylum seekers (RASs). It describes how, incrementally and in response to the human stories of individuals…