The current dissertation sheds light on the difficulties that Syrian refugees and asylum seekers face in acquiring the languages of the countries they had to flee to. To do so, this qualitative research investigated the experience of 45 Syrian refugees and asylum seekers who were hosted by 9 different countries around the world (Germany, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, Malay,…

Migration flows are profoundly changing the composition of classrooms. Results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reveal that in 2015, almost one in four 15-year-old students in OECD countries reported that they were either foreign-born or had at least one foreign-born parent. Between 2003 and 2015, the share of students who had either migrated or who had…

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 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 65.6 million people are forcibly displaced, having either crossed national borders or become internally displaced within their own countries. Of this estimate, over 22.5 million are refugees. Over half of the world's refugees are children. With an average length of displacement of approximately 20 years, the majority of these children…

After a decade of severe fiscal crisis also impacting education, Greece is looking ahead. Now is the time to invest effectively in education and define a forward-looking path for Greece. Building on the current reform agenda, this report offers an analysis of the context and underlying policy issues that once addressed, can contribute to raising the quality and equity of…

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…

The increasing number of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe places new demands on European education systems. In this context, the role that free digital learning (FDL) could play in fostering inclusion has attracted renewed interest. While the existing literature highlights some general design principles for developing FDL for migrants and refugees, there is little information on the use of…

The Syrian migration is the second-largest mass movement of people in the world’s history that causes almost half of the Syrian population to be displaced since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in March 2011; half of the population affected by the Syrian conflict are children. Syrian children still face many barriers to attending schools in Turkey. Among 2.7…

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,…

Purpose: Providing educational services for Syrian refugee children is a new fact of life in Turkey, and the teachers who work at public schools and temporary education centers encounter some difficulties. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the problems faced in the process of educating Syrian refugee children as well as the solutions to such difficulties recommended…

This collection of empirical work offers an in-depth exploration of key issues in the education of adolescents and adults with refugee backgrounds residing in North America, Australia and Europe. These studies foreground student goals, experiences and voices, and reflect a high degree of awareness of the assets that refugee-background students bring to schools and broader society. Chapters are clustered according…

[No abstract available]

The objectives of this cross-sectional investigation among a random sample of immigrants and refugees in Italy were to gain an insight into the extent and type of the episodes of violence and to assess their association with different characteristics. Data was collected from September 2016 to July 2017 using a face-to-face structured interview. A total of 503 subjects participated. Overall,…

Aim/Purpose The aim of this article is to discuss a PhD student's experience of working with unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors, amidst a rapidly changing global situation. The focus is on how the research process influenced the novice PhD student, and how the student's subject position influenced the research. Background The incentive for this article comes from an examiner's comment, which argued…

The year 2011 witnessed a series of social movements against ingrained authoritarian regimes in the Arab world, starting in Tunisia. At least 500,000 people, lost their lives in the internal turmoil that started in Syria on 15 March 2011, when the belated local version of the ‘Arab Spring’ escalated into a violent civil war. In this period, 13.5 million people…

The aim of the study is to determine the problems that school administrators and Syrian Teachers encounter during the educational process of Syrian Refugee Children continuing their education in basic education institutions Ankara-Altındağ province. So as to identify and diagnose in detail the views of the school administrators and Syrian teachers in basic education institutions regarding the problems they face…

In this chapter, concept of refugees, legal status of refugees, educational rights of refugees, concept of multicultural education are discussed. This section on refugees and immigrants in Turkey, multiculturalism, multicultural education concept aims to investigate basic human right of the refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers, right of education. Principles and recommendations should be produced on structuring and management of multicultural…

Migration and asylum are common historical facts in our geography. Therefore, Turkey faces one of the greatest migration movements of its history. The number of asylum seekers exceeding the estimates, uncertainty of the asylum period and a greatly uncertain process necessitate attaching great importance to education dimension of the problem. The problem of Syrian asylum seekers whose official number is…

This study aims to make clear the matter at hand that of the educational status of the Syrian refugees in Turkey. Turkey has become one of the countries that felt the impact of the war in Syria the most. In a very short period of time 1.5 million students have been added to the current 20 million students. The interviews…

The recent migratory crisis has multiplied the number of school age people that are forced to immigrate. The integration of the minors in host countries demands not only schooling, but also an inclination of the educational community to accept the said reality and critically manage European immigration policies. At the European level there is a growing rejection toward the migratory…

The paper analyses mainly non-vocational courses offered by a sample of 47 out of the approximately 900 public adult education centres (Volkshochschule-VHS) in Germany. The focus is on courses, events or other learning forms dealing with refugees in Germany from 1947 to 2015. Refugees can be taught in all-refugee or in mixed-groups, but it can also mean that flight and…

In 2015-16 Germany was confronted with over 1 million new refugees, which challenged public and private institutions alike and increasingly divided public sentiments. This article investigates the cultural, political, and economic dynamics as they were in Germany in 2015-16 and in particular how its higher education sector responded. The discussion covers a comprehensive review of media debates, public and private…

Developing Intercultural Education The paper discusses the role of teachers in the inclusion of migrant students and provides some suggestions for the active engagement of teachers in developing intercultural education, with examples from Slovenia. To support teachers who develop intercultural competence among all students, it is important to include concrete learning objectives in the syllabuses, in the framework of which…

Integration of technology into foreign language learning could extend the opportunities for language contact and better retention in the context of newly arrived refugees in the European countries. Research has shown that technology increases the motivation in foreign language learning and also fosters learner autonomy by allowing the learners to personalise the learning and enables them to self-regulate. The use…

Turkey is the top refugee-hosting country in the world, with more than three million registered Syrian refugees. An international research team was the first to document the educational and mental health needs of Syrian refugee children, finding that an overwhelming majority are not enrolled in school in Turkey, partly as a result of language barriers, and that about half suffer…

This ethnographically informed field study, drawing on a blend of feminist theories and cultural learning pathways framework, reveals that Syrian mothers show strong presence and readiness to take active roles when opportunities present themselves in alternative spaces in the public schools of Turkey. As mothers produce counterstories in relation to their gendered, religious, and ethnic identities, they talk back to…

The current political crisis, conflicts and riots in many Middle Eastern and African countries have led to massive migration waves towards Europe. European countries, receiving these migratory waves as first port of entry (POE) over the past few years, were confronted with several challenges as a result of the sheer volume of newly arriving refugees. This humanitarian refugee crisis represents…

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…

European universities responded in different ways to the ‘refugee crisis’ of 2015. Some subscribed to the agenda of higher education (HE) as a universal human right, while others stressed different long-term benefits of offering access to it. Yet, the unprecedented sense of moral urgency that guided immediate declarations of support and subsequent actions has largely remained unaddressed. With the crisis…

This paper offers first-hand accounts of refugees beyond the age of compulsory education having arrived in Austria during the last five years. Their accounts were collected using qualitative interviews and a visual method to allow for different approaches towards their educational biographies. Nine individual and two group interviews (altogether with 16 young people) were conducted, where the majority of the…

Framed within the theoretical lens of positive and negative security, this paper presents a study of newcomers to Sweden and the roles of mobile phones in the establishment of a new life. Using creative engagement methods through a series of workshops, two researchers engaged 70 adult participants enrolled into further education colleges in Sweden. Group narratives about mobile phone use…

This study aimed to determine the problems experienced at schools in the integration process of Syrian students into the Turkish Education System according to 66 school principals from 10 different cities of Turkey. The study was designed with mixed research methodology. According to the research results, there are some problems about the physical condition of schools, the dialogue between Turkish…

Since the academic year 2017-2018, the Tilburg University Language Center has been offering an academic pre-Bachelor's programme for refugee students. This year-long educational programme prepares high-potential refugees for a Dutch- or English-taught Bachelor's programme at a university. In addition, students prepare for the Dutch Civic Integration Exams. A special part of the pre-Bachelor's programme is an internship at a company…

In 2016 the University of Padova and its Language Centre (Centro Linguistico di Ateneo - CLA) became involved in the two-year "Cultura e accoglienza" Project (see Dalziel and Piazzoli in this volume), the aim of which was to encourage around 30 refugees and asylum seekers to pursue university studies by means of a personalized training programme with support from language…

This paper explores the language views and practices of postgraduate student-teachers attending a distance-learning Master's Programme of a Greek University, entitled "Language Education for Refugees and Migrants" (LRM). Teachers and professionals working with language learners in linguistically diverse contexts make up an interesting research sample in order to explore their perceptions and practices concerning bi/multilingualism and language learning. The study…

Purpose: This paper examines intergenerational, interdependent and contextual aspects of wellbeing and acculturative stress in refugee families during resettlement. Particular focus is placed on how children influence their parents. Method: The study is based on interviews with and diary notes from Middle Eastern parents and children residing in Sweden. Results: Analyzes of the narratives show how the direct and indirect…

This article examines the role of institutions-particularly universities-in the recent refugee crisis. It contributes to the debate on the integration of refugees through the higher education system in Spain. Based on semi-structured interviews with refugees and experts in the institutions linked to the reception and integration of refugees, the paper presents evidence-albeit within an under-developed field of analysis-which has strong…

The aim of this study is to determine the problems, the solutions and the suggestions of the school principals and teachers towards the Syrian refugee students in the primary schools in Turkey. The research group of the study included four school principals and six teachers. The research was conducted by qualitative methods. The results revealed that the school principals mostly…

By learning to identify feelings and express emotions, children can better cope with the difficulties they face, as well as increase their personal resilience. As the Syrian crisis has entered its seventh year, it has had a negative effect on vulnerable populations, especially children. It should be noted that while not all children have been traumatised, many have experienced conflict…

After a migration process, people begin to yearn for the settledness of their previous lives; this includes those in the education process. After the crisis in Syria, millions of refugees came to Turkey, in that, many of whom were students. The students started to enrol and although the schools' curricula are in Arabic, students of these schools must pass a…

The main contention of this paper is that the interrelationship between ideology and policy shapes both the overall organisation of refugee education and the operational practices and procedures of staff working to provide education for refugees. Accordingly, this paper tries to answer how the education dimension of the Syrian refugee crisis is managed by the central education authorities in Turkey…

The article analyses the findings of a small-scale qualitative study in Ireland that examines interactions between asylum-seeking mothers and primary school teachers, and highlights the significance of teachers’ understandings of asylum in shaping home-school communications. Mothers and children in this study were living in Direct Provision, collective accommodation for asylum seekers in Ireland. The research identifies a number of concerns…

This article explores discriminatory discourses articulated by Italian professionals operating in educational, health and social services for refugees in Rome, in relation to the educational and social inclusion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children. It locates such narratives within the historical ‘concealment and invisibilisation of race and racism’ that have characterised Italy particularly since the end of the Second World…

This chapter discusses the concept of linguistic capabilities as an analytical tool to examine the inclusion processes for participants. The linguistic capabilities concept has been used to address barriers to the wellbeing of marginalised communities. Using the lived experiences of Syrian refugee primary school children, their families, school teachers and other key informants, the chapter explores the critical role of…

Public schools represent places in which overall societal exchange occurs and plays out. Austria looks back on more than 30 years' experience of including different religions beyond Christianity in the public educational system. Democratic countries are well advised to embed religious education into the educational system at large. Doing so, it is easier to implement a rational and deliberating agenda…

Record numbers of unaccompanied refugee minors have been arriving in high-income countries since 2015. Child welfare agencies and non-governmental organisations tasked with providing services have struggled to cope with demands on their services as a result. Despite this, there is little research on how best to meet their needs and in particular what services can mitigate the psychological difficulties they…

Despite high educational aspirations amongst asylum seekers and refugees (ASRs), scholarship on international student migration and mobility commonly lacks insight deriving from forced migration research. Drawing on qualitative research concerned with Syrian ASRs’ educational aspirations and lived experiences regarding higher education access in Germany, this article speaks to the intersection of refugee and education politics. German Higher Education Institutions commonly…

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…

[No abstract available]

Immigration to Germany peaked in 2016. More than 105,000 refugees below the age of 7 years arrived within 12 months. Since then, Germany and other host nations have been in need of strategies to cover the emerging demand for childcare services. The German federal state North-Rhine Westphalia has funded a specialized early childhood education and care (ECEC) program for recently…