As we reflect and learn from the lessons lived during the COVID-19 pandemic that severely disrupted our ways of being in the world, in this article we call for restorative pedagogies which can reconnect us to each other and to the places we live in. We present the language learning needs and experiences of four newly arrived refugee women in…

This study of language issues in the context of migration provides interdisciplinary insights into language as learned, used and lived by refugees in Norway. It offers an innovative contribution to the field of SLA by bringing together structural, cognitive, social and critical approaches to data collected among the same individuals.

Introduction. Library and information science researchers identify public library roles in the integration of forced migrants into local communities. Here an analysis of formal documentation issued by local authorities allowed for an exploration of public libraries as services to aid the integration of forced migrants in Scotland. Method. In 2021, 23 Scottish local authorities responded to Freedom of Information requests…

This article explores forced migrants’ experiences with mainstream social boundaries and investigates how classed resources are used to resist and renegotiate such boundaries. The case of forced migrants from Syria who came to Norway during the ‘refugee crisis’ is demarcated by ‘bright’ boundaries vis-à-vis mainstream society. Moreover, arriving with middle-class resources like higher education may represent bargaining power in boundary…

Recently, an increasing number of students from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds (SRABs) entering universities in settlement countries such as Australia and Germany have necessitated the establishment of a variety of supports, both as formal programs and informal ad-hoc networks. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the organisational conditions surrounding such supports. This study thus examined these conditions…

Previous research has consistently shown a negative correlation between education and anti-immigrant sentiment. This association is most pronounced when distinguishing between adults with higher education and those without a tertiary degree. Yet it remains unclear whether educational attainment actually matters for attitudes, mainly due to a lack of longitudinal studies. This article investigates the so-called liberalizing effect of education on…

Discussions concerning the social impact of accepting refugee immigrants arise each time large numbers of refugees apply for protection in rich countries. However, little evidence exists on how the integration of refugees into core welfare institutions affects native citizens who depend on and interact with these institutions. In this paper, we focus on whether receiving refugees in a school cohort…

Background International migration has increased during the past years and little is known about the mortality of young adult immigrants and refugees that came to Sweden as children. This study aimed to investigate 1) the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in young accompanied and unaccompanied refugees and non-refugee immigrants compared to Swedish born individuals; and 2) to determine the…

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…

We analyze whether (correct) information provision on immigration is more effective than contact in shaping attitudes towards immigration. We collect data from a randomized experiment in 18 middle- and high-school classes in the city of Rome. Half of the classes meet a refugee from Mauritania and read a book about his story, whereas the rest of them attend a lecture…

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…

Migrants’ struggles against borders have been examined extensively among refugees and undocumented migrants, whereas the everyday struggles in contexts of administrative bordering have remained insufficiently examined within the framework of so-called highly skilled migration. Drawing on in-depth interviews (N=34) with migrants holding a student residence permit in Finland, this article addresses the means of challenging administrative borders in a constrained…

Refugee children and adolescents have often experienced negative or traumatic events, which are associated with stress and mental health problems. A specific music therapy intervention is developed for this group in school settings. The aim of the present study was to set the first steps in the implementation of this intervention. A process evaluation was performed using a mixed method…

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 adopts an international perspective and discusses the policies and activities that the universities both in Finland and in Australia have undertaken in order to strengthen and develop the prosperity for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. Social responsibility is approached from the broad-based perspectives – especially how research and development (R&D) activities of universities can…

Between 2002 and 2018, at a time when UK universities were being increasingly measured in economic and financial terms, Staffordshire University established a dedicated public engagement unit. Staffed by an experienced team of “pracademics” (Posner, 2009), the Creative Communities Unit (CCU) engaged with community members and voluntary organizations through teaching, research, and consultancy. Underpinning CCU practice was a clear set…

This chapter explores one UK university’s influence and involvement as a key partner within the 2025 Movement, a movement for change with a collective vision to tackle avoidable health and housing inequalities by 2025 in North Wales, UK. The approach to building 2025 is founded in systems leadership and social movements resulting in transformational change in the way we work,…

In this working paper we map the literature on refugee integration in Europe as part of our work for the GLIMER project which seeks to understand how localities are responding to the so-called 'refugee crisis'. We present an account of trends in the literature by focusing on some of the outcomes and conclusions of notable recent studies in an attempt…

The recent phenomenon that has become known as the European refugee crisis is, in reality, a global problem. Accordingly, issues regarding refugee integration have become a central debate topic worldwide. In this paper, we examine how refugees use information and communication technology (ICT) in different regions across the world to understand how ICT supports their desperate journey to safety, their…

This study aimed to explore the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis on the immigrant integration policies and hence the national models of Turkey and Germany. It tried to assess whether there is a continuity or divergence in the policies after 2011. It also tried to match the two countries with one of the immigrant integration models discussed in the…

The recent refugee crisis has put many OECD countries under considerable pressure to accommodate and integrate large numbers of refugees. Refugee students are a particularly vulnerable group due to their forced displacement, but their needs are not always met by education systems, which can hinder the integration potential of these students. This poses considerable challenges as the integration of refugee…

This article addresses the problematic labour market position of refugees in the Netherlands on the basis of different relevant explaining factors. The overall picture is that benefciaries of international protection are facing a great number of difculties in their attempts to get access to the Dutch labour market. These are both related to individual background characteristics and the extent to…

The arrival of over one million people seeking protection in our continent in recent months has profoundly shaken Europe and found European governments unprepared to face up to the challenge of providing adequate reception. Preoccupied with short-term imperatives, European governments have lost sight of more long-term challenges posed by these arrivals. Little, if any, significant debate about how to promote…

The field of physical education (PE), sport, and forced migration studies has grown considerably in recent years. Although we have seen an increase in publications in the field, no reviews of pedagogies regarding people with refugee backgrounds in PE and sport have been published to date. The purpose of this review is to critically examine pedagogies implemented with young people…

This research report explores the journey to higher education for refugee and asylum-seeking young people living in Coventry. It is the product of a partnership between Refugee Education UK and the University of Warwick's English and Comparative Literary Studies Department. The qualitative research study explores the barriers to university facing refugee and asylum-seeking young people in Coventry, and reveals the…

Schools and higher education systems worldwide are finishing their third academic year under disruptions caused by COVID-19. The pandemic has had unprecedented effects on education. During peak infection periods, many countries mandated school and university closures for weeks or months, forcing hundreds of millions of teachers, parents, children and students around the globe to stay at home and switch to…

There is a lot of research written about unaccompanied minors in Norway, but this thesis is concerned with the individual education experiences of African unaccompanied minors. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the experiences of African unaccompanied minors regarding access to education opportunities in Norway. Based on a review of literature on unaccompanied minors, by using four theories:…

The value of school for refugee and asylum seeking children is well established, in terms of their right to education under international law, their socio-emotional well-being, and their adaptation to living in a new country and culture. Yet there is a critical gap in our understanding of refugee education from the perspectives of educators – the people who interact with…

Drawing on qualitative data from five focus group discussions (N=23), we developed a typology with migrant and refugee students from the Global South living in Vienna and studying at an Austrian university. Our findings indicate that different levels of support are required, depending on both structural and personal factors that respondents displayed. Structural factors include residence permit, field and level…

This article explores the multilingual creativity of young refugees in the Netherlands and the social contexts and situations in which it develops. Because these young refugees form an under-researched group, the authors build on different discipline-based studies on (young migrants’) multilingualism, super-diversity, conviviality, liminality and networks. The authors start with the collection of personal network data including languages used with…

The purpose of this study is to explore the use of equivalent conceptual metaphors and the correspondent linguistic expressions in refugee students’ L1s and L2s and examine the possible positive effects conceptual metaphors can induce for vocabulary learning and retention in second language learning. Moreover, another aim of the research is to investigate the use of conceptual metaphors as a…

Accommodation centres for those seeking asylum present particular contexts in which to facilitate music making. Contextual and systemic difficulties abound. An exploration of a music project within six asylum seeker centres in Ireland is presented with a focus on the experiences of the four facilitators involved. Data are presented from facilitator reflective logs, researcher observations and recorded professional development sessions…

This study aims to examine teacher’s beliefs about Syrian children’s Turkish language learning and teacher’s language strategies in a monolingual preschool classroom located in a multilingual city, Siirt Turkey. This ethnographic study was conducted between October 2019 and January 2020 in a multilingual city. The data included fieldnotes kept during participant observations of children’s interactions and interviews with the teacher.…

Syrian refugees worldwide experience many difficulties, including integrating into the host country. Turkey host most of the Syrian refugees, but limited studies examined Syrian refugees’ transnational experiences in children’s literature. In this study, I have examined the picture books written for Syrian refugee children published in Turkey through a multicultural education framework to highlight how microculture and macroculture relate to…

Higher education (HE) provides a unique opportunity to accomplish social and economic integration and mitigate the impact of displacement for forcibly displaced migrants (FDMs) in the long run. Against this backdrop, the purpose of the study is to explore the HE experiences of Syrian FDMs in Turkey. Utilizing snowball sampling, 24 FDMs in Turkey were interviewed. The results suggested that…

Refugee camps have been multiplying at the gates of the European Union since the escalation of the Libyan and Syrian conflicts in 2016, particularly in Greece and Italy. These countries, which act as the main gateways, are implementing a “hotspots” approach included in the European agenda on migration established for the period 2015–2020. At the same time, restrictive migration policies…

Sometime after the anti-regime demonstrations began in Syria in March 2011, there was a huge wave of migration to neighboring countries, including Turkey. Some of these fled youth who were forced to emigrate from Syria came to Turkey and later became university students and acquired Turkish citizenship. This qualitative study focuses on the process of political socialization and political resocialization…

The education of students from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds is an international concern. It calls for inspired teachers, sensitive interventions, and informed leadership. This writing discusses the views of students, teachers, general staff, parents, and the principal of a primary school in regional New South Wales, Australia regarding the sense of belonging that is so critical to the very…

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,…

Schools are relevant settings for supporting refugee adolescents' mental health. As education and migration are important social determinants of health, we aim to integrate the qualitative findings of our mixed-methods study into a broader discussion regarding the role of schools and the potential effects on refugee adolescents' lives and mental health, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.…

In this discussion essay, characteristics of the provision of formal and non-formal education for refugee children in Greece will be explored through a comparative approach. The comparison reveals aspects of the social environments in the lives of refugee children. These will be examined through the lens of Uri Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1986) ecological systems theory as a means to understand the…

In Germany, young migrants and refugees whose German language skills are not sufficient for attending regular classes at school are assigned to so-called “preparation classes”. As the name implies, the main objective of these classes is to teach German language skills and thereby prepare students for regular classes or vocational education and training. Teachers in these classes face special challenges:…

Background: After the invasion of Ukraine, neighbouring countries were forced to find systemic solutions to provide medical care to those fleeing the war, including children, as soon as possible. In order to do this, it is necessary to know the communication problems with refugee minors and find proposals for their solutions. Methods: A systematic review of the literature from 2016…

Research often focuses on individual-level factors shaping refugee labour market participation. Less research has been conducted on the implications of the roles of employers, integration programmes, migrant support organisations and similar. This article contributes to the literature by seeking to understand highly educated refugees’ perceptions of how civic integration programmes shape opportunity structures for their labour market participation. It is…

Background: Mental health symptoms among refugees are common, often related to chronic pain disorders, and their management is usually challenging. Studies evaluating the effect of group therapies among adult refugees to improve mental health symptoms are scarce. Aims: To assess the effect of Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) on mental health and to reduce pain disorder among adult Syrian refugees. Method:…

Research Findings: This study evaluated the impacts of the Summer Preschools Program on 5-to-6-year-old Syrian refugee and local children from vulnerable communities of Turkey. Developed as a community-based contextually sensitive early intervention model, the program aimed to promote developmental well-being and school readiness of children from forced displacement and abject poverty backgrounds by supporting cognitive, language, and socioemotional development prior…

Do the processes underlying destination-language acquisition differ between recently arrived refugees and other new immigrants? Based on a well-established model of language learning according to which language fluency is a function of efficiency, incentives, and exposure, this study addresses general processes of language learning as well as conditions specific to refugees. Longitudinal data on refugees (IAB-BAMF-SOEP Sample of Refugees in…

This protocol is for a feasibility study and pilot trial of a multilingual support intervention. The intervention's aim is to improve language training for refugees in Norway by introducing multilingual support assistants using the refugees’ primary languages. The research question for this pilot study is whether a full-scale randomised controlled trial of Multilingual Support is feasible, and if so, in…

Background: Coping is considered to have an important influence on well-being, especially in adolescent refugees dealing with a high amount of stress. In addition, gender differences in coping are a common topic for research and are often attributed to differences in socialization between boys and girls. Aims: The study aims at clarifying the gender differences in coping strategies used by…

Sports can help refugees mitigate traumas, connect with others, and learn positive values. In this illustrative comparative study, we compare two sport programs for the acculturation of refugees in the US and Sweden. Our aim is to describe both programs, compare them with the literature, and present suggestions for the field. Hence, we placed the program participants at the center…