Interview
Yet another crisis? Syrian refugee children and Turkish education system in turbulence
This study aims to explain the current and future situations of Syrian refugee children (SRC) in the Turkish education system in light of the views of teachers and administrators. The focal point in the study is to ascertain the situations that affect and are affected by the involvement of Syrian refugee students in the Turkish education system. In addition, findings…
2024
Loneliness, lack of support, and educational challenges: Teachers’ experiences working with refugee children
For the first time, Lithuania has faced such a flow of refugee families with children, and it is natural that until now there is not enough experience and research in the education of refugee children in Lithuania. Until now, the focus has been on the integration and socialization of refugees, with very little attention paid to the education of refugee…
2025
Unpacking labels: A mental health perspective on refugee students in higher education and their geographies of belonging
The population of refugees and forced migrants is increasing worldwide, and there is an increasing portion who aspire to pursue higher education. This research paper highlights the gap in existing literature regarding the experiences of refugee students in universities and the best practices for supporting them. Utilising qualitative methods, this research includes media analyses and nine interviews from wellbeing teams…
2024
Education for late arrivals: Examining education provision for displaced young people arriving in the UK late in the education system
This report presents the ndings from a research study that examined the experiences of displaced young people, aged 13-19, who arrived in the UK late in the education system – referred to as late arrivals. The research study used a mixed methods approach and reected the experiences of more than 400 individuals, predominantly charity, education and local government stakeholders. It…
2024
Rupture, loneliness and education: Experiences of refugee and asylum-seeking people
This paper explores the intrinsic links between rupture, loneliness, resilience and agency within the experiences of refugee and asylum-seeking people, drawing on a wider study conducted in Scotland during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. The paper then posits education, in its diverse forms, as a potential anchor, providing a sense of structure, belonging and purpose, thus serving as…
2024
Community building and integration through education
This chapter looks at different forms of integration in Germany and the ability of informal, less-traditional settings to facilitate individual connections and interpersonal exchange on an equal footing. The author draws on fieldwork involving speaking to newcomers, observing them in various settings, and conducting both formal and informal interviews. A language class, a community learning circle, and a walking tour…
2024
A day in the educational life of a teenage refugee in Thessaloniki, Greece
This chapter takes the form of a thought experiment, in which the reader is invited to consider the case of Rasoul, a fictional sixteen-year-old refugee in Thessaloniki, Greece. His narrative acts as an amalgamation of the findings from an observational study seeking to understand why only half of the eligible migrant youth population in Greece is enrolled in post-compulsory education.…
2024
Performing the good (im)migrant: Inclusion and expectations of linguistic assimilation
This paper analyzes how language is framed as a route to full inclusion, particularly for unaccompanied asylum-seeking students labelled as disabled. It is based on a qualitative study carried out in the Italian city of Rome, which, although cosmopolitan, is often characterised by nationalistic political landscapes. The manuscript reveals how institutional biases (re: race, ability, and migration) about unaccompanied forced…
2024
School leaders’ experiences and perceptions of the movement of Ukrainian child refugees into Irish schools
In March 2022, Ireland's minister for education announced that Irish schools were taking in student refugees from the Ukraine. This study explores Irish school leaders' experiences of this transition through qualitative research incorporating semi-structured interviews with six school leaders. Findings reveal a phased process focussing initially on introducing students to the school community followed by the introduction of students into…
2024
Inequitable discourses on refugee students resisted and maintained by educators: The perspective of decontextualisation
This paper examines discourses that place refugee students in an inequitable position in school. Focussing on decontextualisation–a depoliticising way of seeing education that overlooks contexts–the paper is based on semi-structured interviews with teachers (n = 15) and open questions of a survey data (n = 267) collected from teachers, principals and teacher assistants at the end of 2022 in Finland.…
2024
Portuguese perspectives for education and inclusion of young forced migrants through sport
As migratory waves increase and get more complex, social inequalities are likely to arise due to challenges associated with cultural differences, language or lack of supportive networks. Beside international laws and guidelines, responses have been developed for supporting young forced migrants inclusion in host countries. There are suggestions in the literature that sport, if intentionally used as an educational strategy…
2024
Career aspirations of refugee women in Turkey within the context of higher education
Access to higher education for refugees remains a focal point in discussions concerning human rights. In the aftermath of the Syrian civil war, Türkiye has become a significant host country for forcibly displaced individuals. While the Turkish government has implemented an open-door policy toward refugees, the actual participation of women in higher education and the workforce falls short of anticipated…
2024
Stuffing the refugee education pipeline: The integration process and the exclusion of refugees from knowledge production in a Western destination country
The number of forcibly displaced people, including refugees, has been increasing exponentially over the last few decades. Refugees settled in Western destination countries face several challenges in successfully accessing and participating in higher education and in becoming knowledge producers. This is in sharp contrast to uncritical assumptions that refugees settled in these countries are better off in terms of pursing…
2024
The social and linguistic integration experiences of Ukrainian refugees through community and urban education courses in Iceland
This study explores Ukrainian refugees’ perspectives on and experiences with courses aimed at developing L2 skills and facilitating social integration in Iceland. The theoretical framework draws on tenets of experiential education which emphasise learning through direct experience, active engagement, and reflection. The data originates from group interviews with seven Ukrainian refugees and individual interviews with two teachers of the courses.…
2024
Responding to the needs of refugee learners in schools in Wales during the pandemic
This research investigated how schools and staff in Wales were able to respond to the needs of refugee learners and their families during COVID-19 school lockdowns. Interviews were conducted with a purposive sample (n = 12) of educators working with refugee learners in primary and secondary schools across Wales, including headteachers, class teachers, English as an Additional Language (EAL) specialists,…
2024
Experiences of language in migration: Communicating well-being in Finland and Germany
This study investigated adult learners’ experiences with the language of their new living environment. Migrants and refugees’ personal goals for language learning in their specific life situations were captured in in-depth interviews conducted as part of ethnographically oriented field studies in Finland and Germany. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was chosen as a structured approach to scrutinizing complex lived experiences. The…
2024
Biding time with close strangers: Teachers’ sensemaking of newly arrived refugee youths’ educational aspirations in the Norwegian context
There is a widely recognised disjunction between the policies and practices of inclusive education for minority-language students. Using interview data, we analyse how teachers mediate tensions between their newly arrived refugee youth (NARY) students’ aspirations for higher education and limited opportunities to tailor teaching within Norway’s unitary educational system. The teachers are sympathetic to their students’ struggles with past experiences…
2024
Disability, migration, and education: Greek primary teachers’ conceptualisations
The present study aims to investigate primary school teachers’ views regarding including migrants/refugees with disabilities (M/RD students) in the Greek educational system. The research questions concerned the attitudes of educational stakeholders towards the inclusion of migrant-refugee students with disabilities, teachers’ views about characteristics of the Greek educational inclusion policy regarding M/RD students, and teachers’ ideas regarding the inclusion of M/RD…
2024
Language education for migrant/refugee inmates inside two prisons in Greece: A nexus analysis research
The article discusses the challenges and methodological choices undertaken within a research project on language education in two prison schools in Greece with migrant multilingual student inmates, aged 18–22 years old. The 2.5 years of research adopted Nexus Analysis as a methodology and an interpretive framework. Throughout prolonged engagement of the research with the field, data were generated via inclusive,…
2024
Teacher voices on teaching students with a refugee background in Greece
Global developments on migration have created new challenges in many education systems with regard to the inclusion and education of students with a refugee background during the last decade. This study aims to investigate teachers’ experiences and views on teaching students with a refugee background in Greek public schools. Following a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers.…
2024
The Toisto-method: Language learning experiences of newly arrived Ukrainians in Finland
This study focuses on how newly arrived Ukrainian refugees to Finland have experienced learning Finnish language with a method called Toisto (’Repetition’). Toisto is a modeling-based method that was developed to enable volunteers to teach the basics of Finnish to newcomers, as linguistic first aid. The Toisto-method is built on the ideas of direct method, communicative teaching, suggestopedic atmosphere, and…
2024
Locked-down learning amid COVID-19: Young refugees in Greece and their supporters co-navigating a new crisis
Greece, and the hundreds of thousands of refugees currently trapped in the country, are no strangers to ‘crisis’. Financial collapse and migration mismanagement were already severely impacting newcomers’ ability to participate in education before COVID-19 lockdowns made the situation even more dire. Based on interviews from a study on young refugees’ (aged 15–25) engagement with education in Greece, this paper…
2024
Pull-out classes for newly arrived students from Ukraine–An obstacle to social inclusion
Building on earlier developments in the field of inclusive education research, creating a sense of belonging and togetherness is seen as a necessary goal for schools, especially in times of crisis and unexpected outbreaks of war. Against this backdrop, the current qualitative study sheds light on Ukrainian refugee students’ self‑perceived social inclusion after their entry into the Austrian education system.…
2024
CLIL on the spot: Migrant education in Greece
Introduction: This study aims to explore the instructional strategies employed by Greek teachers in primary and secondary school classes attended by large numbers of refugee and migrant students. As there is not a clear methodological ‘blueprint’ for CLIL that teachers are required to follow, our study will investigate which of the principles framed for the CLIL approach are in fact…
2024
Importance of personality traits for destination-language acquisition: Evidence for refugees in Germany
We analyze the role of personality traits in destination-language proficiency among recent refugees in Germany. While personality traits have been shown to predict educational outcomes, they have been largely overlooked for immigrants’ language acquisition. We extend a well-established model of destination-language proficiency and assume that personality traits’ effects manifest through the channels of exposure, efficiency, and incentives. Using longitudinal data…
2024
Inclusive education for refugee students from Ukraine—An exploration of differentiated instruction in German schools
Currently, refugee Ukrainian learners are attending German mainstream schools, leading to an even more diverse student population. Given that the German school system is committed to provide inclusive education for all, this study aims to examine how teachers address Ukrainian students learning needs by means of differentiated instruction. To this end, a qualitative study was conducted in which eight elementary…
2024
The relationship of the three “As” of adaptation: Acculturation, adjustment, and academic engagement of Ukrainian war refugees in Estonia’s schools
The article reports on a qualitative study of how schools in Estonia were incorporating Ukrainian war refugee students in the spring of 2023. Observations and interviews were conducted in 7 schools with teachers, school administrators, psychological support staff, refugee students in grades 7–12, and their parents. The study found that schools were balancing three overlapping goals: (1) to ensure psychological…
2024
Linking with technology in the education and adaptation processes of refugee children
In this section, the needs of refugee children are discussed within the framework of Maslow's hierarchy and family systems theory, and explanations of children's participation in educational processes, the use of technology in educational processes, and teacher guidance are given. In addition, the study aims to determine the knowledge, awareness, and experiences of preschool teachers in Turkey about integrating technology…
2024
Non-formal education for the inclusion of unaccompanied migrant children in Italy
The number of unaccompanied migrant children (UMC) that landed in Italy on a daily basis was 14,044 in 2022 and 18,820 in 2023 (as stated by the Italian Ministry of Interior). This research study examines Law 47/2017, which implements the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It ponders inclusive educational models other than formal learning by…
2024
Teaching Greek as a second/host language to children of refugee origin
Educating refugee background students has been of great concern to the scientific and educational world in Greece in recent years. This chapter is based on two research studies conducted in 2018 via semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire completed by teachers and refugee students. Both studies explore the ways in which the importance of the host language and the purpose of…
2024
Revisiting education resilience of Syrian children in Turkish education ecosystem
Resilience is studied by researchers from various disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry and biological disciplines. Though the resiliency literature has expanded to a considerable extent, only a few studies have examined the resiliency patterns in child asylum-seekers/refugees. Using the constructivist perspective, the aim of the research to identify whether Syrian asylum-seeker children are able to develop resilience in Turkish education…
2024
Exploring refugee school teachers’ roles in culturally diverse adult classrooms in Greece
This study examined the experiences of 15 refugee school teachers in Athens, focusing on their strategies for working with culturally diverse adult students. Through semi-structured interviews, the research investigated the evaluation of intercultural education that is imparted to adult refugees, the challenges in the program’s implementation for adult refugees, the importance and the necessity of intercultural competence for instructors when…
2024
The pathways of unaccompanied foreign minors evaluated by the social workers: A case study in Italy
Social workers, who are responsible for unaccompanied minors (UAM), have in-depth knowledge of those minors’ backgrounds and the reception pathways they follow. The social workers support key aspects of UAM integration such as learning the host country’s language, school integration and vocational training. Via 566 interviews collected through a survey carried out in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, we…
2024
Integration of displaced students into the culturally and linguistically different school environment
The rapid increase in the number of refugees arriving in the last decade and the discussion about the integration of Syrian refugees into Turkish society has received special attention. As an important tool of socialisation in childhood, the educational system and school environment need to be structured using refugee-friendly and equity-based methods to meet the needs and expectations of refugee…
2024
Vocational education and training: A pathway for refugees’ integration in the labour market? Lessons from Syrian refugees in Tarsus, Turkey
Vocational education and training (VET) has been promoted as a key strategy for refugees' integration into the labour markets of their host societies, with the expectation that it would provide refugees the skills that are necessary to access better employment in their host countries. Nevertheless, evidence from both high-income and middle-income countries (MICs) shows that refugees predominantly work in labour-intensive…
2024
“The schools try, but…”: A holistic perspective on the social adaptation of Ukrainian refugee students in Czech schools
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Czech Republic faced an unprecedented influx of Ukrainian refugees. This study aims to examine the social adaptation of Ukrainian students in Czech schools from a holistic perspective, incorporating the viewpoints of refugee students and their parents, headteachers, and teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these actors from the six lower secondary schools that…
2024
Kids in limbo: War, uncertainty, and the school experiences of Ukrainian refugee students in Poland
Russia's invasion of Ukraine begun on February 24, 2022. By December 2022, approximately 8 million Ukrainians left their homes seeking safety in other countries. One million Ukrainian refugees (mostly mothers and children) settled in Poland and 200,000 Ukrainian refugee children attended Polish schools in July 2023. Based on the interviews conducted with Polish speaking teachers and Ukrainian mothers in Poland,…
2024
Teachers with a refugee background work as educators in Germany
This study's focus is to determine refugee teachers' views regarding their ability to work as teachers in Germany, their initiatives, and the challenges they face. In this context, the study was conducted based on qualitative research methodology. In order to collect data a total of 265 teachers residing in the 16 states of Germany were reached. Upon examining the results,…
2024
Exploring socio-ecological factors that support the navigation and negotiation of education by unaccompanied and separated children in Greece
Record numbers of unaccompanied refugee minors continue to arrive in high-income countries seeking asylum and protection. Despite receiving educational support, unaccompanied refugee minors continue to be vulnerable to negative educational experiences and outcomes. The review investigates what resilience factors enable unaccompanied refugee minors in high-income countries to have positive educational experiences and outcomes. It aims to inform the literature on…
2024
Surveys & questionnaire
Digital education
Greece
Thematic content analysis
Correlational analysis
Interview
Adult education & training
Teachers & educational staff
Informal education
English
Resilience & adaptation
Unaccompanied & separated children
Formal education
Tertiary education
Secondary education
Language education
Non-formal education
Social workers
Pockets of positivity: School leaders’ strategies for developing school inclusion for students with refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds
Currently, millions of children and families with refugee and asylum-seeker experiences find themselves living in new countries, with different languages, dissimilar cultures, diverse expectations, and different forms of schooling. For school leaders, the challenge of integrating these students and their families, some of whom may have endured and be dealing with trauma and loss, can be challenging. This paper presents…
2023