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Transpathy and the relational affect of social justice in refugee education
Using the “levels of concern” lens, this position paper presents guiding principles that articulate the relationship between social justice and refugee education. The paper offers a commentary on the contemporary theory and practice of refugee education through the lens of emotioncy. The discussion begins by exploring the emotional responses such as sympathy and empathy, before moving on to unveil new…
2023
Italian universities’ actions targeting refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants: An initial mapping [Le azioni degli Atenei italiani rivolte ai rifugiati, ai richiedenti asilo e ai migranti: Una prima mappatura]
The paper presents the first results of a documentary research aimed at mapping specific actions or programmes addressed to holders of international protection, asylum seekers and migrants carried out by public and private universities, in Italy. The research reached a total of 98 universities, using the universities’ official websites as primary sources. From the data it emerges that universities are…
2023
Building bright futures: What is needed to expand early childhood education and care for Ukraine’s refugee children
Nine out of every 10 refugees arriving in host countries from Ukraine are women and children. Only 1 in 3 of Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in early childhood education and care services. This emphasizes the need for expanding and strengthening early childhood education systems to ensure sufficient access for all children, and the integration of Ukranian refugee children in…
2023
Unlocking learning: The use of education technology to support disadvantaged children’s language learning and social inclusion in Italy
In Italy, more than 700,000 asylum seekers and migrants arrived in the country between 2014-2020. Newly arrived children including refugees and migrants need to quickly acquire Italian skills to succeed in school and society. To help address this urgent need, the Akelius digital learning application was introduced in Bologna and Rome for Italian and English language learning in the 2021/22…
2023
Building bright futures: How to integrate Ukraine’s refugee children through early childhood education and care
Nine out of every 10 refugees arriving in host countries from Ukraine are women and children. Only 1 in 3 of Ukrainian refugee children are enrolled in early childhood education and care services. This emphasizes the need for expanding and strengthening early childhood education systems to ensure sufficient access for all children, and the integration of Ukranian refugee children in…
2023
Unlocking learning: The use of digital learning to support the education and inclusion of refugees and migrant children in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the number of refugees and migrants arriving in the country has increased from just a few dozen arrivals annually prior to 2017 to 95,000 between 2018 and 2022. This increase has put incredible strain on the country's education systems. This research presents critical findings on the implementation and effectiveness of the Akelius digital learning application in…
2023
Assessing the criteria for equality of the right: Refugees’ higher education from the perspective of human rights [Hak Eşitliğine İlişkin Kriterlerin Değerlendirilmesi: İnsan Hakları Perspektifinden Mültecilerin Yükseköğrenimi]
With the Syrian refugee crisis, the subject of refugees’ access to HE, which was only partially funded owing to donor reluctance, was prominently covered in the news, with concepts such as preventing the lost generation, resilience, reconstructing countries, and education as a human right. With the Ukraine crisis, the issue of supporting the higher education of refugees came to the…
2023
Inclusive education for refugee children: Preservice social studies teachers and their critical thinking skills
The purpose of this study carried out with preservice social studies teachers in the final stage of transition to professional life was to investigate the sources they used for information about recent refugee mobility in Turkey, and their way of questioning the reliability of these sources. The study also analysed their views on the subject, within the context of critical…
2023
Language learning and forced migration: An ethnographic approach [Språklæring og tvungen migrasjon: en etnografisk tilnærming]
Most of those who learn Norwegian in the Introduction Programme for recent arrivals are forced migrants. These are people who have fled their homes due to war, persecution or other factors that make escape seem the only means of survival. Through ethnographic research among 14 resettlement refugees from The Democratic Republic of the Congo in Norway, we have become aware…
2023
Policy of managing the educational activities of the university in the context of the russian-Ukrainian war
The purpose of the study is to identify the peculiarities of the activities of a higher education institution during a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the russian army. On the example of the Higher Educational Establishment of Ukoopspilka “Poltava University of Economics and Trade”, the paper considers ways to search for and identify internal capabilities of the educational institution that…
2023
Functioning of a higher educational institution under force majeure circumstances: A case study of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv
Over the last decade, Ukrainian higher educational institutions have faced extraordinary and even dire circumstances three times: russia’s attack on Ukraine in Donbas and occupation of Crimea (2014); a total lockdown caused by a pandemic due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (2020); russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine (2022). Each time, Ukrainian higher educational institutions had to reformat…
2023
Northern outpost: Chernihiv Polytechnic National University in the conditions of the russia-Ukrainian war
During the full-scale war, educational institutions of Ukraine were at the epicenter of hostilities and suffered from attacks and bombing by the russian army: many schools, colleges, and universities were destroyed or damaged, and tens of thousands of students and teachers became refugees or forced displaced persons, lost their property and housing. Chernihiv Polytechnic National University (CPNU), located in the…
2023
Young, unaccompanied refugees’ expectations of social workers and social worker roles
Background: Young people who have travelled to another country, unaccompanied and with refugee status, are a both resilient and vulnerable group with specific needs. Supporting them is often challenging for social workers, and providing this support is mediated by the expectations that these young people have of social workers and social worker roles. Aim: In this study, we explore how…
2023
Welcoming refugee children with a moral, rather than merely legal, right to education: Ideas for a cosmopolitan design of education
In this paper, we argue for the moral and not merely the legal right to education for refugee children. National education in many countries is challenged by refugee flows and influx of displaced people. However, there is a tendency to think of refugee flows as isolated events rather than parts of the dynamics of a world society that national education…
2023
The value of formal host-country education for the labour market position of refugees: Evidence from Austria
Refugees hosted in countries with advanced economies often work in low quality jobs, regardless of the education they obtained in their home countries. In this paper, I analyse the long-term impact of formal host-country education for refugees on labour market outcomes, using 22 years of microcensus data on Bosnians arriving in Austria during the 1992–1995 Bosnian war. I estimate local…
2023
The migratory experience: Challenging inclusionary measures
This chapter explores how refugees wishing to attend tertiary education experience a language learning initiative in Norway. It shows how this ostensibly inclusionary measure, instead of supporting the refugees' ambitions, hampers their efforts and works to exclude. Through a collaboration involving five prior participants enrolled in language learning, all with refugee status, and three researchers positioned differently towards the topic,…
2023
Inclusion, exclusion and Syrian refugees in Turkey
Forced migration movements are changing the social, demographic and cultural structures of countries following political unrest, civil war, and international interventions in Syria. The immigration of Syrians to Turkey has required intensive work, particularly relating to the education of refugee children. A systems theory framework supports the evaluation of inclusive education practices directed towards Syrian refugee children and highlights exclusionary…
2023
Ethnic diversity fosters the social integration of refugee students
Forced migration has become a global megatrend, and many refugees are school aged. As social integration is key to their wellbeing and success, it is pivotal to determine factors that promote the social integration of refugee youth within schools. Here, using a large, nationally representative social network dataset from Germany, we examine the relationships of refugee adolescents with their peers…
2023
Normative, rational, and relational motives in crosscoalition coordination for a VET refugee programme
Shared beliefs are seen as a basis for policy coordination in the literature. Actors sharing beliefs coordinate their activities in order to translate their beliefs into policies. However, the literature shows that actors also coordinate for policy change across such belief coalitions for diverse reasons. Drawing on the literature on incentives in collective action organisations, we systematise these motives. We…
2023
Prevalences of mental distress and its associated factors in unaccompanied refugee minors in Germany
Prevalences for mental disorders within minor refugees are comparatively high and heterogeneous. To reduce heterogeneity and identify high-risk subgroups, we compared unaccompanied refugee minors (URM) to accompanied refugee minors (ARM) regarding depressive symptoms and mental distress. Furthermore, we examined associative factors of mental distress in URM on a broad scale. We conducted a survey with a cross-sectional design in four…
2023
Regression analysis
Vocational & technical education
Integration & assimilation
Adult education & training
Caregivers
Gender
English
Resilience & adaptation
Unaccompanied & separated children
Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Formal education
Tertiary education
Detention & deportation
Language education
Germany
Surveys & questionnaire
Cross-sectional study
Creative (en)counterspaces: Engineering valuable contact for young refugees via solidarity arts workshops in Thessaloniki, Greece
This article explores the role of non-formal arts education in Thessaloniki, Greece for fostering contact considered valuable by the young refugee community. Drawing on accounts of their daily life, gathered over eight months of ethnographic fieldwork for a project on their post-15 educational participation, the article details how around the city, young refugees (aged 15-25 years) experience conflicted encounters involving…
2023
Pre-schoolers’ images, intergroup attitudes, and liking of refugee peers in Germany
There is extensive research on children's intergroup attitudes, but their perceptions of refugee children have rarely been studied. We conducted a study with 5- and 6-year-old children (N = 60) in Germany following the arrival of unprecedented large numbers of refugees in 2015 and 2016. Children completed a set of three tasks that measured their perceptions of refugee children (minority…
2023
With a little help from my friends? Acculturation and mental health in Arabic-speaking refugee youth living with their families
Introduction: Refugee youth are often faced with the compounding challenges of heightened exposure to traumatic events and acculturating to a new country during a developmental period when their sense of self is still forming. This study investigated whether refugee youth's acculturation orientation (separation, integration, marginalization, and assimilation) is associated with depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms and aimed to identify additional…
2023
Intergenerational spillover effects of language training for refugees
Children of refugees are among the most economically disadvantaged youth in several European coun-tries. They are more likely to drop out of school and to commit crime. We find that a reform in Denmark in 1999 that expanded language training for adult refugees and was shown to improve their earnings and job market outcomes permanently, also increased lower secondary school…
2023
Including the Excluded: Sense-Making and Job Crafting as Drivers of Dialogical Change Management in Italian Universities for Refugees’ Inclusion
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are increasingly called to substantiate their impact on society in terms of inclusivity and social sustainability, as prioritized in the pursuit of the "Third Mission" (TM). Today, HEIs are confronted with the demand to ensure refugees' inclusivity. However, how administrative and teaching staff enact such change within the organization to match the TM goals is under-investigated.…
2023
Combining Language Training and Work Experience for Refugees with Low-Literacy Levels: a Mixed-Methods Case Study
Learning the host society's language and finding a job are important steps for the societal integration of refugees. Especially language proficiency is a key barrier for the integration of low literates. Often language training and gaining work skills are separated during the integration procedure. We investigated a 1-year pilot program for refugees with low-literacy levels in the Netherlands, which combined…
2023
Vocabulary Teaching in Refugee Children within the Context of the Greek Formal Education
The aim of the present study is to investigate vocabulary teaching in children with refugee backgrounds. The effectiveness of three vocabulary interventions-flashcards, pantomime, and use of contextual cues-is examined within the context of formal primary education in Greece. The improvement of the children's vocabulary is also assessed in association with factors related to the students' background as well as factors…
2023
Child friendship patterns at a refugee center in Greece
Since 2015, Greece has seen a large influx of refugees, resulting in increased needs for accommodation and education provision. As most newcomers come in family units, innovative educational measures were established to assist schooling and inclusion for refugee children. Schools provide opportunities to young refugee communities for initiating connections and maintaining friendships with local native peers. However, segregated accommodation structures,…
2023
Models for Organising the Education of Ukrainian Children Who Have Fled the War in Lithuanian Municipalities: Psychological, Material, and Linguistic Support
This article presents the situation of the education of Ukrainian refugee children in Lithuania. It analyses the political and practical actions taken by the Lithuanian state when, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, schools unexpectedly received a large number of children from Ukraine who had not come of their own free will, having fled the war. This article…
2023
Place of Residence Does Matter for Educational Integration: The Relevance of Spatial Contexts for Refugees’ Transition to VET in Germany
For the mostly young refugees who arrived in Germany around 2015/2016, completing vocational education and training (VET) represents the most promising opportunity for professional and social integration. However, access opportunities to VET are characterized by spatial inequalities: German districts vary considerably according to labour market structure, economic productivity and demographic development, which constitute the supply and demand for training places…
2023
Restoring Children’s Right to Education during and after War The Case of Ukraine
The need to protect children in armed conflicts has become urgent, especially since the 1990s , is now outstanding in the war in Ukraine. Among the violations against children in Ukraine that were identified by the UN Secretary General in 2005, were attacks on schools , hospitals. This article discusses the question of how the violation of the right to…
2023
Supporting and measuring current and future educators’ preparedness to facilitate wellbeing of displaced children in schools
IntroductionImmigrant and refugee children face multiple challenges in accessing education. To help facilitate the educational success and wellbeing of these children, teachers need to have self-efficacy in creating a supportive learning environment for them. MethodsBased on a set of highly interconnected competences identified through a literature review and empirical research, the study developed a measurement instrument to assess teachers' generalized…
2023
Implementation and quality of an early childhood education program for newly arrived refugee children in Germany: an observational study
Early childhood education [ECE] can foster the social-emotional adjustment and development of young refugee children. Still, the large numbers of newly arriving refugee families challenge the ECE capacities of host countries. In Germany, state authorities have subsidized flexible ECE programs for refugee children in response to this situation. The goal of this study was to examine the implementation and quality…
2023
Refugee and migrant children’s views of integration and belonging in school in Ireland – and the role of micro- and meso-level interactions
Schools are chief among the social institutions impacted by migrant flows as key sites of integration and support for migrant children. This article focuses on micro-and meso-level interactions and their importance to experiences of belonging and socio-educational integration for migrant children. It explores outcomes from qualitative research in Ireland conducted as part of a European research project investigating the socio-educational…
2023
The role of recent refugees’ educational selectivity in their children’s educational decisions in Germany
This paper uses the example of newly arrived refugees to examine the role of recent migrants' educational selectivity in their children's educational decisions in Germany. Building on a theoretical model that understands participation in the educational system as the sum of investment decisions of rational individuals, we assume that positively selected parents are more ambitious about having their children admitted…
2023
Refugee Students’ Psychosocial Well-Being: The Case of a Refugee Hospitality Centre in Greece
Education can be important for assisting the psychosocial well-being of marginalized communities such as refugees and contributes to the effective processing of feelings and isolation prevention by mitigating the long-term effects of trauma and developing strategies to manage life changes. A small-scale study was conducted on 21 students from a Refugee Hospitality Center in Greece to investigate their psychosocial well-being…
2023
Development and Implementation of a Nutritional Education Program Aimed at Improving the Integration Process of Young Orphan Refugees Newly Arrived in Portugal
(1) Background: Refugees are a population group at imminent risk of death, being forced to migrate to countries with different cultures. Many of the refugees are at great risk of malnutrition, especially adolescent orphans. The aim of the study was to establish a nutritional and food education program to improve the integration process of young orphan refugees newly arrived in…
2023
‘Not integrated at all. Whatsoever’: teachers’ narratives on the integration of newly arrived refugee students in Norway
This study investigates how teachers working with newly arrived adolescent refugee students reflect on these students, their situation within the educational system and in Norwegian society. We research the ways in which these reflections engage with the various understandings of the ubiquitous and 'fuzzy' notion of immigrant integration, a concept which we approach critically. The empirical data consists of interviews…
2023
Struggles of Refugee-Receiving Schools in Turkey
A total of 82.4 million persons had emigrated from their countries by the end of 2020 because of global conflicts. A total of 3.6 million settled in Turkey, which became the most refugee-receiving country. Among those resettled in Turkey, the majority were school-aged children, and schools became an inseparable instrument in the adaptation process. Thus, schools play a vital role…
2023
School-based mental health screenings with Ukrainian adolescent refugees in Germany: Results from a pilot study
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, high numbers of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have left the country. As of today, Germany has accepted more than one million refugees fleeing from Ukraine including similar to 200,000 children and adolescents registered in German schools. Since refugee minors are typically affected by high rates of mental health issues, the…
2023
Catholic education and social justice in Europe
This article focuses on two major issues in contemporary Catholic social justice: care for the poor and the inclusion of migrants and refugees. The care for the poor is examined in the gospels and in the contemporary articulation of the preferential option for the poor, drawing on the theology of Gustavo Gutierrez and Jon Sobrino. Pope Francis and his 'preferential…
2023
Associations between social factors and school belonging among newcomer and non-newcomer youth in Sweden
Feeling a sense of belonging at school is associated with important positive outcomes for youth and requires youth to engage in positive social relationships. Yet there is a limited understanding of the social factors most associated with youths' school belonging and limited evidence about whether correlates of school belonging vary for marginalized groups like newcomers compared to majority groups. Sweden…
2023
Asylum seekers’ experiences of participatory barriers in the educative pre-integrational programmes
How a society supports its most vulnerable individuals can serve as a barometer of social inclusion. By engaging in previous debates on how the influx and resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers challenge European educational spaces, this study investigates asylum seekers' non-engagement and non-participation in one engaged learning project in Finland (the KOTO project - Kotoutuminen taidolla ja taiteella [Integration…
2023
Social inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers: The role of public libraries in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area
Social inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers includes addressing their information needs. This research seeks to examine the role of public libraries in this process through the analysis of public librarians' perceptions. Based on the constructivist paradigm, the case study method, and the semi-directive interview survey technique, 16 public municipal libraries in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (Portugal) are studied. The…
2023
Changes in life satisfaction among unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee minors who participated in teaching recovery techniques (TRT)
BackgroundUnaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee minors report low life satisfaction and high levels of mental health problems, nevertheless they often do not seek or receive help for their problems. Teaching Recovery Techniques (TRT) is a low-threshold, five sessions intervention developed to reduce distressing war- and disaster-related trauma reactions among children and youth. In this study, we investigate if TRT can contribute…
2023
A Qualitative Exploration of Experiences of Asylum Seekers and People with Refugee Backgrounds in Accessing the Education System in Romania
Refugees and asylum seekers often confront particular challenges when accessing essential services in host countries. The difficulties these vulnerable groups face in meeting educational needs are documented in numerous studies. Although Romania experienced mainly transit migration, it is recently becoming a destination for refugees and irregular migrants. Most people entering the country are young or minors, and access to education…
2023
Exploring the place of adult learning for refugees and asylum seekers in migration policy for integration in England and Scotland
Learning, particularly learning English is presented as a key part of integration for adult migrants in the UK. England and Scotland differ in how their policy approaches to integration include adult learning. This article aims to explore and uncover the ways in which adult education, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers is embedded and included in policy for integration of…
2023
Educational integration of forcibly displaced persons in the EU countries [Integración educativa de personas desplazadas forzadamente en los países de la UE]
The aim of this work was to study the policy of the EU member states on the educational integration of forcibly displaced persons from Ukraine and to identify its consequences. Interviews were conducted with forcibly displaced persons from Ukraine to six EU countries. The School Motivation Questionnaire, by Luskanova, and the Phillips' School Anxiety Scale were used. The hosting countries…
2023