Chapter
Representing vulnerable, Syrian migrant children’s insights: Testimonies of inclusion and exclusion in schooling
This chapter describes the words of Syrian migrant young people in two different contexts, taking a human rights framework. One human right that we focus on is the right for children to voice their views and concerns and have these acted on. We provide a background section on the Syrian political situation and its impact on Lebanon, to foreground the…
2023
Ukrainian refugees in Poland: Two schools under one roof—One is offline, the other one online
With the unprecedented refugee crisis in Poland, democratic education is all about designing a thoughtful crisis response. This response, through making public schools more inclusive and responsive to the needs of various learners, can save Poland from developing a tiered and thoroughly unequal system of schooling. We should be wary of technology’s potential to, both, aid and disrupt this process.
2024
Barriers to higher education in displacement: Experiences of Syrian refugee students in Turkish universities
Many refugee youth aspire to complete higher education in order to pursue personal development, obtain secure employment, facilitate socio-economic integration, and build more stable futures in their new communities. However, they often face intersecting legal, economic, linguistic, psychosocial, and structural barriers to accessing higher education. Based on thematic analysis of in-depth interviews, this chapter examines the experiences of a group…
2023
Integration
Strategic temporality permeates the integration experience of Turkey’s Syrians in a number of ways. First, given their temporary legal status, there is a grey area between reception and integration, which is highly symbolic of ambiguous inclusion (Kaya & Nagel, 2021). Until recently, there has been no publicly announced national integration policy; instead, there was only a discourse about uyum (social…
2023
Higher education for refugees: Policies and practices in the UK, Germany, and France
This chapter examines how different countries allow refugees to pursue higher education. Policy and practice comparisons will be made between the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. In many industrialized countries, refugees are able to pursue higher education. This is an important part of integrating these individuals into the societies in which they reside. However, depending on the country, there may…
2023
Parental and professional perspectives on educational integration of migrant and refugee children in Ireland
The aim of this paper is to explore qualitative research with Asylum-Seeking and Refugee Parents and Educational Professionals in Ireland and investigate the socio-educational integration of refugee and migrant children in their new schools. This work was undertaken as part of the larger ongoing EU Horizon2020 study ‘Integration Mapping of Refugee and Migrant Children’ (IMMERSE). This paper will focus on…
2023
Multicultural learning environments in Turkey: A new challenge about refugee education
Due to globalization, migration trends, refugee crises, and global media during the past few decades, social and cultural components of societies have undergone significant change. New multicultural societies have a big effect on daily life, culture, and education by bringing new perspectives about being local and universal. Including refugees in the school system creates a new learning environment for local…
2023
Young refugees and asylum-seekers in Catalonia: An analysis of the implementation of policies and programmes for their social inclusion
Young refugees and asylum-seekers, over 18 years old, face many obstacles in accessing socio-educational services in Catalonia (Spain). This study aims to identify policies and programmes that facilitate or hamper their socio-educational pathways and transition to the labour market in the Catalan context. From a multilevel approach, we analyse the correlation between policies and institutional responses at the macro level…
2023
Obstacles to the labour market integration of highly skilled refugees in Sweden
After the peak of the refugee “crisis,” host countries are now focusing on the long-term integration of refugees. This is also the case in Sweden, which took in the largest number of asylum seekers per capita of all European countries in 2015. The recent increase in refugees has renewed attention to the need for effective integration initiatives that foster an…
2023
The integration of refugees into the Swedish labour market: Intersectionality and the mechanisms used for employment
This study examines the intersection of race, gender and class in the integration of Syrian refugees into the Swedish labour market and the mechanisms they utilize to find employment. The empirical data was analysed using the content analysis method and interpreted by taking an intersectional approach. Findings show that integration programmes in Sweden are focused particularly on speeding up the…
2023
Young refugees’ participation in post-compulsory education: Mapping policies, challenges and ways forward in mainland Greece
Little is known about young refugees’ post-compulsory educational trajectories in Greece, despite high numbers of teenagers continuing to arrive and integration policies being implemented. While access to education has been increasing since 2015, enrolment and attendance rates for 15- to 18-year-olds remain low and drop-out rates are high. Based on findings from a doctoral study, this chapter explores the macro-level…
2023
Integration policy – State’s failure, local authorities’ success: Preparatory classes for the integration of migrant and refugee children1
Poland after the collapse of the Soviet Union turned from a primarily emigration state to mainly an immigration one. The profound influx of migrants did not result in an effective nationwide integration policy for integration. Migration and integration governance can be defined as a set of legislation and regulatory measures, as well as practical actions developed and implemented by diverse…
2023
Increased educational disadvantages of refugee students in German language support classes during Covid-19 school closures in Austria: Perceptions and pedagogical reactions of Austrian teachers
The integration of students with a migration biography into the national school and education systems is prioritized by several countries across the world (Bešić et al. 2020; Hilt 2017). However, such a drive for ensuring inclusive educational opportunities for all students varies from one school system to another. The interpretations of the conceptual meaning of inclusive education do not always…
2023
Building responsive education systems toward multiple disruptions in refugee education: Turkey and Germany as cases
Refugee students’1 education is disrupted by multiple spatial and temporal transitions – no matter where they come from, where they go, and what cause their forced migration. The first major disruption occurs with their flight from origin countries due to security or other reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic led to another dramatic disruption with a heightened risk of weakening hard-earned progress.…
2023
“At first it was like a bridge closed from both sides”: Pre-service teachers participate in a drama-based project with refugee children
The recent world refugee crisis has mobilized societies all around the globe and has led to the multiplication of initiatives calling for support to refugees. Given the fact that one-third of the displaced population were children, measures for their immediate integration into schools were taken in most European countries. Although in Greece children with refugee experience first attended schools in…
2023
Teachers’ views on the challenges faced in the non-formal context of teaching Greek as a second language to refugees/migrants
The worldwide migration waves of the recent decade have led to social changes and population heterogeneity inevitably affecting the field of education, as an increasingly vast number of people seek instruction in the host language challenging teachers and making their work even more demanding. In Greece, besides the governmental initiatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have orchestrated Greek language courses to facilitate…
2023
Journeys to higher education in displacement: A narrative portrait of Syrian refugees in Turkish universities
Despite high aspirations to pursue personal development, self-sustaining employment, socio-economic integration, and stable futures in their host, origin, or resettlement countries through higher education, intersecting legal, economic, linguistic, and sociocultural barriers severely constrain refugees’ options. There is limited research on how refugee students overcome these barriers to access higher education, particularly in displacement settings like Turkey, which perpetuates a deficit…
2023
A multimodal ethnographic approach: Exploring the social and educational experience of young refugees and asylum-seekers
This study provides an in-depth understanding of the structural and contextual factors that foster or hinder the educational pathways and employment opportunities of young refugees and asylum-seekers in Catalonia (Spain), and how their expectations and aspirations vary and change before and after forced migration. The authors implemented a multimodal ethnographic methodology that explore, the potential of photography, to analyze how…
2023
Countering the deficit: A policy critique of the Syrian refugee education response in Turkey
Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees of any nation globally, and the influx of Syrian refugees has placed massive strain on the Turkish education system. In response, the Promoting Integration of Syrian Children to the Turkish Education System (PICTES) program was implemented to help strengthen the Turkish public-school system and increase education access for Syrian refugee students. This chapter…
2023
“I feel illiterate”: Challenges facing Syrian refugee parents in the educational system in Glasgow
With the increased flow of Syrian Muslim refugees entering new places such as Scotland, attention has been given to Syrians’ adaptation to their new settings. This chapter explores refugee parents’ roles in mediating their children’s educational experiences. The study is informed by theory of identity (Hall, 1996), Orientalism (Said, 1978), framing (Bernstein, 2000), and hegemony in curriculum (Apple, 2004). Snowball…
2023
The organization of school integration for refugee children and youth in Germany: Identifying gaps in the current state of knowledge
According to international and European law, such as the Declaration of Human Rights (Article 26), the International Convention for the Rights of Children, and the European Reception Directive, Germany is obliged to grant refugee children similar access to education as to its nationals. While some German states incorporate refugee children in regular classes, other states set up so-called ‘welcome classes’…
2023
We want school!’ Teaching and learning contemporary archaeology with displaced people in anarchist-adjacent spaces in Athens, Greece
In this chapter, I reflect upon teaching and learning contemporary archaeology in two anarchist-adjacent spaces in Athens, Greece in 2018–2019. I explore ways in which contemporary archaeology has tended to focus on the ‘everyday’ of living communities, often seeking to function as a form of advocacy. I contextualise the development of The Made in Migration Collective (a coalition of displaced…
2023
Young refugees’ inclusion and belonging upon entering upper secondary education in Norway
In Norway, as in other Western countries, the increasing number of refugees in recent years has turned the education of refugee children and young people into a central issue. The challenge countries face is how their education provisions can contribute to young refugees’ successful inclusion into mainstream schools as well as into host societies. The aim of this chapter is…
2023
School transition expectations of newcomer pupils in Germany: A pilot evaluation of a summer programme
Since 2015, over two million people have sought refuge and asylum in Germany.¹ Between January and August of 2022, the total number of first-time asylum-seeker applicants included close to 50,000 children under 18 years of age, which constitutes 42.9% of the total number of applications submitted to the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees [Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge].²…
2023
Body-voice and improvisation to explore trauma-informed performative pedagogy: Open the door
This chapter explores how the author, using the same training as that of actors and performing artists, explored techniques to promote embodied language learning in her facilitator practice for the Sorgente project. The aim was to create a sense of belonging among a young refugee and migrant group in Dublin, Ireland; the practice was framed with the concept of ‘duty…
2024
Performative language practice and ethical principles in the Sorgente project
This introductory chapter provides some key definitions of the concepts informing the Sorgente study. First, the chapter defines performative language teaching as an embodied pedagogy. Performative language pedagogy is illustrated in terms of its roots, main influences and orientation towards using the arts in language education. Second, it grounds the discussion in contemporary research, exploring the impact of the arts,…
2024
Early years curriculum in practice: iACT’s Little Ripples curriculum for emergency contexts
This chapter presents an overview of an innovative early childhood education curriculum that is designed to address the unique needs of children and communities affected by trauma, violence, and displacement. Little Ripples Early Childhood Education program operates in several refugee camps in Chad, Greece, and Tanzania, and in villages located in eastern Cameroon. Little Ripples provides quality, play-based education for…
2024
Zine-making and critical reflection: Portals of shared discovery
This chapter describes the delivery and impacts of a zine workshop delivered to members of the Sorgente project. The Sorgente project utilised multiple arts-based practices in order to investigate the teaching and learning of additional languages with migrants and refugees in Ireland and Italy. The zines emerged as a theme in response to the first research question of the project…
2024
Introduction
The book aims at a thorough investigation of critical dimensions of the socio-economic and labour market trajectories and prospects of young people Not in Employment, Education and Training (NEETs) in disadvantaged areas of the Mediterranean Southern Europe, namely in island, coastal or peripheral regions of Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Spain. Moreover, it aims at linking youth’s social situation and dynamics…
2024
Breathing the asylum system: Gendering Portugal’s reception conditions and integration practices
Establishing a life in an asylum country presents an exceptionally daunting challenge, particularly for women. In asylum countries, women encounter numerous hurdles like healthcare, language barriers, economic empowerment, childcare, education, cultural adjustment, legal issues, and more. This chapter comprehensively analyzes reception conditions and integration practices in the Portuguese asylum system from a gender perspective, covering seven critical areas: housing, financial…
2024
Colonial imaginaries and psy-expertise on migrant and refugee mental health in education
Education has become, rather unproblematically, a site for mental health management, with policies and implementation strategies that identify and support students’ mental health. Different forms of in-school mental health support have increased both in the Global North and South, with teachers being on the frontline when identifying students’ mental distress and recommending treatment pathways. Through an investigation of data produced…
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
The Role of the Finnish and Australian Universities in Achieving a Better and More Sustainable Future for All
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…
2020
From Engagement to Strategy: The Journey Towards a Civic University
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…
2020
Addressing Avoidable Inequalities: The Role of One University in Place-Based Transformational Change
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,…
2020
Sustaining Non-formal Refugee Education Programs in a Covid-future World
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…
2022
Social Engagement and Cultural Adaptation of Young Refugees Through Gaming and Playful Design
The document addresses one of the main themes of the present day, i.e., the problem of forced migration—commonly referred to as seeking refuge. The target user of this study is exiled children who, in most cases, arrive at their destination alone and with few or no primary survival conditions. UNHCR (2015) points out that more than 65 million people worldwide…
2022
HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES IN TURKEY: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR SYRIAN AND TURKISH STUDENTS
Turkey has been hosting the largest Syrian refugee migration in the world since 2011, which has necessitated a continuous change in state-level measures to cater for the deficiencies of a forced displacement ranging from economic to social and educational instruments. Despite constructive national policies and legislation of the Turkish government and financial support, refugee access and enrollment in higher education…
2022
PARTICIPATION OF REFUGEE YOUTH IN GERMANY’S VET SYSTEM: REAL-WORLD LABS AS OPPORTUNITIES FOR CO-CONSTRUCTIVE KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND INNOVATIVE PRACTICE TRANSFORMATION
Germany has become the most important destination country for young refugees in Europe (Destatis, 2021). Vocational education and training can make an important contribution to overcome educational barriers and gain participation in society (Will & Hohmut, 2020). Since 2015, rural regions have faced new challenges in establishing effective support systems for young apprentices with forced migration experience (Ohliger et al.,…
2022
Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education in Primary and Secondary Classrooms in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and the UK
This chapter shares an overview of students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) in the United States and three other prominent English-speaking countries with a growing number of SLIFE: Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Thus, this chapter has been organized into four main sections: (1) introduction to SLIFE, (2) in-depth overview of SLIFE in primary and secondary U.S.…
2022
Adult English Learners with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education in Diverse Learning Settings
This chapter provides an overview of adult students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) who have immigrated to English-speaking countries and participate in literacy education and second language learning for adults (LESLLA) programs. In order to provide an accurate perspective of LESLLA students, this chapter will (1) examine characteristics of the adult learner population, (2) provide an overview of…
2022
Syrian Refugees in Turkey: (Un)Equal Opportunities in Education
The number of Syrian refugees seeking shelter in Turkey continues to rise as Syria enters its tenth year of violence. The ongoing crisis has resulted in more than 3.5 million registered Syrian refugees (UNHCR 2019). Although multiple social, economic, and security related debates have been studied by researchers in this field, the scope of this chapter focuses on the education…
2021
Educational and Career Opportunities for Refugee-Background Adults in Norway: A DLC Perspective
Similar to other European countries, Norway has opened its borders to large numbers of refugees in the recent years. Norwegian language training is seen as serving an important role in the process of resettlement and integration into the Norwegian society and constitutes a central component of the obligatory, two-year Introduction Program for adult refugees. On the other hand, English, Norway’s…
2021
“Wie soll ich das Kind bewerten?” Between Standardization and Differentiation in the Assessment of Plurilingual Refugee Students in Foreign-Language Classes in Germany: A Qualitative Study of Teachers’ Practices and Perceptions
In this chapter, we analyse the practices and attitudes of German teachers regarding assessment of refugee students learning Spanish or English as foreign languages. The data were collected through interviews with ten Spanish or English teachers dealing with refugee students in their classrooms in secondary schools in Hamburg in 2017 (Thölkes, “Schaffen die das?”. Die Leistungsbeurteilung geflüchteter Kinder und Jugendlicher…
2021
Introduction: Language Learning of Adult Migrants in Europe
In this introductory chapter, we first delineate issues and factors relevant in the study of migrants, and in particular refugees, learning new languages in those regions that distinguish this group from other groups of language learners. We highlight the tension between language and integration, and the often-disparate aims between national systems of adult migrant language education, language teachers in classrooms,…
2021
The Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) of UNICEF for teaching history in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms in Greece
Our study pertains to the development of new teaching material for the subject of History, to be used in the low Greek secondary education (Gymnasium), either in reception or in mixed classes attended mostly by refugee and immigrant children, approximately 13-15 years old, who are taught and learn Greek as their second language (L2). Our design aimed at the development…
2021