Education could pave the way towards a more stable and brighter future for children seeking and benefiting from international protection, after often several years of flight and insecurity. Many of them see education as an opportunity to re-build their lives in a new environment and they typically arrive highly motivated to continue school after long periods of absence. Still, law, policy and practice in the final country of asylum will determine whether children under international protection are able to realise their dreams and aspirations. Children’s high ambitions might quickly disappear when faced with specific legal, administrative and practical barriers hindering them from continuing and succeeding in school. The objective of this study is to give a comparative overview of the current situation of asylum seeker and refugee children having reached compulsory school age in seven EU Member States (France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden) where recently they have all experienced a sharp increase in the number of asylum applications.