Integration & assimilation
Hometown conflict and refugees’ integration efforts
How does violence in origin areas affect the educational outcomes of refugees in their destinations? Using administrative panel data, we find that heightened violence in the hometowns of Syrian students leads to improvements in their school outcomes in Türkiye. Turkish language and Math scores of refugee students improve, with larger impacts on Turkish scores. There is no impact on naturalized…
2024
Integrating refugees and migrants into higher education in Portugal? An action research experience in a Portuguese university
This article results from research comprised of fieldwork ethnography, participant observation, collection of life stories, interviews and testimonials of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, living in Portugal. We focus on a particular experience of the research named Living in a Different Culture (LDC), which took place between 2017 and 2019, aimed at participants who shared the goal of becoming university…
2024
Learning to navigate ‘unsettlement’: Young refugees’ (re-)engagement with post-15 education in Greece
This qualitative study provides an ethnographic exploration of the experiences of young refugees (aged 15-25) in Greece as they engage with education, amid and despite their uncertain and precarious conditions – here theorised as (manufactured) conditions of ‘unsettlement’. Instead of focusing only on their deficits – as in much refugee education research – it asks: How do young refugees in…
2023
Upskilling as integration policy: Making the most of refugees’ human capital in a context of skill shortage
The integration of refugees is a serious social policy problem in many advanced countries, and current trends suggest that this issue is unlikely to disappear soon. At the same time, these countries are also experiencing skill shortages in expanding sectors. These twin pressures create an opportunity to use education as a tool to pursue refugee integration. We investigate how refugees…
2023
Immigration, education and insecuritisation. School principals’ small stories on national immigration and integration policies
International migration in general and the recent refugee crisis in particular are complex and much debated topics in European politics. Concurrently, education systems must operate under uncertain and unpredictable conditions. In this situation, migrant children become a group at particular educational risk of exclusion and marginalisation. This paper explores reflections of principals of schools with migrant students regarding how to…
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
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
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
How much do “local policies” matter for refugee integration? An analytical model and evidence from a highly decentralized country
A growing number of studies have recently postulated a so-called local turn in the study of immigrant and refugee integration policy. A fundamental, yet untested, assumption of this body of research is that local (sub-national) policies and administrations shape how migrants and refugees integrate into society. We develop and apply an analytical model using multilevel modeling techniques based on large-N,…
2023
The challenges of education in contexts of increasing migratory diversity: (Mis)adjustments, adaptative practices and creativity in Portuguese schools
We discuss the repercussions of the intensification and heterogeneity of contemporary migrations, especially forced migrations, in compulsory schooling contexts in Portugal. Our objectives are (i) to identify the major educational challenges arising from transnational migration, (ii) to understand how schools, still very much rooted in an educational-pedagogical nationalism, adjust to these challenges and (iii) to understand the practices of educational…
2023
Are Syrian children integrated into our education?: Turkish teachers’ perspectives on the inclusive education project
Integrating Syrian children into the Turkish national educational system has been one of the most recent and significant discussion issues in educational research and policy making areas. With a primary objective of alleviating Syrian refugees’ linguistic difficulties, a nationwide inclusive education project; Promoting Integration of Syrian Kids into Turkish Education System (PIKTES), has been implemented since 2016 in 26 cities…
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
Examining the contribution of social studies course in the integration of asylum-seeking students into society, according to student opinions
In this research, it is aimed to examine the contribution of Social Studies course in terms of social integration of students living as an asylum seeker in Turkey and continuing their education in schools in Turkey, according to student opinions. The research was carried out with the qualitative research method and the research participants were determined by the criterion sampling…
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
Making the most of language acquisition of Syrian asylum permit holders in the Netherlands: The role of policy factors examined
In this article, we examine the relationship between important types of policies for asylum permit holders in the Netherlands and the improvement in their command of Dutch. As far as asylum policy is concerned, we find that participation in activities in the asylum seekers reception centre - and in particular, following Dutch language classes - contribute to an improvement in…
2023
Language and integration of refugee children: Reflections on delinking and decoloniality
In this contribution we illustrate and discuss the decolonial approach adopted in a research project exploring the potential of including in education a language spoken by children and families from refugee backgrounds. The international project team from Palestine and the UK collaboratively designed a bespoke Levantine Arabic language course for beginners tailored to the needs identified by primary school staff,…
2023
Ukrainian refugees in Bucharest: Integration, obstacles, and future plans
The war in Ukraine has multiple consequences, including a considerable number of people fleeing from conflict zones, becoming refugees. For the countries in proximity to Ukraine, including Romania, the main consequence is the transformation into host countries for refugees and, as such, the need to formulate social policies that consider the specific situation of those seeking refuge.. In this context,…
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
Territorial variance in the UK’s refugee politics and its consequences: Young Syrian refugees in England and Scotland
Access to social rights is crucial to refugee settlement and integration, and a whole range of social policy measures determine the limits on those rights. In the United Kingdom (UK) various relevant social policies are divided into devolved and reserved categories. This has resulted in a distinct territorial variance in social rights and welfare provisions within the country. The aim…
2023
Rural education and migration: A study of the 2015 reception of young refugees in Sweden
In the autumn of 2015 a large number of mainly Syrian refugees arrived in Sweden. They were unevenly distributed geographically by the authorities and smaller municipalities received proportionally larger numbers than others. The schools became central in the local reception processes. They faced difficulties but also possibilities, both pedagogical, organizational and in relation to social issues. Based on participant observation…
2023
Education and language policies toward Syrians in the Turkish state: Incorporation of former imperial subjects into the Neo-Ottomanist political regime
With its imperial past, nationalist tradition, past westernization attempts, inverse ori-entalism toward populations from the East, and current neo-Ottomanist policies, Turkey presents an interesting case in which to examine the ideologies underlying its education system. Turkish schools began receiving a large number of Syrian refugees following the outbreak of the Syrian War in 2011. How does Turkey seek to absorb…
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
Beyond language: The complex positioning work by language teachers in an integration classroom
This article investigates the roles of language teachers in a language and integration programme in Denmark. The results show that the teachers' work goes beyond the role of language teacher per se. The teachers are shown to take on the role of integration workers, who, as part of the integration system, contri-bute to socializing the students into a marginalized position.…
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
Ukrainian refugees struggling to integrate into Czech school social networks
We provide a brief insight into the integration of Ukrainian refugees in school social networks in the Czech Republic following the mass migration caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our sample contains twelve classrooms with a total of 266 students in grades 5 to 9; 21.05% of the students were of Ukrainian origin. We employed multiplex exponential random graph…
2023
School integration of Syrian refugee children in Turkey
There is little evidence based on large-scale representative data on the school integration of refugee children—many of whom live in low- or middle-income countries. This study focuses on Syrian refugee children in Turkey and examines the underlying causes of native–refugee differences in school enrollment using the 2018 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey. Accounting for a rich set of socioeconomic variables,…
2023
Refugees’ language learning and career aspirations: An agentic lens
This paper extends language-sensitive research in international management by shedding light on the role of language skills in the integration and employment of refugees. We approach refugees as agents whose actions are shaped by their own habits, imagination, judgment and motivations, even while severely constrained by external forces. We explore how refugees perceive the role of language skills as a…
2023
A positive psychology intervention to foster economic integration of Syrian refugees in the Netherlands
Research shows that the labour market integration of refugees is often problematic. Little is known about what kind of measures are effective to help them integrate into the labour market. In the Netherlands, a positive psychology intervention “Mosaic” for Syrian refugees was developed to support their economic participation. This study aims to assess the effect of “Mosaic” on the economic…
2023
Community garden developed by refugees from Syria — A sanctuary and a space for learning and empowerment
Many refugees from Syria resettled in Denmark experience poor health, lack of social support, and loneliness. The refugee families’ complex social situation led to the development of a social and health-promoting project comprising a series of interventions. Purpose: The present intervention aimed to improve the families’ collaboration and empowerment through jointly developing a community garden using participatory action research. Findings…
2023
Linguistic integration of adult migrants in Greece and Italy: Language requirements and learning opportunities in L2 Greek and L2 Italian
Migration has almost always been accompanied by language-related processes and concerns. Integration dimensions interact with numerous language-related issues, such as language requirements and learning opportunities, and the purpose of our paper is situated in the broader field of linguistic integration of adult refugees and migrants in Greece and Italy. Greece and Italy share a double role both as host and…
2023
Meeting the needs of reunited refugee families: An ecological, multilingual approach to language learning
This book explores the gap between policy, practice and academic literature within language learning for refugees and argues that a multilingual approach, which combines translanguaging principles, decolonising methodology and linguistic hospitality, provides a more accessible starting point than current monolingual pedagogies. It considers the multilingual and multilateral approach laid out within Scotland's New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy, which recognises the…
2023
Community integration, quality of life, thriving, and mental health among refugees and asylum seekers. A London service provider perspective
Introduction: This article explores how systemic injustices and social inequalities affect refugee and asylum seeker integration, thriving, and mental health in London. This is pertinent as the United Kingdom currently operates a ‘broken’ asylum system with unfair policies and a ‘tough’ immigration rhetoric which makes it extraordinarily difficult for asylum seekers and refugees to achieve community integration, have a good…
2024
Experiences of the Polish teachers of primary schools in working with war refugee students from Ukraine: Selected problems, limitations and implications for pedagogical practice
The ongoing war in Ukraine has caused that millions of people, mainly women and children, were forced to flee their country. Poland, as a country bordering Ukraine, accepted the most refugees. In consequence, Ukrainian school-age children started studying in Polish schools but preparing Polish primary schools (schools which educate children who are 6/7–15 years of age) to accept such an…
2024
Towards a ‘low ambition equilibrium’: Managing refugee aspirations during the integration process in Switzerland
This article explores the role of policy in influencing refugee educational and occupational aspirations and how this translates into promoting or hindering certain integration paths. 29 refugees in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland were interviewed and asked about their educational and occupational aspirations. Three policies were identified as having an important influence on their aspirations formation namely, asylum policy,…
2024
Teacher opinions on problems resulting from individual and cultural differences in the adaptation class of students from different nationalities
Various problems experienced by children of foreign families who immigrated to Turkey from different countries for various reasons have been frequently discussed in learning environments recently. Among these, primary problems such as individual differences, cultural differences and language problems at school come to the fore. PICTES (Supporting the Integration of Syrian Children into the Turkish Education System) project (2016-present) is…
2024
Adult refugees and asylum seekers’ basic need satisfaction and educational success in pre-study programmes in Germany
Host country education can be crucial for the social integration as well as labour market outcomes of refugees and asylum seekers. To meet the same admission criteria for studying at German higher education institutions (HEI) as other international student applicants, refugees and asylum seekers can attend pre-study programmes at preparatory colleges or language centres of HEI. According to the self-determination…
2024
Inclusion of Ukrainian schoolchildren seeking refuge from the war into the Czech education system
This paper addresses the inclusion of Ukrainian schoolchildren who were forced to leave their homes because of Russian military aggression. The research is aimed at identifying the specifics of the inclusive process regarding the children of war and analyzing the features that are different compared to traditional approaches to the inclusion of forced migrants. Building upon the results of a…
2024
Welcome culture in German schools: Teachers’ perspectives
The secondary analysis focuses on teachers’ perspectives on welcome culture (Willkommenskultur) in German schools for pupils who have fled from Ukraine. The following research question was pursued: What aspects of the welcome culture become apparent in statements of teachers? Data from five group discussions with individuals from primary and secondary schools and an educational institution in Rhineland-Palatinate were analyzed. Participants…
2024
Supporting the educational integration of young people seeking asylum and refuge: Examining good practices from Germany, Sweden and England
The educational integration of Newly Arrived Migrant and Refugee (NAMR) children and youth in a host country is complex. It requires educational systems responding to their diverse needs. Some of these needs are exacerbated by NAMR young people and their families’ limited understanding of the host country’s policies, structures, and procedures. Amidst these complexities, policy makers, practitioners, and other stakeholders…
2024
Psychosocial and integration needs of unaccompanied children in Greece
This article seeks to fill the research gap on the psychosocial and integration needs of unaccompanied children and the challenges they encounter to reach autonomy and social integration. To address this issue, the study utilized a qualitative research survey interviewing 18 field professionals, which indicated that the key challenges include insufficient preparation, institutionalization, uncertainty about the future, asylum procedures, and…
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
Funds of knowledge: Towards an asset-based approach to refugee education and family engagement in England
This paper reports findings from a doctoral study that investigated how young refugees and their families encounter England's education system. All children have the right to education in England; however, there are no specific educational policies for young refugees' education. Their invisibility in policy makes it more challenging for them to access appropriate support and contributes to them being portrayed…
2024
How do the principals perceive the challenges of integration of immigrant students into Slovenian primary school educational space
Education is a fundamental human right and essential to enable people to maximize their abilities to settle in a new country, adapt to a new environment, and become participating community members. As part of the challenges posed by immigration, the society aims to provide at least primary education to the children of immigrants. Statistical data show that in recent years,…
2024
Comparing pre-war and forced Ukrainian migrants in Poland: Challenges for the labour market and prospects for integration
Before full-scale war broke out in 2022, over 1 million Ukrainians resided legally in Poland. Within weeks of Russia's aggression, around 1.5 million new Ukrainian forced migrants had arrived, many of whom remain in Poland. As of September 2023, 970,000 Ukrainian refugees were still in Poland, where they enjoyed temporary protection status. This paper analyses data from a 2022 survey…
2024
Ukrainian refugee adolescents in Germany – A qualitative study on schooling experiences and the fulfillment of basic psychological needs
This study delves into the psychological well-being and basic psychological need fulfillment of Ukrainian refugee adolescents in the German schooling system during the 2022/2023 school year, following their displacement due to Russia's aggression against Ukraine in February 2022. Empirical studies indicate that forced migration disrupts children's lives, making them more vulnerable to mental distress. Unlike previous refugee groups, these Ukrainian…
2024
Addressing challenges with Ukrainian refugees through sustainable integration: Response of the educational community in Poland
The impact of the war on higher education and research in Ukraine is devastating. A great many teachers, researchers and students had to flee ruined universities and research centres. Numerous universities worldwide have demonstrated solidarity with Ukrainian refugees. In an effort to develop effective support strategies, this study identifies specifics of migration from Ukraine caused by the war. The questionnaire…
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