Racism & discrimination
The role of institutional opportunity structures for refugee integration in Vienna. Learnings and modifications in the aftermath of the long summer of migration in 2015
Austria's exclusive model of citizenship, and restrictive policies on migration, refugee reception and asylum, dating back to the 1990s, create structural barriers to refugee integration in the country’s economic and socio-cultural life. In this article, we shed light on Vienna, a city renowned for its comprehensive social policies. However, the inclusive integration approach adopted by the city clashes with the…
2022
Chances and discrimination in dual vocational training of refugees and immigrants in Germany
This article depicts the obstacles within the vocational education for trainees with escape and migration experience in Germany. The structure of the highly formalised vocational training system in Germany is based on the assumption of a ‘normal case’ of an educational biography. However, this neither applies to the often-broken educational pathways of refugees and immigrants, nor to an increasing number…
2022
Change or continuity? A comparative study of the immigrant integration models of Turkey and Germany after the Syrian Crisis
This study aimed to explore the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis on the immigrant integration policies and hence the national models of Turkey and Germany. It tried to assess whether there is a continuity or divergence in the policies after 2011. It also tried to match the two countries with one of the immigrant integration models discussed in the…
2019
Time for Europe to get migrant integration right
The arrival of over one million people seeking protection in our continent in recent months has profoundly shaken Europe and found European governments unprepared to face up to the challenge of providing adequate reception. Preoccupied with short-term imperatives, European governments have lost sight of more long-term challenges posed by these arrivals. Little, if any, significant debate about how to promote…
2016
Higher Education for forcibly displaced migrants in Turkey
Higher education (HE) provides a unique opportunity to accomplish social and economic integration and mitigate the impact of displacement for forcibly displaced migrants (FDMs) in the long run. Against this backdrop, the purpose of the study is to explore the HE experiences of Syrian FDMs in Turkey. Utilizing snowball sampling, 24 FDMs in Turkey were interviewed. The results suggested that…
2022
How schools in Germany shape and impact the lives of adolescent refugees in terms of mental health and social mobility
Schools are relevant settings for supporting refugee adolescents' mental health. As education and migration are important social determinants of health, we aim to integrate the qualitative findings of our mixed-methods study into a broader discussion regarding the role of schools and the potential effects on refugee adolescents' lives and mental health, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.…
2022
A help or hindrance? Highly educated refugees’ perceptions of the role of civic integration programmes in accessing the labour market in Oslo, Malmö and Munich
Research often focuses on individual-level factors shaping refugee labour market participation. Less research has been conducted on the implications of the roles of employers, integration programmes, migrant support organisations and similar. This article contributes to the literature by seeking to understand highly educated refugees’ perceptions of how civic integration programmes shape opportunity structures for their labour market participation. It is…
2022
Challenges of migrant students in Turkish higher education
Migrant students, including refugees and international students who begin or continue their education in Turkey, encounter several challenges. This study aimed to identify the challenges that migrant students face in the Turkish higher education system. The sample of the study consisted of 75 migrant students from six universities in Turkey in the 2019–2020 academic year. Demographic information of the students…
2022
Educational Integration from the Perspective of Refugee Parents and Children [VKLJUČEVANJE V VZGOJNO-IZOBRAŽEVALNI SISTEM IZ PERSPEKTIVE STARŠEV IN OTROK BEGUNCEV]
This article is based on a research project executed by the authors in 2021. It revolves around the experiences of refugee children and parents within the Slovenian educational system. Data was acquired from twelve families. Interviewees spoke about the positive and negative aspects of educational integration. Those mainly consisted of language difficulties, learning difficulties, and discrimination. The presented research aims…
2022
Gender Differences in Second Language Proficiency-Evidence from Recent Humanitarian Migrants in Germany
In this paper, we address gender differences in the host language proficiency of humanitarian migrants. Prior research has produced inconclusive results with regard to women's host language proficiency relative to that of men: sometimes women's proficiency exceeds that of men, sometimes women lag behind men, and sometimes there are no substantial differences. Using data on recent humanitarian migrants in Germany,…
2022
Mental Health of Refugee and Non-refugee Migrant Young People in European Secondary Education: The Role of Family Separation, Daily Material Stress and Perceived Discrimination in Resettlement
While scholarly literature indicates that both refugee and non-refugee migrant young people display increased levels of psychosocial vulnerability, studies comparing the mental health of the two groups remain scarce. This study aims to further the existing evidence by examining refugee and non-refugee migrants’ mental health, in relation to their migration history and resettlement conditions. The mental health of 883 refugee…
2022
Understanding the learning experiences of highly educated refugees from Iraq and Syria en route to economic integration in Luxembourg
This qualitative exploratory study sought to understand highly educated Iraqi and Syrian refugees’ perceptions of their learning experiences during economic integration in Luxembourg. This research sought to elucidate how these new migrants learned to integrate in a country with a long tradition of migration but little exposure to Arabic-speaking groups. Further, it sought to explore participants’ experiences of what knowledge,…
2022
The Rights Hero – Serious Games for Human Rights Education and Integration of Migrant and Refugee Children in Europe
Following the rise of migrant inflows in Europe since 2015, more than 210,000 unaccompanied children have arrived in Europe. This article argues that serious games can in principle fill the gap of human rights education that these children face and ultimately help them develop, but important issues and challenges need to be considered. The article follows the design and development…
2022
The Right of Foreigners to Study and to Research in the Republic of Albania [Prawo cudzoziemców do nauki i prowadzenia badań w Republice Albanii]
The European Union has achieved much in promoting cross-border access to education in the course of the last two-and-a-half decades. Free movement of students is one of EU law’s most important achievements in the general context of free movement of persons. Today, EU law confers far-reaching educational rights upon workers and their family members and it entitles all EU citizens…
2022
Education of unaccompanied refugee minors in high-income countries: Risk and resilience factors
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…
2022
Effectiveness of Promotive and Preventive Psychosocial Interventions on Improving the Mental Health of Finnish-Born and Immigrant Adolescents
Background: Schools are considered natural environments in which to enhance students’ social–emotional skills and mental health in general, but they can be especially important for students with refugee and immigrant backgrounds. The current study tested the effectiveness of two school-based interventions in enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents of native, refugee, and immigrant backgrounds. It further analyzed the…
2022
The war in Ukraine has revealed a hierarchy of victims
The invasion of Ukraine is an illegal act of aggression that violates the UN Charter and has targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure. It has resulted in the gravest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War and neighbouring European states have responded to the crisis with generosity and open borders. However, some of the Western media coverage of the…
2022
Longitudinal evaluation of friendship project: A multicultural – antiracist program for elementary school children
This study presents the results of the evaluation of Friendship Project-Greek version (FP-GR), a school based multicultural and anti-racist program aiming to develop intercultural skills and positive intergroup relationships, as well as familiarize and sensitize children with refugees’ life circumstances and difficulties. The aim of the study was to adapt FP in the Greek context and evaluate its longitudinal effectiveness…
2022
Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ Integration in European Labour Markets: A Comparative Approach on Legal Barriers and Enablers
The Sirius first open access book entitled 'Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers' Integration in European Labour Markets. A Comparative Approach on Legal Barriers and Enablers' discusses how, and to what extent, the legal and institutional regimes and the socio-cultural environments of a range of European countries (the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), in the…
2021
‘Refugees here and Finns there’ – categorisations of race, nationality, and gender in a Finnish classroom
Schools represent a central meeting place where societal inequalities are reproduced and questions of social justice become important. This study focuses on categorisations related to race, nationality, and gender in interactions in Finnish teaching environments, as well as teacher reflections on these situations. We discuss the implications of the categorisations on social justice and the role of the teacher in…
2021
Barriers to inclusion of minority language minors in Norwegian and Dutch education: A comparative analyses of various reported voices connected to education
With the increase of immigrants in Norway and the Netherlands, it is increasingly important to have an inclusive education system that sets every minor up to succeed. This comparative research considers the barriers of inclusion to quality education for minority language minors in Norway and the Netherlands. Using UNESCO’s (2008b) inclusion framework, the content of 70 media sources were analysed…
2021
Happy 18th? Unaccompanied minors and the transition to adulthood. An Italian case study
This qualitative study considers the interaction between the Italian migration regime and young male African migrants (age 14-21) who have made the precarious, illegalised journey to Italy, where they are bureaucratically labelled as ‘unaccompanied minors’. The thesis focuses in on what happens when these children become legally adult; examining how the idealised concept of ‘childhood’ has a bordering effect, dividing…
2021
Promoting the mental health and well-being of first-generation immigrants, asylum seekers and refugee young people in schools: A participatory action research study
Background: There is a dearth of literature that reports on what first-generation immigrants, asylum seekers and refugee young people see as effective self-help tools in matters relating to mental health. Some 50 million first-generation migrant children and young people may have experienced violence, loss and displacement. This can lead to young migrants suffering with negative psychological and social impacts, and…
2021
Learning Norwegian in Norwegian to become Norwegian? A study on the monolingual strategy for refugees learning Norwegian at Voksenopplæringen and how it affects their prospects for integration into society
Refugees in Norway are the group that experiences discrimination and social exclusion the most. The main reason of discrimination and unsuccessful integration is insufficient language skills. Even though, that they are provided with up to 3000 hours of language learning within an Introduction program that is specially designed for them to help them to reconstruct their lives in Norway, there…
2021
Navigating university spaces as refugees: Syrian students’ pathways of access to and through higher education in Turkey
This paper aims to explore how refugee students construct pathways of access to higher education by drawing on interviews with 15 Syrian university students studying at different universities across Turkey. The research is located within a capabilities-based human development paradigm from which it outlines the factors that enable students’ transition into university and looks at how they navigate complex higher…
2021
Counter stories: life experiences of refugee background mature students in higher education in Ireland
Refugee Background Mature Students, with many having come from the global South to seek asylum, form a minority group in higher education. This qualitative study uses a Critical Race Theory framework to examine the lived experience of four Refugee Background Mature Students from Angola and Nigeria with a focus on microaggresions, the everyday occurrences of racism. On campus, their learning…
2021
Hope Springs Eternal: Exploring the Early Settlement Experiences of Highly Educated Eritrean Refugees in the UK
Millions of people around the world have been forced to flee their homes for socio-economic and political reasons. This paper explores the early settlement experiences of highly educated Eritrean refugees in the UK. It is a phenomenological study informed by narrative interviews with 24 Eritrean refugees who gained a university degree in Eritrea, before migrating to the UK. The participants…
2021
The psycho-social needs of displaced Syrian youth in Turkish schools: A qualitative study
This study investigates major challenges encountered by Syrian refugee youth in public high schools in Turkey, focusing on three sources of assessment: the refugee students themselves and their parents and educators. Based on qualitative interpretive research methodology, twenty-three individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. The study simultaneously hears the voices of the Syrian refugee students as well as those of their…
2021
The digital literacy practices of newly arrived Syrian refugees: A spatio-visual linguistic ethnography
This doctoral research project is a visual linguistic ethnography that provides thick descriptions of newly arrived Syrian refugees’ smartphone-mediated digital literacy practices. The study investigates how three male newcomers to Leeds, Rojan, Aban and Mamoud, utilize mobile technologies and online resources, such as multilingual Facebook groups and smartphone applications, to instigate and support processes of settlement and belonging. To trace…
2020
Experiences and expectations of successful immigrant and refugee students while in upper secondary schools in Iceland
The influx of refugees and immigrants into Iceland continues to affect the society socially, culturally, and politically. Like many other European countries, Iceland has become home to many refugees and immigrants, including young adults. This influx has affected the education system, and many schools have developed different models to serve the diverse needs of the increasing number of immigrant children…
2020
Critical perspectives on social inclusion in integration education programs for adult migrants
This thesis explores the process of social inclusion of adult migrant learners enrolled in integration education programs. It reveals the Inclusectionalities denoting the intersections of inclusion and exclusion through which liminal spaces are revealed that position migrant students as between and betwixt belonging and othering. The study is based on research findings obtained during multiple case study fieldwork in Finland…
2020
Observation
Curriculum
Cognitive learning & development
Finland
Interview
Adult education & training
Integration & assimilation
Teachers & educational staff
Inclusion
English
Racism & discrimination
Equity & equality
Formal education
Tertiary education
Narrative analysis
Language education
Case study
Identifying the best practices for the integration of refugee students into the German national school system
Integration is a complex and widely discussed concept, central to the refugee crisis that Europe is currently experiencing. With the large number of minors and young adults entering European countries, the inclusion of refugees (and of other migrants) into national education systems is an important topic to be understood and discussed. Germany is the European country which has taken in…
2020
Refugees: A new intercultural education for global citizenship
Migration has traditionally encompassed the concepts of emigration and immigration. Emigration was the action of leaving a country to go to another one and immigration was entering a different country. However, the negative connotations acquired by the latter term over the years, largely owing to the media, has led to the spread and simple use of migration. Immigration has become…
2020
Opportunities and Barriers in Higher Education for Young Refugees in Greece
Over the last decade, Greece has been the dominant receiver of large waves of both migrants and refugees. Taking into consideration that (a) immigration (and the displacement of people from their homes in general) is a social phenomenon, (b) education has a significant influence on the development process and access to education is absolutely a fundamental human right, (c) real…
2020
Attitudes’ analysis of fifth grade Spanish and Greek pupils towards refugee children: The cases of Granada and Alexandroupolis
In 2015, the largest refugee crisis since World War II occurred in Europe with a constant increase in the number of people crossing the Mediterranean Sea seeking protection. It is estimated that half of the refugees and asylum seekers are children. In order for these children not to lose opportunities, host countries worked to provide them access to education, both…
2019
Being a refugee university student in Turkey from the perspective of Syrian female students
The aim of this study is to view higher education opportunities and problems from the point of Syrian female students. The research is designed as a qualitative research conducted with descriptive analysis. Ten volunteer female Syrian university students participated in the study. An interview form, including open-ended questions, was used as a data collection tool. The data was collected by…
2019
Schools and Refugee Children: The Case of Syrians in Turkey
Education is the most effective tool for migrant and refugee integration. When successfully provided, it is particularly useful for eradicating the traces of trauma among refugee children, offering means to social mobility and enhancing social and structural integration into society. This article introduces schooling options for Syrian children in Turkey and deals with how school types shape experiences of these…
2019
Health, Education and Employment Outcomes in Young Refugees in the Nordic Countries: A Systematic Review
Objectives: Since 2000, approximately 500,000 refugees have settled in the Nordic countries, about a third of them being children and young people. To identify general trends, and to detect gaps in the existing knowledge about the socioeconomic and health status of these young refugees, this review discusses the literature regarding three key areas related to welfare policy: health, education and…
2018
‘The other brick in the wall’: Integrating and empowering refugee students through intercultural education; a case study from greece
The refugee crisis, the largest migratory wave since the Second World War, has constituted a challenge for European societies, at an economic, social, but also moral level. In times of frustration, when European values appear more fragile than ever, education can play a key role in the management of the crisis and the prevention of discrimination. Greece has been one…
2017
Frontiers of belonging: the education of unaccompanied refugee youth
As unprecedented numbers of unaccompanied African minors requested asylum in Europe in 2015, Annika Lems witnessed a peculiar dynamic: despite inclusionary language in official policy and broader society, these children faced a deluge of exclusionary practices in the classroom and beyond. Frontiers of Belonging traces the educational paths of refugee youth arriving in Switzerland amid the shifting sociopolitical terrain of…
2022
Barriers to the inclusion of refugee and asylum-seeking children in schools in England
This article reports a study of the barriers faced by headteachers seeking to include young asylum seekers and refugees into secondary schools in England. We trace the new discourses and assemblages of authority created at city level by recent policy changes. Drawing on in-depth interviews with headteachers, we share their experiences of navigating layered ecologies of systemic challenges to their…
2020
Language Education for Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Sweden: Provision and Governance
This report is about language training and education for adult asylum seekers and refugees in Sweden with a particular focus on the situation in the region of Scania. It responds to questions about the governance of language training and education with a particular focus on gender and the role of civil society. As a field of governance, language training and…
2019
Education, acculturation, and adaptation: Unaccompanied migrant and refugee youths in Italy
Migration worldwide is characterized by the presence of unaccompanied minors, separated from their parents or any primary caregivers. The present study aimed to fill literature gaps on the acculturation and adaptation of unaccompanied migrant and refugee adolescents. The Ward and Geeraert model (2016), which explores how acculturation unfolds within different ecological contexts, namely societal, institutional and familial, was employed to…
2019
Italy
Acculturation
Adult education & training
Interview
Integration & assimilation
Caregivers
Teachers & educational staff
English
Policy & law
Access & participation
Resilience & adaptation
Unaccompanied & separated children
Mental health & psychosocial well-being
Racism & discrimination
Secondary education
German teacher candidates’ perceptions of their roles in the lives of Syrian refugee students in Dresden
Beginning in 2011, the Syrian Conflict caused the widespread displacement of over five million people and caused a steep rise in the number of asylum seekers entering the European Union. Chancellor Angela Merkel adopted a controversial open-door policy in the summer 2015 that lifted previous quotas on the number of refugees that could enter Germany (Liebe, Meyerhoff, Kroesen, Chorus, and…
2019
Asylum-Seeking Students’ Experience of Higher Education in the UK
This chapter is dedicated to presenting and analyzing the accounts of young men in the UK from an asylum-seeking background about how they experience a university. The chapter has been written with the goal of contributing to existing literature about how to promote an understanding about the active engagement of refugee students in higher education in the UK. It focuses…
2019
Global education monitoring report, 2019: Migration, displacement and education: building bridges, not walls
[No abstract available]
2019
Rural setting
Arabic
Chinese
Vocational & technical education
Teachers & educational staff
Adult education & training
English
Access & participation
French
Racism & discrimination
Tertiary education
Secondary education
Language education
Maths education
Primary education
Early childhood education
Spanish
Syrian Refugees Minors in Turkey. Why and how are they Discriminated Against and Ostracized?
This qualitative study aims to explore the extent to which 8–15-year-old Syrian children in Turkey face discrimination and ostracism at school and in the community, as well as to reveal what they think about their life in Turkey. The study group was 22 Syrian refugee children, recruited using criteria sampling by taking into account such personal data as age, gender,…
2019
Without home, without homeland. Without school, too? The right to inclusive education of refugee children
Each year the number of displaced people grows rapidly creating an urgent humanitarian situation in most places of the world. Among them a huge amount is children, children who are helpless and most of the times hopeless for their future. Education stands out as their only way of dreaming and feeling safe again after all the atrocities they experienced in…
2018
Violence Experience among Immigrants and Refugees: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italy
The objectives of this cross-sectional investigation among a random sample of immigrants and refugees in Italy were to gain an insight into the extent and type of the episodes of violence and to assess their association with different characteristics. Data was collected from September 2016 to July 2017 using a face-to-face structured interview. A total of 503 subjects participated. Overall,…
2018
Attitudes toward refugees and inclusive European citizenship. Analysis for an intercultural educational proposal with teachers in training [Actitudes hacia personas refugiadas y ciudadanía europea inclusiva. Análisis para una propuesta educativa intercultural con el profesorado en formación]
The recent migratory crisis has multiplied the number of school age people that are forced to immigrate. The integration of the minors in host countries demands not only schooling, but also an inclination of the educational community to accept the said reality and critically manage European immigration policies. At the European level there is a growing rejection toward the migratory…
2018