2015
Walk the Talk: Review of Donors’ Humanitarian Policies on Education
This review was commissioned by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Save the Children to better understand the landscape of donors’ humanitarian policies on education and the role such policies play in influencing education in emergencies practice. Assistance for this review was provided by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA).
2015
Shaping a future: An analysis of interaction in career counselling conversations with young migrants [Att skapa framtid: En analys av interaktionen i studie- och yrkesvägledande samtal med unga i migration]
This is an empirical study that aims to contribute to knowledge about the opportunities the career counselling conversation offers young migrants in shaping their future. Conversations play a central role in career counselling activities in Swedish schools; furthermore, the question of how the Swedish society promotes the inclusion of its immigrants has become an increasingly urgent issue. The study draws…
2015
The cultural and social capital of unaccompanied refugee children: A policy study of the education of unaccompanied refugee children in Sweden and Germany
The globalized world is facing increasing refugee flows over the past years, which brings challenges for the receiving countries. One important part of this challenge is the education of refugee children. Particularly unaccompanied minor refugees are often not noticed by the society and policies. Therefore they are even more vulnerable than other refugee children. Providing a quality education as stated…
2015
A well-founded fear’: Children’s literature about refugees and its role in the primary classroom
This study begins by identifying a new genre in writing for young people which has developed rapidly since the millennium, namely that of children’s literature about refugees. It questions whether these books have a role to play in understanding and validating the circumstances of refugees in the primary classroom. Taking as my starting point the UNHCR definition of a refugee…
2015
“Without language you can’t do anything.” How can the education of newly arrived immigrant students in Berlin be improved?
Due to an increased number of newly arrived immigrant students the federal state Berlin established German language classes, that mainly focus on German language learning in order to prepare the students for their transfer to a mainstream classroom. The organization of these classes differs between the districts. In a comparative case study the educational situation of newly arrived immigrant students…
2015
Migration and validation of non-formal and informal learning in Europe: Inclusion, exclusion or polarisation in the recognition of skills?
This article explores (1) the degree to which immigrants can be considered dominant groups in the area of validation of non-formal and informal learning and are subject to specific validation measures in 33 European countries; (2) whether country clusters can be identified within Europe with regard to the dominance of immigrants in the area of validation; and (3) whether validation…
2015
Immigrant Students at School: Easing the Journey towards Integration
How school systems respond to immigration has an enormous impact on the economic and social well-being of all members of the communities they serve, whether they have an immigrant background or not. Immigrant Students at School: Easing the Journey towards Integration reveals some of the difficulties immigrant students encounter – and some of the contributions they offer – as they…
2015
A policy of vulnerability or agency? Refugee young people’s opportunities in accessing further and higher education in the UK
The UK government’s austerity cuts have negatively impacted many voluntary-sector interventions that provided support to refugees. One such intervention, the Refugee Integration and Employment Service (RIES), is discussed in this paper. The RIES was a UK Border Agency-funded integration programme for recognised refugees and operated through voluntary-sector organisations nationwide. Findings of this small, qualitative study tentatively suggest that without bespoke…
2015
The construction of “official outlaws”. Social-psychological and educational implications of a deterrent asylum policy
With the increasing numbers of immigrants seeking to obtain political asylum, the receiving conditions and the deportability of refused asylum seekers have emerged as major issues. Concern with these questions has been addressed through renewed asylum policies involving expeditious processing of applications, tight restrictions upon the right to work, removal of support or detention for failed asylum seekers. These asylum…
2015
Challenges for refugee children at school in eastern Turkey
In this study, we focus on the challenges faced by refugee children at schools in Van, an eastern province at the Iranian border. Focusing on the teachers’ assessment of problems encountered by refugee children at school, this paper is based on qualitative interviews conducted at three schools in the city centre of Van province. The qualitative interviews were conducted with…
2015
Unaccompanied refugee minors’ early life narratives of physical abuse from caregivers and teachers in their home countries
The early life narratives of 34 unaccompanied refugee minors, especially their reports of interpersonal violence, were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The youth originated from eight countries, with Afghanistan, Eritrea, and Sri Lanka being the most frequent origins, and they arrived to Norway before the age of 15. Four of these youth were girls. The physical violence took place…
2015
The mediational role of schools in supporting psychosocial transitions among unaccompanied young refugees upon resettlement in Norway
This article explores the role of schools in supporting unaccompanied young refugees in critical psychosocial transitions concerning processes of socialisation, integration and rehabilitation upon resettlement. Drawing from a qualitative research project based on interviews with students and staff conducted during fieldwork in five secondary schools in Norway, the findings suggest that the psychosocial support provided by schools is random and…
2015
A moment of change: Facilitating refugee children’s mental health in UK schools
This paper describes the role of schools in supporting the overall development of refugee children and the importance of peer interactions. It argues that the UK school into which a refugee child arrives can be considered an extreme setting. Refugee and asylum-seeking adolescents were interviewed following their contact with a school-based mental health service. The social recognition granted to them…
2015
Experiences of young (minor) asylum seekers in further education in Malta
This study appraises the particular challenges that minor asylum-seeking migrants who are in the 16–18 age category confront when pursuing their studies in a vocational college in Malta, a central Mediterranean island which is the smallest EU member state. The study explores how they exercise resilience in their desire to forge a future for themselves and traces their passage from…
2015
Refugees and access to vocational education and training across Europe: a case of protection of white privilege?
This small-scale, highly original study connects themes which are rarely explored in relation to each other, particularly in a European context: vocational education and training (VET), refugees and race equality in order to explore how VET policies impact on racial equality, and the ways racial structures in Europe impact on VET. It begins to fill important gaps in cross-European research,…
2015
Educational assessment of Syrian refugees in Turkey
In political, social and economic terms, Turkey is the most affected country of the Syrian crisis. More importantly, Turkey as a host country of Syrian refugees has been living a dramatic demographic change. The most marginalized group living in Turkey is children. Refugee education has hence become of top priority. The global report in refugee education is below the critical…
2015
Reception of unaccompanied foreign minors: A challenge faced with multiple paradoxes [L’accueil des mineurs isolés étrangers : Un défi face à de multiples paradoxes]
Unaccompanied foreign minors match an administrative definition, that of foreign minor without legal representative in France. Often they are fleeing war and misery, trying to get to places to rebuild themselves and live. For those who manage to get to their destination the obstacles remain numerous, and the confrontation with the reality of migration brutal. We will present here the…
2015
‘I want to do anything which is decent and relates to my profession’: Refugee doctors’ and teachers’ strategies of re-entering their professions in the UK
This article will report on research that considers refugees in the UK who were teachers or doctors by profession in their country of origin, have lost this status after arrival in the UK and are seeking to regain their professions. This article draws on 39 in-depth interviews with refugee doctors and teachers to explore their strategies of re-entering their professions…
2015