Black bodies,White rural spaces: disturbing practices of unbelonging for ‘refugee’ students

In global times, when the forced migration of refugees from war-torn countries like Sudan impacts the demography of once ethnically homogenous schooling spaces, I consider the need to better understand the geographical making of racism. This article explores the lived experience of two newly arrived Sudanese students studying at a rural high school in Australia. Using Foucaultian theory, and Foucault’s theories as they have been taken up by Judith Butler, I explore the production of educational exclusions at a rural school. I investigate the Sudanese students’ struggle for belonging against particular discourses of rural Whiteness. In the students’ rural schooling space, their Black bodies are highly visible and are discursively cast as ‘out of place’. I examine the way discourses of rural Whiteness produce schooling exclusions that implicate schools in the spatial regulation of unbelonging.     

“That’s How We Roll”: A Case Study of a Recently Arrived Refugee Student in an Urban High School

This critical case study of one, Somali Bantu male high school student illuminates the struggle for recently arrived refugees at the high school level. Few educational research studies describe how recently arrived refugee students and their families make their transition to US schools (Ngo et al. in Hmong Stud J 8:1?C35, 2007; Hones and Cha in Educating new Americans: immigrant lives and learning. Erlbaum, Mahwah, 1999; Igoa in The inner world of the immigrant child. Erlbaum, Mahwah, 1995). Studies that examine how race, county of origin, and low socio-economic status affect refugee students also are few in number. Specifically Kamya (Soc Work 42:154?C165, 1997) argues that there is a compelling need for research that investigates how racism and stereotypes of Black Americans affect the experiences of African black immigrants and refugees. Rong and Brown (Educ Urban Soc 2:247?C273, 2002) add that black newcomers students often face a triple disadvantage of being black, having limited access to educational opportunity, and being poor. These challenges are particularly relevant for high school students as they have a limited amount of time to acquire proficiency in English and content area knowledge before transitioning to post-secondary education or the work force. In order to better understand how some of these processes work for a recently arrived refugee student in an urban school district, this paper examines the educational adaptation and coping strategies of one Somali Bantu male high school student and his family to the US public school system during the 2007?C2008 school year through the lens of intersectionality.     

The public positioning of refugees in the quasi-education market: linking mediascapes and social geographies of schooling

ABSTRACT

This article analyses some ways in which racialising discourses around refugees interact with the spatial and social dynamics of marketised schooling. It identifies conflicting discourses that contribute to the polarisation of school social composition and resourcing in the Australian state of Victoria. Media narratives around ‘ethnic’ gangs contribute to wider discourses surrounding working-class neighbourhoods and schools as dangerous and violent ‘hotspots’. At the same time, some elite private schools discursively produce themselves as providing a ladder of opportunity for talented and deserving refugee youth, offering volunteer tutoring and scholarships. These discourses work together to legitimate the funding of socially exclusive sites at twice the rate of the schools that cater to virtually all refugee-background students. The article draws on critical discourse analysis, based on media reporting on refugees, and interviews with parents selecting a secondary school for their children. The findings have implications for the management of school choice as a policy framework, suggesting that its exclusionary effects are heightened in the context of intense media and political attention to refugees as racialised subjects.     

Noise and Stress in Primary and Secondary School Children: Noise Reduction and Increased Concentration Ability Through a Short but Regular Exercise and Relaxation Program

To assist in decisions about appropriateness of data aggregation, this paper describes and demonstrates analytic techniques developed and used in organizational psychology along with contemporary multilevel analysis. Using these analytic techniques, the relations of educational outcomes (student self-reported academic performance, sense of belonging, and educational aspirations) to the school environment (possible indicators of school quality) were examined. Survey data were obtained from students (N = 11,573 or 82% of the eligible students completed the surveys) who attended 31 middle school students. Results showed that at least some indicators might be represented as school-level phenomena, although the amount of variance explained by school membership was quite small. Results implied that the appropriate level of analysis is concept- and variable-dependent. For example, students' sense of belonging may likely develop by how respect and instruction are revealed to students, such as in classrooms. Future studies of educational effectiveness might consider other groupings of students and emerging theoretical frameworks of organizational effectiveness to determine what constitutes educational quality/effectiveness and their measures at specific organizational levels.     

Resettled Refugee Youths’ Stories of Migration,Schooling, and Future: Challenging Dominant Narratives About Refugees

In the United States and around the world, refugees are frequently portrayed as helpless victims, burdens of the host society, and potential criminals. Similarly, in schools even well-intentioned educators focus on what they lack, rather than the various stories, experiences, and perspectives they have to offer. To provide another perspective, we aim to find ways to empower resettled refugee youth and draw implications for education of former refugees and other marginalized students. Through interviews, we sought to understand the stories of ten former Burmese refugee adolescents with respect to their backgrounds, migration, and school experiences. Our analysis shows that they recognized their marginalized positionings in the United States that are attributable to their limited English proficiency, ethnicity and race, and former refugee status. They, however, authored narratives of themselves that contest such marginalizing narratives by providing diverse stories of refugees different from dominant ones and positioning themselves as valuable members of local communities and change agents for a more equitable society. These findings call for pedagogical approaches in which schools and communities provide space for stories that former refugee youths bring, value stories authored by them, and draw on their perspectives on inequity and social transformation.     

Refugees’ pathways to German Higher Education institutions

Since 2015, Germany has followed a welcoming policy for refugees and has made efforts to integrate them in German society through initiatives such as development programs. However, very few refugee students have actually managed to enter German Higher Education (HE) institutions. Using a qualitative methodology, the researcher interviewed Arab refugee students studying in pre-academic and academic degree programs in Germany, to obtain answers to the following two main questions: 1) What are the main challenges that refugee students have experienced on their path to Germany as a host country? 2) What are the challenges that refugee students faced in HE in Germany and how does the German HE system respond to their needs? The findings suggest that, despite Germany’s desire to open up access to HE for refugees, the implementation of the policies adopted often sets administrative and social challenges to refugee students along their pathways to German HE institutions. These challenges include rigid access policies and procedures, unwelcoming public discourse and feelings of alienation. Nevertheless, students positively valued the new window of opportunity and universally applicable procedures offered in Germany, although they had not quite provided adequate responses to the refugees’ needs. The paper concludes with implications for policy makers wishing to open pathways for refugees to HE in intercultural academic spaces where they can interact and integrate within the academic community in preparation for their full integration into their host society.     

Achieving holistic care for refugees: The experiences of educators and other stakeholders in Surrey and Greater Vancouver,Canada

In 2020, the global number of refugees reached record levels, pressuring asylum countries to determine more effective methods for facilitating integration. This article explores an array of stakeholder practices towards refugees in Surrey and Greater Vancouver, Canada. It is based on questionnaires and interviews that elicit the perceptions and struggles of 40 settlement workers, health and mental health professionals, Members of Parliament, educators, librarians, scholars and grassroots organisations, who work with refugees. The findings show that stakeholders often feel isolated, ‘working in silos’ and wasting time and money due to uncoordinated services and a lack of interagency communication. They feel it is also unreasonable to expect Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) to learn English and complete job training in preparation for independent living within 1 year of support. Both refugee adults and children suffer from high levels of trauma, often compounded by interrupted or no schooling. Since education is essential to refugee success, I argue that teachers play a role in filling the gap, often uniquely positioned to form ongoing, safe and trusting relationships with refugee students and their families. For many teachers, it is an ethos of care, compassion and social justice acquired in teacher education programmes that increases refugee resilience, sense of belonging and wellbeing. This article identifies what new collaborations between teachers and other stakeholders might accomplish, including communication back to government policymakers. Recommendations encompass initiating online registries of services and low-cost housing in neighbourhoods where community schools and services are interlinked, possibly achieving holistic care for all refugees.     

Education for Syrian Refugees: The New Global Issue Facing Teachers and Principals in Turkey

This study addresses the educational status and needs of Syrian school-age children at Turkish public schools and the perspectives of teachers and school principals who work with Syrian refugee students. Data was collected from an ongoing qualitative interpretive case study research project using semistructured interviews with teachers and principals who worked with Syrian refugees in 2 inner-city elementary schools in Istanbul, Turkey. The findings of this study indicate that state schools provide many Syrian children with access to education that addresses the needs and challenges associated with the refugee school-age children. For example, Syrian children are thought to have rights identical to Turkish children regarding access to a free education in the Turkish public school setting, and the government has allowed Syrian students to enroll in universities without examinations or without having to show proof that they had attended universities in Syria. However, language barriers with respect to speaking and understanding Turkish must be mitigated to integrate Syrian refugees into Turkish culture. The results of the study also indicate that Syrian students are in a constant state of depression and trauma due to war and migration. Because of language-related issues and limited access to everyday necessities, Syrian children are often in need of comprehensive psychological support. Thus, this study recommends that teachers and principals participate in professional training and development programs to be able to provide psychological support to students.     

“If You Need Help,They are Always There for us”: Education for Refugees in an International High School in NYC

This qualitative study examines how an “international” high school in New York City responds to the needs of refugee students. It asks: What are the specific academic needs of secondary-level refugee students? How does one school meet their needs, and what challenges are encountered? To complement one-on-one semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, this qualitative study also entailed a participatory visual methodology through which students were provided digital or disposable cameras and asked to take photographs of the people, places and/or things that contributed to their schooling experiences. The exercise and resulting images provided students and researchers with a creative way to shape the project and address emerging issues. The findings document key school-based factors that contribute to academic inclusion of refugee and asylee students, including: educator support, care and encouragement; linguistic support from teachers; learner-centered pedagogical approaches; and flexible and responsive curricular approaches and assessment strategies. Refugees are generally grouped with other immigrants, with insufficient attention to their unique experiences and needs and thus inadequate services for refugee children. The findings from this study will help to remedy this gap and yield important insights regarding how to improve schooling for vulnerable populations in urban settings.

     

A timely opportunity for change: Increasing refugee parental involvement in U.S. schools

Refugee youth attend schools in every state in the United States. Yet, little is known about their schooling experiences or the ways in which schools engage their parents. In this paper, we resituate notions of parent involvement by focusing on the interactions between refugee parents and U.S. schools Drawing on data collected during a twenty-six month ethnography of refugees in a Northeastern city, we examine how the influx of refugee students into one school district, not only changes the district’s student demographics, but also leads to policy changes mediated by the repositioning of refugee parents’ involvement in decision-making at one public school, and a reconfiguring of the school leadership advisory team. We document the ways in which refugee parents, when joined with others, engage in what Das Gupta (2006) calls space-making, or the process by which transnational migrants make spaces for themselves within, between, and outside of existing policies, practices, assumptions, and expectations. We show refugee parents advocating for themselves and their children, and working with teachers and community members to navigate uncertain and unfamiliar educational spaces and to build new, more adequate spaces for the emergent needs of a school with changing demographics.     

The mental health and psychological well-being of refugee children and young people: an exploration of risk,resilience and protective factors

This research investigates the perceptions of refugee children, refugee parents and school staff regarding the positive adaptation of refugee children in a new social context and the effects on mental health and psychological well-being. This included an exploration of resilience and the role of risk and protective factors. Few studies have focused on views from a resilience perspective, and these have tended to use quantitative rather than qualitative measures. This mixed methods piece of “real world” research adopted a “what’s working well” perspective and explored the important voices of these children, parents and school staff. Staff, parent and child responses were triangulated to provide a rich picture of the potential protective factors operating within the school and family environment. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Acculturation,school context,and school outcomes: Adaptation of refugee adolescents from the former Soviet Union

A differentiated model of acculturation was used to assess the relationship of acculturative styles to school adaptation among a group of 110 refugee adolescents from the former Soviet Union. Acculturation was assessed with respect to both American and Russian cultures and, within each culture, distinguished among language competence, behavior, and identity. School adaptation was assessed in terms of academic (GPA), behavioral (disciplinary infractions), and attitudinal (sense of school belonging) components. Results suggested that differing patterns of overall American and Russian acculturation were associated with differing school outcomes, as were language competence, behavior, and identity with respect to the different cultures. In general, higher levels of American acculturation predicted school adaptation while aspects of Russian acculturation were differentially related to school adaptation for different subgroups. Results indicated the importance of conceptualizing acculturation as a multidimensional concept with respect to both culture or origin and culture of resettlement. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 27–38, 2005.     

Posttraumatic stress disorder and emotion dysregulation among Syrian refugee children and adolescents resettled in Lebanon and Jordan

BackgroundSince the outbreak of the conflict in Syria, many people, including children and adolescents, have fled their homes into neighboring countries. Little research exists on the psychosocial adjustment of refugee children and adolescents resettled in Lebanon and Jordan.ObjectiveThis study investigated the prevalence and predictors of PTSD and emotion dysregulation in Syrian refugee children and adolescents who resettled in Lebanon and Jordan. It was hypothesized that a combination of pre-trauma variables (age and gender), trauma-specific variables (traumatic events and time spent in host country, and host country), and post-trauma variables (coping strategies, family relationships, and school environment) would be associated with PTSD and emotion dysregulation.Participants and SettingParticipants were 1000 Syrian refugee children and adolescents aged 7–18 years attending formal and non-formal schools representing various governorates in Lebanon and Jordan.MethodsThe trauma exposure scale, DSM-IV criteria for the assessment of PTSD, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form, Kidcope, Family relationship scales, and school environment scale were administered in an interview format with children and adolescents at school by two trained psychologists. Multivariate binary logistic regression was used to predict PTSD whereas hierarchical multiple regression was used to predict emotion dysregulation.ResultsResults indicated that 45.6% of the refugees have developed PTSD with excessive risk for comorbidity with emotion dysregulation. Emotion dysregulation was reported by older refugee children and adolescents. The prevalence of PTSD was higher in refugee children and adolescents who had resettled in Lebanon than for those who had resettled in Jordan. Refugee children and adolescents who were exposed to higher levels of war atrocities evidenced the greatest prevalence of PTSD and emotion dysregulation. PTSD symptomatology and emotion dysregulation in children and adolescents varied according to coping styles, family relationships, and school environment. Both decreased significantly with the passage of time spent in host country.ConclusionsThe results may be used to formulate cognitive–behavioral coping interventions that can lead to optimal developmental outcomes in the posttrauma environment.     

Conceptualizing and Contextualizing the Concept of Refugee in Education: A Phenomenological Study of Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions in a Conflict-Affected Society

The aim of this study was to investigate Greek-Cypriot primary school teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the concept of refugee using a phenomenological-interpretive framework. The value of a phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of the roots of participants’ perceptions of refugeehood as well as how those perceptions were connected to participants’ feelings about refugees. Data collection involved a total of 40 interviews—20 interviews with teachers and 20 interviews with students. Against legal definitions of refugee and internally displaced people, it is shown that participants’ understandings were rooted in their lived experiences of uprootedness, of loss of home, and of lack of belonging. The study makes a contribution in understanding the complexities and tensions between legal definitions and the situatedness of the concept of refugee in lived experiences. Contextualizing the concept of refugee can create pedagogical spaces for the affective dimension in teacher professional development, which is critical to understanding the lived experience of refugees in more complex and nuanced ways, especially within conflict-affected settings.     

Supporting refugee students in school education in Greater Western Sydney

Rarely do refugee students entering Australian schools possess the multiple forms of social, linguistic and cultural capital that are taken for granted in mainstream classrooms. While refugees of high-school age are assisted initially through Intensive English Centres (IECs), the transition from IECs to mainstream classrooms presents substantial challenges. This paper outlines the perceived impacts of a partnership program known as Refugee Action Support (RAS) that assists secondary school students, predominantly African humanitarian refugees, as they seek to make the transition from IECs to mainstream settings. Implemented by the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, the University of Western Sydney and the NSW Department of Education and Training, the program is based on school-based tutoring centres that use pre-service teachers as tutors. The paper explores the perceived effects on refugee students participating in RAS from the perspectives of teachers who assist in the coordination of the program at the various school sites.     

Australian school practices and the education experiences of students with a refugee background: a review of the literature

Schools have the potential for significant impact on the lives of Australian students with a refugee background. Many of these young people speak at least one language other than English, have previous histories of interrupted schooling or have experienced trauma during times of displacement and forced migration. Combined with the further challenges of settling within an unfamiliar cultural frame, these students experience a range of circumstances which are not present for many of their Australian-born peers. Australian students with a refugee background have diverse skill and abilities, with many showing independence and resilience. Opportunities for academic learning and development of social capital within the school context can be enhanced with relevant pedagogy and policy which draws upon and highlights the positive individual qualities that these students exhibit. Australian school practices are shaped by both state and federal education policies, which are interpreted and applied by individual schools within their own frameworks. This review considers recent literature on the experiences of Australian students with a refugee background as they participate in schooling, with a focus on the ways in which schools provide either opportunities or barriers to engagement.     

Developing social inclusion through after‐school homework tutoring: a study of African refugee students in Greater Western Sydney

Schools represent the primary setting where refugee children learn about Australian life and culture. They serve as a broad context for acculturation not only for academic development and language acquisition but for cultural learning too. This paper focuses on the after‐school homework tutoring programme that uses University of Western Sydney (Australia) secondary teacher education students as tutors for African refugee students in secondary schools to facilitate their inclusion into Australian society. African refugees may receive lower returns for education in comparison with other Australian migrants. Using Bourdieu’s theory of social capital and cultural reproduction as a conceptual framework, this paper discusses the part played by schools in constructing barriers that prevent under‐represented groups such as refugees participating in the education process. It aims to explore the success of community engagement programmes like Refugee Action Support, which is designed to act in the interests of others (refugees) characterised as socio‐culturally disadvantaged.     

The experience of male adolescent refugees during their transfer and adaptation to a UK secondary school

This paper outlines a study which investigated the experience of six male adolescent refugees during their transfer and adaptation to a secondary school in the UK. The research used a qualitative design. The approach adopted was Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The data generated three superordinate themes which reflected the participants’ sense of being in need of help during the early stages of their transfer, their process of adapting to school and developing a sense of belonging in this context, and their overriding need for safety. These themes are explored in relation to existing research and implications for practice are offered.     

Impact of Parenting Practices on Adolescent Achievement: Authoritative Parenting, School Involvement, and Encouragement to Succeed

This article examines the impact of authoritative parenting, parental involvement in schooling, and parental encouragement to succeed on adolescent school achievement in an ethnically and socio-economically heterogeneous sample of approximately 6,400 American 14-18-year-olds. Adolescents reported in 1987 on their parents' general child-rearing practices and on their parents' achievement-specific socialization behaviors. In 1987, and again in 1988, data were collected on several aspects of the adolescents' school performance and school engagement. Authoritative parenting (high acceptance, supervision, and psychological autonomy granting) leads to better adolescent school performance and stronger school engagement. The positive impact of authoritative parenting on adolescent achievement, however, is mediated by the positive effect of authoritativeness on parental involvement in schooling. In addition, nonauthoritativeness attenuates the beneficial impact of parental involvement in schooling on adolescents achievement. Parental involvement is much more likely to promote adolescent school success when it occurs in the context of an authoritative home environment.     

Gendered barriers to educational opportunities: resettlement of Sudanese refugees in Australia

This paper argues that whilst equitable educational pathways are integrated into educational policy discourses in Australia, there are significant gendered barriers to educational participation among members of the Sudanese refugee groups. The specific conditions of forced migration reinforce disadvantage and further limit opportunities. Cultural factors play a key role in this, as the data from this study demonstrate. Participants in this study are Sudanese refugees who arrived in Australia as part of the humanitarian programme. The paper draws upon interviews and focus group data that were collected for a larger study on the broader issue of resettlement of Sudanese refugees in Australia. This paper argues that women from refugee backgrounds are particularly at risk and face cultural and linguistic barriers in accessing educational opportunities.