The importance of educating refugees 1 The Importance of Educating Refugees Kostas Magos University of Thessaly, Greece Mary Margaroni Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece The Syrian war, the overall increase in refugee reflected in the high dropout rates of refugee flows over the last few years, and the students, their poor academic performance at participation of student refugees at all levels of school when compared to other students, and education, has brought the important, ongoing their significantly restricted access to higher issue of refugee education into the spotlight. levels of education and particularly to tertiary Although education is a sovereign right of the education. refugee population, underpinned by relevant On the one hand, these problems are international law (UNHCR, 2000), many linked to internal barriers that refugees matters concerning the education of refugees themselves carry, most of which are continue to remain open. These include the consequences of refugee experience. On the search for better policies and strategies for the other hand, educational policies do not support effective education of refugee students, ways of the educational and social inclusion of refugee creating equal opportunities and social justice, students. They are lacking on issues such as the and reducing the educational and social effective operation of reception classes, teacher exclusion of people with refugee identity. training, the use of appropriate educational Critical multicultural education attempts material, the teaching of the mother tongue, and to address such matters as the above (Fruja the psychological and social support of students Amthor & Roxas, 2016), moving the centre of and their families. These are matters of concern gravity away from older approaches of that involve international organizations and celebrating multicultural diversity towards much state governments, as well as refugee related, more critical choices that give the refugees non-governmental organizations and national themselves a voice. It condemns all racist views and local bodies. and attitudes towards the education of the Schools and education systems of many refugee population and aims to effectively secure Western countries try to support refugee their right to education, not only in theory but students in various ways (Vogel & Stock, 2015; also in practice. Grigt, 2015; Lopez Cuesta, 2015). Although, in The gap between theory and practice many cases, the presence of refugees initially continues to be a major barrier to refugee creates panic in the classroom and school education (McBrien, 2005). In official political (Ashworth Cain, 2017), educational discourse, both in international and national organizations make efforts in a variety of ways contexts, refugee education is an established ________________________________________ Corresponding Author Kostas Magos, University of Thessaly, Argonafton & Fillelinon, Volos 38221, Greece. right and opportunities are given to those who wish to be educated. However, in practice, there seem to be significant deficits which are Email: magos@uth.gr ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Global Education Review is a publication of The School of Education at Mercy College, New York. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC by 4.0), permitting all use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the license is provided, and you indicate if changes were made. Citation: Magos, Kostas & Margaroni, Mary (2018). The importance of educating refugees. Global Education Review, 5 (4), 1-6. 2 Global Education Review 5(4) to overcome language and culture barriers. necessary conditions in order to support the However, as Bunar says (2015), they seem to do transformation of negative views towards the little to change their internal social and other. In order for teacher education to lead to pedagogical practices sufficiently. They usually transformative learning (Mezirow, 2003), it is project external barriers, such as the large important that it has a strong experiential number of refugees, poor coordination and character, giving participants the opportunity to inadequate communication with educational reflect on their views and attitudes towards counselors and supervisors, lack of appropriate otherness. Teachers’ associations, which until resources and training. Also, they quite often now seem to have been invisible in the field of isolate refugee students in separate schools or refugee education (Bunar, 2015), are now classes, use inadequate teaching methods or obliged to be accountable. They need to apply for materials for this group, ignore their cultural training programmes, exploit possible self- references, and the conditions of life and education methods and exchange knowledge and education in their countries of origin (Dryden- experiences that will help to provide more Peterson, 2016). effective education and support to refugee Instead of taking care to create a framework, that will gradually and students. The communication of all members of the systematically support the educational and school organization with refugee families and social development of refugee students communities is another important tool for alongside the whole student body, schools and supporting the education of refugee students teachers often maintain a superficial level of (Kranser & Pierre-Luis, 2009). Such welcoming activities and projects for accepting communication can lead to the creation of a diversity. However, this is insufficient for positive climate of acquaintance and cultural supporting the needs of refugee students’ exchange, which may work constructively for education. Without a doubt, there is good both sides. It can reduce the fears of the locals practice by some teachers in supporting the towards unknown newcomers, leading education of refugees. Nonetheless, it is clear progressively to breaking down the barriers, that national governments must adopt policies reciprocity and solidarity (Rollandi Ricci, 1996), and take steps to enforce the right to education as well as helping refugees in the process of for refugees and minorities, independent of the social inclusion. In addition, the refugee views and opinions of the teachers of a school community can act as a cultural mediator (Banks & McGee Banks, 2015). between the school and the refugee population, Moreover, as evidenced by relevant enriching the daily schooling with cultural research (Magos, 2006), in many cases, teachers experiences, as well as materials that can be are not ideologically prepared to support their used by teachers in their intercultural activities. ethnically diverse students. They may have Although formal school education is the adopted negative perceptions and attitudes institution that receives the largest number of towards the presence of refugees and minorities refugees, a significant number of refugees of in the classroom, expressing fears that the different age groups participate in non-formal dominant national, linguistic and/or religious and informal education programs. The primary identity might be corrupted. A significant purpose of such programmes is to learn the number of teachers continue to remain in the language of the host country, but often also to category of defense and surface educators teach subjects that will help the professional (Dome et al, 2005), who believe that the ‘other’ rehabilitation of refugees. students in the classroom represent a threat. The basic education of candidate teachers and the systematic training of active teachers are As in the case of formal education, the effectiveness of non-formal and informal learning processes depends on their context, the The importance of educating refugees needs of learners and the appropriateness of 3 The studies of Keri-Anne Croce, Nathern teachers (Simopoulos, Magos & Karalis, 2016). Okilwa, Laurent Gabriel Ndijuye and Nirmala The latter, apart from other skills, need to have Rao concern pre-school formal education. In her increased intercultural competence and empathy article, “Refugee Students Arrive at a School. to help refugee learners overcome obstacles and What Happens Next” Keri-Anne Croce examines difficulties and complete the educational two and a half years in the life of a Maryland process. primary school as more than 60 Burmese Some of the serious difficulties faced by refugee students join the population. She refugee students are often those related to the examines how interactions between refugee availability of the basic necessities of life, students, refugee families, teachers and a difficult working conditions and insufficient principal define a school community. study time. However, they often carry severe Nathern Okilwa’s “Principal Leadership in trauma and stress too (Margaroni, 2014). This Integrating Refugee Students at Northstar originates in the refugee experience itself and Elementary School” is a case study, which what caused it, and from the often painful examines the role of the school leaders in the process of acculturation (Gibson, 2001; integration of refugees and their families. It Mosselson, 2009). It is obvious that refugee discusses issues related to fostering new education cannot ignore the trauma and so, it is meanings about diversity, promoting inclusive important that appropriate psychological school cultures and educational programmes, support is also offered, that can help the subjects and building relationships between schools and overcome the trauma. Likewise, it is important communities. that refugee education provides open access to In “Pre-primary Education Policy in the learning and teaching of the mother tongues Tanzania: Does it meet the educational needs of and cultures of the countries of origin. In newly naturalized refugee children?” Laurent addition to being a basic right, providing access Gabriel Ndijuye and Nirmala Rao take us to East to education seems to work in supporting the Africa. Tanzania has hosted two million refugees improvement of the refugees’ mental health and over the last half century, of whom about in their desire for integration into their new 200,000 have been naturalized as citizens of the surroundings. country. The authors study how the educational In the context of a fully functioning needs of naturalized refugees and other multicultural society, it is not the assimilation or disadvantaged groups are addressed in the exclusion of refugees that is the issue, but their existing educational policy of Tanzania. They inclusion in human rights based processes, also investigate how the educational needs of which support the dignity of human life. The naturalized refugee pupils are addressed in refugee should be seen as a vulnerable fellow existing action plans and strategic documents. human being who needs to be given the The following studies concern primary and opportunity to make a fresh start. In reality, any secondary formal education. Joanna Henderson of us could be in their position. and Eric Patrick Ambroso’s “Teaching Refugee In this volume, researchers from Europe, Students in Arizona: Examining the America, Asia and Africa with long experience in Implementation of Structured English refugee education present various aspects of Immersion” focuses on structured English formal education at all levels (nursery, primary, immersion and the language policy that frames secondary and tertiary education) as well as educational experiences for refugee students in non-formal and informal education. Arizona. In particular, they discuss how teachers describe their experience of working with 4 Global Education Review 5(4) refugee students in structured English is an exploration of the needs, barriers, and immersion classrooms and how they are support systems for students of refugee appropriating policies to meet the needs of background at Berlin Technical University of refugee students. Applied Sciences. It details the results of a study Mario Schmiedebach and Claas Wegner of 25 students of refugee background from Syria, present the project Biology for Everyone in their Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan at two technical article “The Influence of Content-learning on the universities of applied sciences in Berlin who Integration Perspectives of International were participating in preparatory courses to Students in Germany”. Here science is taught to matriculate or were already engaging in their secondary students entering the German school first semesters of study. This case study shares system, using action-oriented learning. They what these refugee students feel they need, in discuss issues such as how the students perceive order to succeed in German higher education, the different learning environments in the and what they see as barriers. international and regular class in regard to Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, Roland content learning and integration by the teacher Happ, Sarah Nell-Müller, Tobias Deribo, and the classmates. They evaluate the content Franziska Reinhardt and Miriam Toepper in and language integrated learning (CLIL) concept their article “Entry Diagnostics of Refugee of the science lessons as well as the concept of Students’ Study Preconditions in an Online transitioning from action language to erudite Study Program in Higher Education – Insights language; and how they value their transition of the SUCCESS Project” present the new online into the regular class. study programmes offered on the Kiron Open Jill Koyama and Sowmya Ghosh in their Higher Education (Kiron) platform that provides article “Refugee Student Education: Spanning refugees with access to Massive Open Online Boundaries by Building Relationships” examine Courses (MOOCs). Using the results of Success the influx of refugee students in a school district. and Opportunities for Refugees in Higher Through this influx, community-based Education (SUCCESS) research project, which organizations that provide refugee support has been launched to investigate the services and local affiliations of international effectiveness of new online study programs refugee resettlement agencies are brought into offered on the Kiron platform. They analyze greater contact with the formal education refugee students’ socio-biographical and system. educational data such as gender, country of Three articles deal with the matter of origin, highest level of education achieved etc. refugee access to higher education in Germany. and examine their English language skills, Michael Grüttner, Stefanie Schröder, Jana Berg intellectual abilities, and previous study domain and Carolin Otto in their paper “Refugees on related knowledge. They discuss implications for Their Way to German Higher Education: the effective and successful integration of Aspirations, Challenges and Support” focus on refugee students in higher education in individual, social and institutional key Germany. conditions for integrating refugees into the The two next pieces are connected to non- German higher education system. They discuss formal and informal education. Rabia Hos’s how prospective refugee students value higher “Learning to Teach in a Global Crisis: Teachers’ education and what the key challenges and Insights from a Temporary Non-Formal Refugee supporting factors are, on their way to higher Education Project in Gaziantep” reports one of education in Germany. the findings of a case study of a temporary non- Bernhard Thomas Streitwieser, Maria formal education project. Learning Turkish Anne Schmidt and Katharina Marlen Gläsener’s focused on supporting 4-6-year-old Syrian “I’m Good at Maths So Everyone is Nice To Me” children with Turkish language and literacy The importance of educating refugees 5 development. Hos examines the teachers’ and would also like to contribute to enhancing administrators’ experiences in learning to teach effective approaches to refugee education within young refugees in the time of crisis. the framework of the principles of critical Mary Margaroni and Kostas Magos in their article “Refugee Experience and multicultural education, and education for social justice. Transformative Learning” discuss how the refugee experience of new Afghan asylum References seekers in Greece is a highly intensive process of Asworth Cain, A. (2017). Seven tips for teachers informal education with significant transformational learning capabilities. During this transformation process, young refugees of newcomer emergent bilingual student. 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