Postgraduate research students

The reserach aims to answer questions about Syrian children’s educational experiences in schools, not least those associated with their inclusion. The Syrian crisis forced millions of Syrian people to leave their country. That has created an unprecedented refugee crisis in the world. While most of them could only flee to neighbour countries, some of them managed to arrive in western countries seeking a better life for themselves and their families. This research will contribute to the limited research on refugee education in the United Kingdom by helping to fill the gap in current knowledge in respect to the educational experience of refugee children in Scotland, the case of Syrian children. The research will investigate the opportunities and services that are in place, and that can promote the inclusion of Syrian children into their schools as well as the wider society. On the other hand, any potential barriers and challenges to their education—inclusion— will be identified which might propose an informed service provision to them and, thus, improve their overall educational experiences.Research indicates that it is important to give attention to the education of refugee students and meet their educational needs. In addition, finding appropriate support for asylum-seeking and refugee children to settle into their new school environment is rather important as it plays a vital role in their social inclusion.

To situate the present research within the literature on Syrian refugee education, a systematic literature review will be conducted to explore what has already been known about this matter. The concept of inclusion will present a key theoretical framework of the article; however, other concepts will be tackled to analyse the data such as equity, and capability approach. Two data collection methods will be utilized. A semi-structured interview will be used with Syrian families while a self-completion survey will be distributed to school educators. Lichtman’s method for qualitative data analysis which consists of three stages: coding, categorizing, and concepts will be applied to analyse data from both methods of data collection independently. 

• Dr Ines Alves
• Professor Marta Moskal

 

• An attendee in the virtual ACTFL convention, 20-22 November 2020. 

 

 

• An attendee in the Annual Conference for Teachers of Arabic, 7 December 2020.