The role of education in the settlement of young refugees in the UK: The experiences of young refugees

Abstract

It is important that young refugees' own perspectives in relation to their experiences and needs are considered if services are to be accessible and relevant for this group. Many young refugees have to remain silent about their experiences, wishes and feelings pre-exile, during journeys and on arrival in this country. It is only recently that the voices of young refugees have begun to be presented in literature and are beginning to be heard by practitioners and those involved in policy making in this area. This paper considers the particular role of education in the lives of young refugees. It briefly describes research in relation to key issues for young refugees and how education can aid settlement. It then goes onto to consider original research (undertaken by the author and Dr Rosemary Sales of Middlesex University) with young refugees, which looked at the perspective of the young refugees on factors that they identified as helping them settle and achieve in school. Students identified three key themes as important: the presence of specialist teachers; support from friends and the whole-school attitude to refugee children allowing them to feel confident to identify themselves as refugees. Within this final theme the issues of bullying, teachers' attitudes and links between home and school are considered.