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In this chapter, we present two examples of research projects aimed at amplifying voices that are often silenced in research: those of children and/or youth from refugee backgrounds. Refugees are often excluded from research for both ethical and practical reasons: because of their assumed vulnerability as well as the challenges related to language or access. In the research projects presented, we aimed to employ methods that suited these groups of children and youth to understand their experiences in ways that they wanted to express them, and in situ. We argue that starting from, and finishing with, the point of view of the knowledge holders illustrates one means (although not exclusively so) by which to amplify their voices and knowledge to counter epistemic injustice in educational research.

Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees of any nation globally, and the influx of Syrian refugees has placed massive strain on the Turkish education system. In response, the Promoting Integration of Syrian Children to the Turkish Education System (PICTES) program was implemented to help strengthen the Turkish public-school system and increase education access for Syrian refugee students. This chapter uses Bacchi’s (2009) method of policy analysis to look deeply at the underlying assumptions in the PICTES program. This analysis reveals that while the PICTES program has made great strides toward helping refugee students gain more long-term and sustainable access to education, it reflects cultural deficit thinking and focuses more on what refugees’ lack and need than on what they already have. The author argues that the PICTES program needs to be revised to change the current deficit approach and emphasize recognizing and leveraging refugees’ cultural wealth.

Forcibly displaced populations face economic, social, and spatial restrictions that impact how they navigate and make sense of their surroundings. In refugee camps, children and youth’s agency may look less dynamic and obvious. In this study, the authors examine the concept of “thin agency” or “everyday agency” in children’s and youth’s daily decisions and actions in a highly restrictive environment. By analyzing written narratives of 55 adolescent girls in Kakuma Refugee Camp, the authors find that children and youth are constantly exercising agency and/or are actively involved in “agentic practices” on a spectrum consisting of three major categories: thinking, action, and change. Hence, the authors propose taking a balanced approach in the field of refugee education that recognizes not only the multiple complex challenges in forced displacement but also the capabilities and strengths embedded in both the personal and social sphere that help children and youth overcome those barriers.

Children of recent refugees and immigrants are the fastest growing student population in the US public education system. Thus, it is imperative to create research-based pedagogies that value linguistic diversity, provide academic and social–emotional support and embrace life experiences that are often vastly different from those of the teachers and typical students. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of an instructional model designed to address specific academic and social–emotional competencies of linguistically and culturally diverse students on the writing of eight and nine-year-old students (n = 10) enrolled in an afterschool programme serving students from refugee families. The model of explicit writing instruction implemented in the study included culturally responsive literature, mindfulness practices, and differentiation in teaching genre-specific text structure and academic vocabulary. Pre- and post-test personal essays were scored for holistic quality of writing and use of academic vocabulary. The findings indicate that explicit and differentiated instruction in both writing organisation and vocabulary use was effective in increasing the holistic quality of students' personal writing and their ability to integrate academic vocabulary appropriately and meaningfully in independent writing. Implications for culturally responsive instruction for refugee students are discussed.

With the increased flow of Syrian Muslim refugees entering new places such as Scotland, attention has been given to Syrians’ adaptation to their new settings. This chapter explores refugee parents’ roles in mediating their children’s educational experiences. The study is informed by theory of identity (Hall, 1996), Orientalism (Said, 1978), framing (Bernstein, 2000), and hegemony in curriculum (Apple, 2004). Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants in Glasgow. Semi-structured interviews and vignettes were used to generate data with 12 parents and 12 school-aged children in 12 refugee families. The chapter explores how these families have encountered new aspects of their education, such as different pedagogy and Eurocentric curriculum. By examining the participants’ various ways of dealing with these aspects, the chapter explores educational challenges that did not exist before their displacement, demonstrates the inherent diversity within refugee populations, and conceptualizes their negotiation with new contingencies using Hall’s concept of identity as a relational and contingent process.

Despite high aspirations to pursue personal development, self-sustaining employment, socio-economic integration, and stable futures in their host, origin, or resettlement countries through higher education, intersecting legal, economic, linguistic, and sociocultural barriers severely constrain refugees’ options. There is limited research on how refugee students overcome these barriers to access higher education, particularly in displacement settings like Turkey, which perpetuates a deficit view of these learners. This chapter seeks to address this gap and challenge deficit ideologies through an asset-focused perspective on the stories of 10 Syrian young adults accessing higher education during forced displacement in Turkey using a composite narrative portrait crafted based on common experiences running across the participants’ individual narratives. The narrative illustrates the importance of equitable policies, quality language instruction, inclusive pedagogies, and supportive interpersonal relationships for young people aspiring to invest in their futures during displacement as well as the resourceful and dynamic strategies they devise.

Transnational shifts experienced by Syrian refugee young adults disrupt their lives. Many start their journey as children, transition into adolescents often in countries of asylum, and resettle as young adults in countries such as Canada with the dream to rebuild their lives. Too old (+16) for the traditional school cycle, they are encouraged into adult education (AE) as their only choice to complete their high school diplomas to obtain minimum wage jobs or continue to higher education. Their progress through AE continues their destabilization, particularly in terms of their aspirations, hopes and dreams. The authors focus on the educational journeys of this population who have largely been forgotten by policies and programs for refugee integration. Drawing upon 29 interviews with Syrian refugee young adults in Quebec, using a theoretical framework of migration/aspirations and critical race theory, the authors highlight how disruption is perpetuated in their education after their arrival rather than stability.

Given that a large proportion of refugees and forced im/migrants today are school-age, schools are widely assumed to be sites where integration will happen. How this integration will occur and whether education policies facilitate social cohesion is unclear. Focusing on California and Berlin as examples of politically left-leaning states that receive immigrants in substantial numbers, this chapter seeks to examine their immigration, integration, and education policies. Using an original conceptual framework, this chapter analyzes how relevant federal and state policies have evolved since the 1980s in these two contexts. This chapter considers integration to be the process by which immigrants identify with the receiving country (RC) and their previous contexts, provided that the RC is supportive and accepting. The goal of integration is less inequality along ethnic or cultural lines. By analyzing policies in terms of immigrant students’ identity formation and conceptions of equality, this chapter argues that the evolution of such policies in Berlin and California has not always been linear. Moreover, while both states consider diversity to be positive, their policies do not extend to facilitating a new culture that productively operationalizes the diversity of immigrant and non-immigrant students.

Six million Iraqis were displaced during the Iraq-Daesh War, and although many have returned to their communities, there remain approximately 1.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country. Today, approximately 25% of IDP children in Iraq are out of school (REACH, 2020). This study foregrounds the voices and family histories of IDPs when navigating educational access and makes a methodological argument for the need for increased qualitative research in post-conflict settings. Using the conceptual framework of navigation, the author presents displaced persons as agentic, dynamic people with lived histories, present realities, and imagined futures which inform their journey through the education system. Semi-structured interviews with 16 IDPs who identified as parents or caregivers were conducted virtually. Displaced Iraqis value education for different reasons, ranging from basic literacy to employment to societal improvement. In doing so, the author challenges the barrier-dominant framework through which IDP educational access is often understood and nuanced with a temporal lens which requires us to identify IDPs as (1) persons capable of making choices for themselves, (2) givers as well as receivers, and (3) persons who aspire to goals beyond basic survival.