Proceedings of The 8th International Conference on Research in Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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The Unheard Voices of Syrian Refugee Students: Understanding Syrian Secondary School Children’s Educational and Learning Needs in Scotland
Halima Ferhah
ABSTRACT:
While students from refugee backgrounds bring a variety of new cultural and linguistic perspectives to the classroom, they can still face challenges learning a new language and adjusting to the school culture (Choi, 2018). The main objective of this PhD research project is to study the educational experiences of Syrian students in Scotland whose ages range between 11 to 16 years old and explore the difficulties that they may face whilst learning in multicultural settings. This study aims to identify the ways in which schools can successfully integrate them and help them overcome the challenges that they may face in the school, as well as to determine the steps and procedures to be taken in order to create an inclusive environment for all students, optimise the learning performance of those who may need additional support and to ensure that this group of students have access to equitable education and are given tailored linguistic support and socio-emotional learning guidance when being exposed to a new language, a different culture and a completely different learning experience. Participatory action research design was used to attain the aims of this research and answer the research questions. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, and classroom observation. The combination of these research instruments enabled me to gain insights about students’ educational concerns and their learning needs. The gathered data revealed that Syrian children have concerns about the teaching of same-sex education at school, they also faced language and cultural barriers, social isolation, and pedagogy issues.
keywords: : Refugee children’s education, learning needs, inclusive education, language and cultural barriers, English language learning and teaching