Refugees in the Educational System: Views of Turk and Refugee Students

Abstract

One of the most important topics in the field of education is refugee education as a result of the rapid increase in refugee numbers in recent periods in Turkey. The aim of this research is to investigate opinions of refugees and Turkish students about education given to refugees in Turkey. The basic assumption of the study is that the characteristics and experiences of refugee students should be known and their peers' attitudes and behaviors towards refugees should be examined in order to ensure their active participation in academic processes and to be accepted in the school social environment. The participants of this study, in which the phenomenology design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was used, consists of a total of 60 students, 50 of whom are Turkish and 10 are refugees, who receive education in a state secondary school affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in the Altınordu district of Ordu province in the 2017-2018 academic year. Research data was obtained from refugee students in focus group interviews, while data were collected from a semi-structured interview during lesson time from other students. The obtained data were transferred to the MAXQDA 2020 qualitative analysis program, coded and analyzed. As a result of the research, refugee students stated that they were not accepted by their peers, which numerical and Arabic lessons rather than social studies lessons contributed to their adaptation to social life, that their teachers had a good approach to them, and that they saw Turkish language skills inadequacies as the basis of their problems. Turkish students, on the other hand, stated that they generally have negative thoughts about refugees, that teachers have a good approach towards their refugee friends, that the Social Studies course does not contribute to the integration of refugees into society, and that the problems related to school and society are caused by refugee students. For the social acceptance and academic success of refugees, it is recommended to conduct training on cultural adaptation, especially language education.