Learning Diversity: A Case Study of Refugee Students in Primary School


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Alan Ü., Ersoy A., Alan B.

AB Destekli Diğer Projeler, 2019 - 2022

  • Proje Türü: AB Destekli Diğer Projeler
  • Başlama Tarihi: Ekim 2019
  • Bitiş Tarihi: Eylül 2022

Proje Özeti

A lot of people have been obliged to leave their country in order to escape across borders, fleeding the bombs and bullets. Over half of them are under the age of 18 and they

are in need of support to overcome the challenges and barriers they face in a foreign educational system. It is crucial to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all.

Besides this, teachers are in the need of skills to manage the diversity. Schools all over the Europe are welcoming increasing numbers of refugee children, so teachers and the

school environment are key in facilitating socialization and acculturation of refugee students. It is crucial to learn more about positive and innovative practices targeted to

refugee students. It really seemed that the educational system was in the need of professional improvement of participating teachers and

administrators by means of sharing experiences and good practices and supporting refugee students’ learning environment by applying shared strategies and practices.

In considering ways to help refugee students, ıt was aimed to provide detailed information about unique needs of refugee students, their obstacles to success, and the

interventions that are promising for overcoming the barriers that they face and good practices their teachers and administrators apply in order to support learning and –teaching

environment. Also, it was aimed to develop an innovative model including all good practices for successful integration of refugee students. The purpose of the model including

good practices is providing the possibility for teachers, decision makers, and wider public to learn more about positive and innovative practices targeted to refugees' support.

In accordance with purpose of the project, a published comprehensive model including good practices, challenges, limitations and suggestions was developed . In order to

suggest the comprehensive model, multicase studies were carried out at primary schools hosting refugees. In these multicase studies, interviews with refugee students,

teachers and administrators, observations in classroom and at school with document analysis were done to write a report on good practices applied in each school. In addition,

primary schools with refugee students were visited and intercultural festivals were organized at these schools.

The results of the project displayed a variety of inspirational initiatives, which can provide further ideas on how to adress a target group, or what methods to use when working

on refugee students' welcoming and integration. The project resulted in professional improvement of participating teachers and administrators by means of sharing experiences

and good practices and supporting refugee students’ learning environment by applying shared strategies and practices. The model of good practices was suggested to support

teachers and administrators of refugee students at local, national and EU level.

During festivals at schools playing music from the children's countries and decorating the room with pictures or items from their country also helped to create a welcoming familiar space. At the end of the project :

1. A comprehensive model of good practices for teachers and schools with refugee students was developed

2. eTwinning platform and the website of the project including downloadable resources (Sharing experiences, videos, documents, photos etc.) were established.

3. Dissemination materials were published and activities were planned in partner countries

4. Intercultural festivals at primary schools were organized

5. The research paper of each institution was written both in mother tongue and English.

6. The final report (E- book) was shared on the E-Twinning platform and on the website of the project.