What are the educational needs and experiences of asylum-seeking and refugee children, including those who are unaccompanied, with a particular focus on inclusion? - A literature review

Abstract

In a context of mass displacement and flows of asylum-seeking and refugee peoples across national borders, the need to respond and attend to the education of asylum-seeking and refugee children is urgent and pressing, though it is not without its challenges. This literature review focuses on the educational experiences of asylum seeking and refugee children, including those who are unaccompanied, with a particular focus on inclusion. It seeks to respond to the following three interconnected questions: 1. What does current educational literature tell us about the educational needs and experiences of asylumseeking and refugee children as they relate to inclusion? 2. What does current educational literature tell us about the educational needs and experiences of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children as they relate to inclusion? 3. What implications and recommendations can be drawn from existing literature? The review has a particular interest in the needs and experiences of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children, but recognises that though there is a developing literature specifically on unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children (see, for example, Stanley, 2001; Derluyn and Broekaert, 2008; Pastoor, 2015) such needs must be understood and positioned in relation to the wider educational needs and experiences of asylum seeking and refugee children more generally. While other literature reviews on asylum-seeking and refugee children are available (see, for example, Hek, 2005; McBrien, 2005), the present review adds to existing work by: • including an explicit focus on the educational needs and experiences of asylum-seeking and refugee children who are unaccompanied; • providing an up-to-date review of literature which analyses and reports the educational needs and experiences of asylum-seeking and refugee children. The review focuses in particular on post-migration experiences within school settings as they relate to asylum seeking and refugee children’s social inclusion