Barriers to young Syrian refugees' participation in postprimary education: an investigation in South East Europe

This qualitative study investigates how the participation of young Syrian refugees (11-16 years) in post-primary education can be promoted, by identifying micro-, meso- and macro-level barriers
and opportunities relating to the individual, their family and community, and host society immigration and education policy. It takes a participatory-ethnographic approach which allows children to become co-constructors of knowledge and agents of change in their own communities.
The research questions are thus:
1. What are the micro-, meso- and macro-level barriers affecting the participation of young refugees (aged 11-16 years) in post-primary education in the camps and host societies of Greece and/or Turkey (specific region to be decided)?
2. What intersections can be identified in terms of geography, educational context, immigration status, policy, language, community, religion and gender which might impact on participation?
3. How do refugees conceptualise (barriers to) education in camps and local communities?
This empirical study will take an innovative participatory-ethnographic approach to investigating the lived experiences of young refugees' educational participation. This allows for immersion of the
researcher within the setting while enabling participants to transform their own communities (Cheney, 2011). The specific methods are:
1. Critical analysis of national education and immigration policy documents. This is considered to be not only the discursive analysis of texts, but also a disentanglement of their power relations and a reflection on their placement within the broader historical, social, cultural, economic and political context (Taylor, 1997). This data will indicate macro-level constraints and inform subsequent interviews and focus group discussions.
2. Semi-structured interviews (20) with stakeholders such as NGOs, community and religious groups, education authorities, camp education managers and school principals, to identify
meso-level barriers in the community and educational setting.
3. Focus groups with 40 children (11-16 years), their parents and teachers in camps and public schools to analyse access to and perceptions of education at the micro-level. Creative visual methodology will also be employed with the children, to provide in-depth information, reduce barriers to understanding and allow children to become co-constructors of knowledge (Kleine, Pearson & Poveda, 2016; Literat, 2013).