Refugee Education as a Sustained Global Priority: Trauma, Identity, and Language Across Time and Context

• In Event: Supporting Immigrant Communities, Refugees, and Girls: Promising Pedagogies and Programs

Abstract

Forced migration is a result of violent conflict, political upheaval, economic devastation, and natural disasters is ubiquitous. As a result, school-age youth simultaneously endure forced migration worldwide, yet the infrastructure and capacity to respond to refugee youth’s mental, physical, cognitive, and learning needs in formal educational systems and settings are largely inadequate and unsustainable. We frame this education crisis in terms of the intersection of trauma, identity, and language (TIDAL) experiences that vary across refugee youths’ migration journeys and contexts. Drawing on evidence from large-scale secondary sources, reported research, and qualitative interviews, results suggest that TIDAL continues to be a challenge both for refugee youth in schools as well as for teachers working with these youth. Specific variations are discussed.

Authors

• Alexander W. Wiseman, Texas Tech University

• Lisa Damaschke-Deitrick, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

• Maureen F. Park, Samuel Hall

• Adrienne Nenow, University of Connecticut Foundation, Inc.