: Education in Perpetual Motion: Migration and the educational experiences and decision-making of Syrian young people in Lebanon

• In Event: Navigating an unknowable future: language of instruction, teacher obligations, and aspirations of refugee youth pursuing education within national education settings

Proposal

In this paper presentation, we develop a theory for the complex interplay between conflict, education, and migration. To do so, we analyze 88 interviews that we conducted with Syrian refugee students and Syrian and Lebanese teachers of refugees between 2014 and 2016. We examine how Syrian refugee students and teachers experience and explain migration decisions and the connection between those decisions and their views of and experiences with education. In particular, we examine a) how teachers and students understand and experience the structures and content of schooling, b) how these structures and content interact with conflict and migration dynamics, and c) how these educational experiences both shape and are shaped by their visions for the future and subsequent migration decisions. We find that education is an important factor that both forces and guides refugees’ decision-making about their migrations.
This study sheds light on four key dilemmas at the intersection of education, conflict, and migration:
• Refugees are simultaneously hoping to return to their countries of origin, preparing to migrate onward, and living each day in the place they are. We explore how refugee education best responds to the uncertainties of this unknowable future.
• Formal public education for refugees creates the expectation of integration within society. We explore how economic, social, and political experiences outside of school influence educational experiences and migration decisions.
• Refugees need language skills to pursue education in the present and to prepare for future education and employment. We explore refugees’ perceptions of language in the present and in the context of an unknowable future.
• In order to build a future, refugees need to understand politics and their own and others’ identities. We explore existing and aspired spaces for this learning within education in exile.
• Current and prospective educational opportunities in both home and exile countries may influence when, where and if, individuals fleeing conflict seek asylum. We explore migration as an option when quality educational opportunities are not available for refugees.

Author

• Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Harvard Graduate School of Education