Minority experiences in Quebec’s adult education system: perspectives of Syrian young adult refugees

• In Event: Exploring the Systemic Challenges and Opportunities for Inclusion

Proposal

Minority experiences in Quebec’s adult education system: perspectives of Syrian young adult refugees

Problem
Education is globally hailed as a panacea, yet there is limited progress toward educational equity for all learners (UNESCO, 2021). More attention needs to be focused on the marginalized and minoritized to strengthen, and manifest, the ideal of education as a basic right. Considering the continual global refugee crisis, concerns about equity have gained importance. For minority groups, such as refugees, to overcome obstacles to academic achievement and the challenges faced both, personally and socially, fair, and inclusive education is essential (Moskal, 2017). There is a growing understanding that education programs for refugee-background students fail to consider the specific challenges these youth face (AMSSA, 2018). Navigating the education system in their resettlement country is particularly difficult for young adult refugees (YAR) with disrupted education and financial worries (Hou & Bonikowska, 2016). These obstacles often create anxiety and hopelessness (MacKay & Tavares, 2005) and can lead to academic attrition (Blanchet-Cohen et al., 2017). Although there is an awareness of the difficulties YAR face resettling, there remains little research dedicated to this population and specifically to their progress within and through the adult education (AE) system.
Canada is globally known for its response to conflicts and worldwide disasters. An example of this is the resettlement of over 74,000 Syrian refugees between 2015 and 2019 (Alhmidi, 2020) with many settling in Quebec, Canada’s only French-speaking province. Education is a provincial responsibility; therefore, Quebec is responsible for the reception and integration of refugees in its communities. All newcomers, young and old, learn the local language through government-run programs: classe d’accueil and francisation. However, for many non-French-speaking immigrants, including YAR, linguistic challenges greatly add to integration difficulties (Ducass, 2018). A recent study by Ghosh et al. (2022) underscores a disjuncture between the basic skills Syrian YAR acquired in these integration language courses, and the standard skills needed in academic settings, higher education institutions included.
Moreover, our findings indicate that the culture of AE, including its independent pedagogical approach, is foreign to newcomers such as YAR. Furthermore, the onus to advance placed on the student alone does not serve this student population who desire more guidance and support to enable them to flourish. Indeed, such challenges can leave minorities vulnerable to failure. In addition, data reveals that knowledge of the provincial official language, scheduling issues, demotivating school environment, and lack of resources are the main constraints for Syrian students in AE centres. Our data also demonstrate that strategies and practices of the current AE framework in Quebec may be insufficient to properly enable Syrian YAR to thrive due to the limited preparation that language and culture immersion programs offer non-Francophone students in AE. Specifically, in this paper, we draw attention to the cultural and structural barriers that refugee students experience in AE which they perceive to be slowing down their progress toward their ultimate goals (whether academic or not). Although they sought support from family, friends, and supporting figures, rather than structured support services, Syrian YAR utilised intrinsic motivation and self-support in order to overcome the challenges faced in the AE system in Quebec.
Methodology
To understand the experiences of Syrian YAR students in the Quebec AE sector, our interdisciplinary team of four women conducted a qualitative study employing narrative inquiry. Data were collected from 10 in-depth semi-structured interviews and three group discussions with YAR in Montreal and Laval, Quebec, during 2019. All one-hour audio-recorded interviews conducted in English were transcribed and analysed thematically. Although the study is limited by the number of participants, the results, nonetheless, reflect the self-identified challenges that this minority population face, their perceived existing support, and their needs within and outside of school.
Theoretical Framework:
In contrast to liberal claims that education guarantees equality and fairness for all, critical research has pointed to the systemic malfunctioning of education institutions, structured to reproduce, and legitimize inequalities in society (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990; Orlowski, 2012). Education is not an equalizer. Critical Race Theory (CRT) raises questions about societal structures of oppression (Cabrera, 2018) resulting from elusive social and organized forces, which create incongruent educational outcomes for certain groups (Bell, 1995; Dei, 1996; Delgado & Stefancic, 2013). Marginalized groups are often thought of as socially deficient (Crenshaw, 1990). The refugee, therefore, is positioned in a passive role in contrast to their host (Said, 1995). However, CRT challenges this belief and, instead, focuses on their cultural wealth in various forms (Kyriakides et al., 2018). Cultural difference in students’ educational performance and life chances, considering intersections such as gender, race, mental health challenges, levels of income, class, and religion, is explained by CRT (Crenshaw, 1990, Crenshaw et al., 1993; Kyriakides et al., 2018; Yosso, 2005). The disparity of educational opportunities for minoritized students results in dropouts, failures, and exclusion of these side-lined communities (Anyon, 2014). As a theoretical framework, CRT clearly illustrates the implications of refugee demographics on school policies and practices and exposes the invisibility of difference within a system designed for a particular kind of student. Therefore, understanding the way racialization impacts the learning and educational needs of youth implies educators’ obligation to foster fairness in schools (Ianinska et al., 2013).
Significance:
Our paper draws attention to the cultural and structural barriers that Syrian YAR faces in AE, in Quebec. This research explores the lived experiences of refugee-background students, illustrating the impediments to educational progress and to reaching ultimate goals. The challenges faced by this minority group, and similar at-risk students, require the development of appropriate educational policies to support such students as they transition through the AE system. Our research reveals a more systemic problem for which strategies and practices may be insufficient to properly enable students to flourish within the current framework. For example, language courses do not offer the necessary preparation for academic studies. In short, because minorities, such as YAR, are subsumed into educational systems that have not sufficiently considered their learning experiences, needs, or desires, change must ensure that they thrive and not just survive.

Authors

• Arianne Maraj, McGill University

• Milagros Brenda Calderon-Moya, McGill University

• Ratna Ghosh, McGill University