How does integrated education affect refugee lives? Perspectives of Syrian refugee families in Jordan

• In Event: A focus on wellbeing and resilience: Teacher and student experiences in challenging contexts

Proposal

This research explores how the environment and experiences at integrated schools can affect refugee children and their families. Since the average length for refugee population to achieve durable solutions is estimated to be 20 years, it is urgent to find a way for refugee children to access stable and quality education at their place of refuge. Now that the majority of refugee population lives as independent households in host community, it is not easy to provide them with refugee-specific education like they were used to receive in refugee camps. With this context, integrating refugee students to local public schools in host countries has been principle strategy to provide them with education. Integrated schools are expected to promote improvement of refugees’ school enrollment with less cost as well as reconciliation between refugee and host communities. According to UNICEF MENA Regional Office (2015), however, it is indicated that integrated schools promote only integration but not inclusion, and refugees’ identity are largely ignored at those schools. Bellino and Dryden-Peterson (2019) pointed out that refugee students were only able to integrate to the socially marginalized community of the host country through integrated education since the majority of them reside in marginalized area. These studies imply that there are two faces on integrated education: Although it could integrate refugee children to the host community, it possibly deprives them from their original identity as well as leave them in a socially marginalized position. More empirical studies that explore the effect of integrated education on refugee children and their families are required so we can provide better educational solutions for their predicaments.
Syria has produced the largest refugee population since the conflict erupted in 2011. 14 million people were forcibly displaced and still reside away from home, and 6.5 million people are refugees among them. Although the majority of Syrian refugees hope to repatriate, only 1% plan the repatriation in the next 12 months. Most of Syrian refugees are not willing to go back to “post-war but no-peace” Syria, and they are trapped in the place of refuge.
The data collection for this research was conducted in February to March 2020. The researcher visited 21 independent Syrian households in Amman, Jordan. 49 school-aged children and youth in primary to university levels, and their 24 parents were interviewed.
There are two types of integrated schools in Amman: one is single-shift schools that teaches Jordanian and Syrian students together in the same classrooms, and the other is double-shift schools that basically accepts Jordanian students in the morning which is called Jordanian shift, and Syrians in the evening which is called Syrian shift. Twenty respondents of this research were enrolled in single-shift schools while twenty-one respondents were in Syrian shift of double-shift schools. However, none of the respondents including those currently enrolled in Syrian shift told they wanted to enroll in Syrian shift. The main reason was the low quality of teaching. One of the students described the difference between single-shift school and Syrian shift: “The teachers at the single-shift school were more experienced and followed what the students did.” A mother pointed out that “In single-shift schools, teachers were good but (Jordanian) students were not good. They criticized my kids for being refugees. In Syrian shift, students were good, but the teachers were not good.” Many of the respondents admitted that the atmosphere among students at Syrian shift were better than single-shift schools because they share their backgrounds and sympathize to the experiences of each other. However, they are the people enthusiastic for education struggling to obtain the access to better education and prioritize the quality of teaching rather than the feeling of solidarity shared with other refugees.
While Syrian families maintain a strong passion for education, Jordanian students are always given priority in public education system of Jordan. Even under the integration policy, Syrian students in Syrian shift are explicitly divided from Jordanian students. They are set to use the school building in the evening after Jordanian students, and taught by temporary teachers different from those who teach Jordanian students. This settings effects how Syrian families evaluate the education in Syrian shift, and they recognize it as marginalized education project operated for refugees. One of the Syrian mothers mentioned “we don’t have a right to complain or speak up because we are just refugees in here.” The integration policy in Jordan enables Syrian refugee children to enroll in public schools and acquire certificate. Even though preparing a Syrian shift was a large stretch of educational capital, Jordanian government was generous enough and tolerates to undertake the responsibility to provide Syrian children with educational access in collaboration with international agencies. However, dividing Syrian students from Jordanian students under the same school building and providing education perceived as low quality not only reinforces the discrimination towards refugees, but also have a negative effect on self-perception of refugee families. At single-shift schools, most of the current students and their families showed their satisfaction with the quality of education provided. Many of Syrian students made friends with Jordanian classmates at school and some of them told they get along with Jordanian peers more than Syrians. A university student, however, mentioned that he feels closer to his Jordanian friends rather than Syrian friends, but “I cannot live a life like Jordanians.” His self-perception as a member of socially marginalized group did not change after years of integrated schooling and reconciliating with Jordanian peers. The role of educational integration remains limited in situations where refugee rights are socially restricted.
This research is biased to Syrian refugees’ point of view, and further work are required to obtain objective insight into actual situation at schools and perceptions from Jordanian teachers and students. However, it revealed another negative aspect of integrated education and suggested the urgent importance of improving the quality, not just quantity, of education provided to refugees.

Author

• Kaoru Ghalawinji-Yamamoto, Sophia University