​​Exploring Educational Pathways for Overage Afghan Young Adult Learners

• In Event: Reimagining Inclusive Education in Refugee Contexts: Pathways, Praxis, and Participation

Proposal

This paper investigates the educational trajectories of overage young adult learners with Afghan backgrounds who have resettled in Northern Virginia following conflict and displacement. While global scholarship on refugee education has highlighted the acute needs of school-aged children in emergencies, considerably less attention has been directed toward those who arrive beyond the conventional age of secondary schooling, a demographic situated at the margins of both youth and adult education systems (de Wal Pastoor, 2020). These learners, typically between the ages of 18 and 25, face systemic exclusion: they are deemed “too old” to complete high school within established timelines (as they “age out”), yet they remain poorly served by adult education structures designed for mid-career or older adults (Wardale, 2021).

The study draws on the integration framework and a socio-cultural approach to examine the educational pathways of overage Afghan learners. The integration framework highlights the structural and institutional mechanisms that regulate immigrant/refugee learners’ access to education (Ager & Strang, 2008; Strang & Ager, 2010). Policies such as age caps, program eligibility requirements, and rigid graduation criteria shape not only who is permitted to participate in schooling but also how opportunity itself is defined. From this perspective, the barriers Afghan learners encounter cannot be reduced to individual shortcomings; rather, they reflect the effects of inflexible institutional arrangements and policy design. By contrast, the socio-cultural approach emphasizes that learning is not only cognitive but also relational, highlighting how social relations, cultural identities, and dynamics of belonging shape academic engagement (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1978). Family responsibilities, peer networks, community expectations, and migration histories all shape the ways in which learners engage with schooling (Massing et al., 2025; Miller et al., 2024). Taken together, these frameworks illuminate the structural-relational tension between exclusion and the pursuit of belonging, demonstrating how the experiences/effects of conflict and forced migration reverberate through both institutional policy and everyday experience (Strang & Quinn, 2021).

Adopting a community-based participatory research design, this project is conducted in close collaboration with a local, nonprofit organization and a public school. Community partners are engaged throughout the analytic process to ensure contextual accuracy and cultural relevance. We draw on 15 interviews with Afghan young adults (aged 18–25) and five interviews with key stakeholders (e.g., educators, community partners, etc.). Preliminary findings suggest that current educational models are ill-suited to the needs of overage Afghan learners. GED programs, for instance, demand advanced English proficiency and create extended delays for students with interrupted schooling experiences. Without transitional or age-appropriate alternatives, learners frequently disengage, leading to higher dropout rates. Equally significant is the role of belonging: participants describe discomfort when placed alongside much younger peers, diminishing educational persistence and motivation. Early findings reveal two consistent themes: first, rigid program rules generate service gaps that leave Afghan-background learners without meaningful options; and, second, learners consistently report a sense of unbelonging, which undermines retention and accelerates withdrawal from the program.

The study makes three principal contributions. First, it foregrounds a population that is largely overlooked in policy and scholarship: young adults displaced by conflict who fall outside standard age-based educational categories. Second, it advances theoretical debates by integrating structural and socio-cultural perspectives to show how exclusionary policies and social belonging are interdependent. Third, it bridges the gap between scholarship and practice by employing a participatory methodology that co-produces findings with learners and their communities.

By combining integration and socio-cultural frameworks with a CBPR approach, this study illuminates the lived realities of a marginalized population while contributing to international debates on refugee education and post-conflict adaptation and to this year’s theme, Re-Examining Education and Peace in a Divided World. Ultimately, this paper calls for designing adaptive, inclusive, and culturally responsive educational pathways for overage learners, which is essential to advancing equity, belonging, and social cohesion in contexts of conflict and emergency.

Authors

• Jihae Cha, The George Washington University

• Ayla Deniz, Ankara University

• Abigail Martin