Poster #169 - Addressing the Academic, Social, and Emotional Needs of Refugee Students In Schools: A Qualitative Metasynthesis

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

In recent years, schools in Canada, have seen an increase in the numbers of refugee students . Approximately 45% of refugees coming to Canada are under the age of 18 years. Higher proportion of refugees in Canada are children and youth when compared with all immigrants in Canada and Canada’s total population (Stats Canada, 2017). This is not unique to Canada. Many other countries are experiencing an increase in the number of school-age students who are refugees. The number of persons displaced worldwide for reasons relating to natural disasters, war, violations of human rights, conflict, fear of persecution, or violence has increased in 2016, from 33.9 million to 65.6 million in just two decades (UNHCR, 2016). According to the 2016 United Nations Global Trends report, 51% of individuals who are classified and living as refugees are children. One of many challenges that educators, peers, and community members face is how to best welcome these diverse populations into their classrooms and how to meet the academic, social, and emotional need of these children given their often complex needs (Unger & Liebenburg, 2013). Students who are refugees bring many strengths and assets that enhance the schooling experience for all students. However many also bring challenges unique to their life experiences as refugees. Even the most experienced educators and mental health professionals often acknowledge feeling unprepared to address the unique needs of this new group of students in our schools. Understanding not only the ways to most effectively meet the needs of the students in their classrooms but also learning culturally responsive approaches to working with the students and engaging their families in an education system that is new to both the students and their families is an area of practice where many educators are asking for more support. As a first step in our consultation efforts with local school districts with high numbers of students who are refugees we conducted a systematic review of the literature to better understand the features of programs that support the academic, social, and emotional needs of students who are refugees. As much of the literature in this area is qualitative or mixed methods we conducted a meta-synthesis. Qualitative meta-synthesis is an intentional and coherent approach to analyzing data across qualitative studies allowing the researcher to combine qualitative evidence to address research questions (Erwin, Brotherson, & Summers, 2011). Our review is currently underway and will be completed in the fall of 2018. Psychology and Education data bases including ERIC, PsycINFO, and Dissertation Abstracts were the primary sources of the review. Procedures outlined by Noblitt and Hare (1988) and Sandelowski and Barroso (2007) guided the research. At present over 100 studies meeting the initial search criteria have been identified. These articles will be narrowed in the next few months. In this poster presentation we will highlight the key elements of educational programs successful in meeting the 1) academic and 2) social-emotional needs of students who are refugees using an inductive constant comparative approach.

Authors

• Julie White, University of British Columbia
  Presenting Author

• Laurie Ford, University of British Columbia
  Non-Presenting Author