Do training programmes for teachers ease the integration of refugee children?

CPC-CG Member, Professor Jackie Wahba, collaborated with Professor Michael Vlassopoulos and Professor Semih Tumen on a new Population Europe policy insight, entitled ‘Do training programmes for teachers ease the integration of refugee children?’.

The study team have found that better preparation of teachers to face the multidimensional challenges in diverse educational settings could substantially improve the effectiveness of refugee integration policies.

They studied a larger-scale teacher training programme in Turkey, designed to facilitate the educational integration of Syrian refugee children, using rich administrative micro-level data encompassing the universe of primary and secondary schools in two Turkish provinces (Gaziantep and Sanliurfa). They found that the training led to a significant reduction in refugee students’ school absenteeism, almost halving the absenteeism gap between native and refugee students, as well as a significant improvement in the grades of refugee students in Turkish language and Math subjects.

Teachers are among the most powerful actors to effectively tackle integration challenges in educational settings. The analysis suggests that host countries are potentially underinvesting in programs aiming to equip teachers with the necessary skills to address the needs of refugee students.

However, there are several chronic problems in many host countries related to teachers’ capacity to address refugee students’ needs – e.g., language and communication skills, and other complementary skills related to teachers’ professional development, such as teaching minorities, basic counselling, relationship with parents, intra-class conflict resolution, and classroom management in diverse environments.

Read the full policy insight here.

Posted 22/09/2023 10:30