The Survivors: Syrian Young Adult Refugee Experiences Navigating the Quebec Education System
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.41201Keywords:
Syrian young adult refugees, academic integration, systemic barriers, adult education, educational fairness and inclusion, social justiceAbstract
Canada resettled over 74,000 Syrian refugees since 2015. However, education programs lack awareness needed to successfully promote refugee academic integration. Little research focuses on young adult refugees (YARs) aged out of traditional schools due to asylum displacement and disrupted education, left with adult education schools as their only alternative to complete high school. Drawing upon 29 semi-structured interviews with Syrian YARs in Montreal, findings suggest that this subgroup is unintentionally excluded by educational policy-makers. Although YARs are survivors, their drive was found to be insufficient when confronted with systemic barriers that prevent at-risk students from proceeding smoothly through school to reach their highest potential.
Metrics
References
Adhabi, E. A. R., & Anozie, C. B. I. (2017). Literature review for the type of interview in qualitative research. International Journal of Education, 9(3), 86–97. https://doi.org/10.5296/ije.v9i3.11483
Ahmadzadeh, H., Çorabatır, M., Husseini, J. A., Hashem, L., & Wahby, S. (2014, September). Ensuring quality education for young refugees from Syria—Mapping exercise on quality education for young refugees from Syria (12–25 years). Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. https://www.unhcr.org/584698257.pdf
Al Hessan, M., Bengtsson, S., & Kohlenberger, J. (2016). Understanding the Syrian educational system in a context of crisis (Vienna Institute of Demography Working Paper no. 09/2016). Austrian Academy of Sciences. https://www.oeaw.ac.at/fileadmin/subsites/Institute/VID/PDF/Publications/Working_Papers/WP2016_09.pdf
Alhmidi, M. (2020, December 16). How 45,000 Syrian refugees are building new lives after five years in Canada. Open Canada. https://opencanada.org/protected/
Alisic, E. (2012). Teachers’ perspectives on providing support to children after trauma: A qualitative study. School Psychology Quarterly, 27(1), 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028590
Anyon, J. (2014). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203092965
Arnett, J. J., & Tanner, J. L. (Eds.). (2006). Emerging adults in America: Coming of age in the 21st century. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/11381-000
Baffoe, M. (2006). Navigating two worlds: Culture and cultural adaptation of tmmigrant and refugee youth in a Quebec (Canadian) educational context [Doctoral thesis, School of Social Work and Department of Integrated Studies in Education]. eScholarship@McGill. https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/bg257j90w
Birman, D., Batia, K., Ho, J., & Everson, M. L. (2005). Mental health interventions for refugee children in resettlement (White Paper II). National Child Traumatic Stress Network. https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/mental_health_interventions_refugee_children_resettlement.pdf
Blanchet-Cohen, N., Denov, M., Sarah, F., & Bilotta, N. (2017). The nexus of war, resettlement, and education: War-affected youth’s perspectives and responses to the Quebec education system. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 60, 160–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2017.04.016
Bonet, S. W. (2016). Why refugee resettlement isn’t enough. Anthropology News, 57(5), e24–e25. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-3502.2016.570513.x
Borselli, M., & van Meijl, T. (2021). Linking migration aspirations to integration prospects: The experience of Syrian refugees in Sweden. Journal of Refugee Studies, 34(1), 579–595. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feaa043
Britton, A., Schweisfurth, M., & Slade, B. (2018). Of myths and monitoring: Learner-centred education as a political project in Scotland. Comparative Education, 55(1), 30–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2018.1541667
Buccitelli, A., & Denov, M. (2019). Addressing marginality and exclusion: The resettlement experiences of war-affected young people in Quebec, Canada. Children, 6(2), Article 18. https://doi.org/10.3390/children6020018
Cabrera, N. L. (2018). Where is the racial theory in critical race theory? A constructive criticism of the crits. The Review of Higher Education, 42(1), 209–233. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2018.0038
Cornish, F., Gillespie, A., & Zittoun, T. (2014). Collaborative analysis of qualitative data. In U. Flick (Ed.), The Sage handbook of qualitative data analysis (pp. 79–93). Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446282243
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
Crenshaw, K. W., Delgado, R., Matsuda, M. J., & Lawrence, C. R. (1993). Introduction. In M. J. Matsuda, C. R. Lawrence, R. Delgado, & K. W. Crenshaw (Eds.), Words that wound: Critical race theory, assaultive speech, and the First Amendment (pp. 1–15). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429502941-1
de Haas, H. (2011, April). The determinants of international migration: Conceptualising policy, origin and destination effects (Working Paper no. 32). International Migration Institute. https://www.migrationinstitute.org/publications/wp-32-11
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Direction de l’éducation des adultes et de l’action communautaire. (2009). Frame of reference: Complementary educational services in adult general education. http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/site_web/documents/dpse/educ_adulte_action_comm/ComplementaryEducationalServices.pdf
Ducass, I. (2018, September 27). Des cours de francisation jugés inefficaces. La Presse. https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/politique-quebecoise/201809/26/01-5198122-des-cours-de-francisation-juges-inefficaces.php
Fazel, M., & Stein, A. (2002). The mental health of refugee children. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 87(5), 366–370. https://doi.org/10.1136/adc.87.5.366
Feuerherm, E. M., & Ramanathan, V. (Eds.). (2015). Refugee resettlement in the United States: Language, policies, pedagogies. Multilingual Matters.
Ficarra, J. (2017). Comparative international approaches to better understanding and supporting refugee learners. Issues in Teacher Education, 26(1), 73–85. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1139319
Flynn, S., Brown, J., Johnson, A., & Rodger, S. (2011). Barriers to education for the marginalized adult learner. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 57(1), 43–58. https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v57i1.55454
Ghosh, R., Sherab, D., Calderon-Moya, M., & Maraj, A. (2022). Adult education as a site for integration? Experiences of Syrian refugee young adults in Quebec. In K. Monkman & A. Frkovich (Eds.), Belonging in changingeducational spaces: Negotiating global, transnational, and neoliberal dynamics (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003219033
Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom (2nd ed.). Heinemann.
Gillborn, D., & Ladson-Billings, G. (2020). Critical race theory. In P. Atkinson, S. Delamont, A. Cernat, J. W. Sakshaug, & R. A. Williams (Eds.), SAGE research methods foundations. Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036764633
Hos, R. (2016). Caring is not enough: Teachers’ enactment of ethical care for adolescent students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) in a newcomer classroom. Education and Urban Society, 48(5), 479–503. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124514536440
Hou, F., & Beiser, M. (2006). Learning the language of a new country: A ten‐year study of English acquisition by South‐East Asian refugees in Canada. International Migration, 44(1), 135–165. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.2006.00358.x
Hou, F., & Bonikowska, A. (2016, April 25). Educational and labour market outcomes of childhood immigrants by admission class (Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series). Statistics Canada. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/11F0019M2016377
Human Rights Watch. (2020). Letter to European Commission re: Access to secondary education for Syrian refugee children. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/18/letter-european-commission-re-access-secondary-education-syrian-refugee-children
Jowett, N., Silvius, R., Ahmed, A., & DePape, N. (2020, February). Supported transitions: Effective educational approaches for older refugee youth with interrupted schooling. http://hdl.handle.net/10222/79586
Kalata, N. (2021, March 15). Syrian refugees reflect on a decade of war and their new lives in the Toronto area. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/syrian-refugees-]reflect-on-a-decade-of-war-and-their-new-lives-in-the-toronto-area-1.5947946
Kanu, Y. (2008). Educational needs and barriers for African refugee students in Manitoba. Canadian Journal of Education, 31(4), 915–940. https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/3027
Karakaşoğlu, Y., Mecheril, P., Ohm, V., Sellenriek, J., & Yarar, B. (2022). Between recognition and devaluation—Implications of refugee students’ and exiled scholars’ experiences in universities in Germany (AbIB-Arbeitspapier 2/2022). https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/1496
Kia-Keating, M., & Ellis, B. H. (2007). Belonging and connection to school in resettlement: Young refugees, school belonging, and psychosocial adjustment. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12(1), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910450707105
Klarenbeek, L. M. (2019). Reconceptualising “integration as a two-way process.” Migration Studies, 9(3), 902–921. https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnz033
Kolstad, K. (2018, April 26). Accessing education in the midst of the Syria crisis. Norwegian Refugee Council. https://www.nrc.no/news/2018/april/accessing-education-in-the-midst-of-the-syria-crisis/
Kyriakides, C., Bajjali, L.,McLuhan, A., & Anderson, K. (2018). Beyond refuge: Contested orientalism and persons of self-rescue. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 50(2), 59–78. https://doi.org/10.1353/ces.2018.0015
Lukes, M. M. (2011). Push-outs, shut-outs and hold-outs: Educational aspirations, abstract attitudes and experiences of Latino immigrant second chance learners in New York City [Doctoral dissertation, New York University].
Lukes, M. M. (2015). Latino immigrant youth and interrupted schooling: Dropouts, dreamers and alternative pathways to college. Multilingual Matters.
MacKay, T., & Tavares, T. (2005). Building hope: Appropriate programming for adolescent and young adult newcomers of war-affected backgrounds and Manitoba schools: A preliminary report for consultation and discussion. Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth.
MacNevin, J. (2012). Learning the way: Teaching and learning with and for youth from refugee backgrounds on Prince Edward Island. Canadian Journal of Education, 35(3), 48–63. https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/1074
Maraj, A., Calderón-Moya, M., Sherab, D., & Ghosh, R. (2022). Reflecting on the experiences of Syrian refugee young adults in adult education in Quebec: The practitioners’ perspective. Journal for Continuing and Adult Education, 29(1), 233–254. https://doi.org/10.1177/14779714221089362
McAndrew, M. (2001). Immigration et diversité à l'école. Le débat québécois dans une perspective comparative. Presses de l’Université de Montréal. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv69t78n
McWilliams, J. A., & Bonet, S. W. (2016). Continuums of precarity: Refugee youth transitions in American high schools. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 35(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/02601370.2016.1164468
Morrice, L., Tipp L. K., Brown, R., & Collyer, M. (2020). Resettled refugee youth and education: Aspiration and reality. Journal of Youth Studies, 23(3), 388–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2019.1612047
Perkins, J. (2021, January 27). 5 years in, Syrian refugees say it’s been hard but they are adjusting to Montreal. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-syrian-refugees-five-years-1.5889989
Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2008). Nursing research, Generating, and assessing evidence for nursing practice (8th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Potvin, M., Armand, F., Ouellet, C., Voyer, B., Steinbach, M. J., & Vatz, M. (2014). Les jeunes de 16–24 ans issus de l'immigration à l'éducation des adultes: cheminement, processus de classements et orientation scolaires [Young people aged 16–24 from immigrant backgrounds in adult education: Progress, classification process and educational orientation]. Fonds de recherche de Québec—Société et culture. http://www.frqsc.gouv.qc.ca/documents/11326/449044/PRS_PotvinM_rapport_16-24ans.pdf/4a2f15bc-4843-4a51-8e99-dea135d6243a
Ratković, S., Kovacevic, D., Brewer, C. A., Ellis, C., Ahmed, N., & Baptiste-Brady, J. (2017). Supporting refugee students in Canada: Building on what we have learned in the past 20 years. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. http://citiesofmigration.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Supporting-Refugee-Students-in-Canada-Full-Research-Report-1.pdf
Rousseau, C., Drapeau, A., Lacroix, L., Bagilishya, D., & Heusch, N. (2005). Evaluation of a classroom program of creative expression workshops for refugee and immigrant children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(2), 180–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00344.x
Rousseau, C., & Guzder, J. (2008). School-based prevention programs for refugee children. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics in North America, 17(3), 533–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2008.02.002
Said, E. (1995). Orientalism: Western concepts of the Orient. Penguin Books
Schneider, L. (2018). Access and aspirations: Syrian refugees’ experiences of entering higher education in Germany. Research in Comparative and International Education, 13(3), 457–478. https://doi.org/10.1177/174549991878476
Sen, A. (1985). Commodities and capabilities. North-Holland.
Shakya, Y. B., Guruge, S., Hynie, M., Akbari, A., Malik, M., Htoo, S., Khogali, A., Mona, S. A., Murtaza, R., & Alley, S. (2010). Aspirations for higher education among newcomer refugee youth in Toronto: Expectations, challenges, and strategies. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 27(2), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.34723
Statistics Canada. (2019, February 12). Results from the 2016 census: Syrian refugees who resettled in Canada in 2015 and 2016. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2019001/article/00001-eng.htm
Steinbach, M. (2010). Quand je sors d’accueil: Linguistic integration of immigrant adolescents in Quebec secondary schools. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 23(2), 95–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908311003786711
Steinbach, M., Vatz-Laaroussi, M., & Potvin, M. (2015). Accueillir des jeunes réfugiés en région : la formation générale aux adultes comme alternative scolaire ? [Welcoming young refugees in the region: General adult education as an educational alternative?]. Alterstice : revue internationale de la recherche interculturelle, 5(2), 99–108. https://www.journal.psy.ulaval.ca/ojs/index.php/ARIRI/article/view/Steinbach_Alterstice5%282%29
Stevenson, J., & Willott, J. (2007). The aspiration and access to higher education of teenage refugees in the UK. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 37(5), 671–687. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057920701582624
Stewart, M. A. (2017). “I love this book because that’s like me!”: A multilingual refugee/adolescent girl responds from her homeplace. International Multilingual Research Journal, 11(4), 239–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/19313152.2016.1246900
Sullivan, A. L., & Simonson, G. R. (2016). A systematic review of school-based social-emotional interventions for refugee and war-traumatized youth. Review of Educational Research, 86(2), 503–530. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654315609419
Tavares, T., & Slotin, I. (2012). Supporting student success in the classroom. Life after war: Education as a healing process for refugee and war affected children (pp. 40–54). Manitoba Education. https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/docs/support/law/full_doc.pdf
Thomas, E., & Magilvy, J. K. (2011). Qualitative rigor or research validity in qualitative research. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing,16(2), 151–155. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6155.2011.00283.x
Timm, M. (2016). The integration of refugees into the German education system: A stance for cultural pluralism and multicultural education. eJEP: eJournal of Education Policy (spec. iss. 2016), 1–8. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1158163
UNESCO. (2015). Education 2030: Incheon declaration and framework for action for the implementation of sustainable development goal 4. http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/education-2030-incheon-framework-for-action-implementation-of-sdg4-2016-en_2.pdf
UNESCO. (2016). Bridging learning gaps for youth: UNESCO education response to the Syria crisis (2015–2016). http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/PCPD/pdf/Bridging_Learning_Gaps_for_the_Youth.pdf
UNHCR. (2017, September). Child labour within the Syrian refugee response: A regional strategic framework for action. https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/5a74728d4.pdf
UNICEF. (2015, March). Curriculum, accreditation and certification for Syrian children in Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. https://www.unicef.org/mena/media/6751/file/Curriculum,%20Accreditation%20and%20Certification%20for%20Syrian%20Children_EN%20(UNICEF,%202015).pdf%20.pdf
van Heelsum, A. (2017). Aspirations and frustrations: Experiences of recent refugees in the Netherlands. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 40(13), 2137–2150. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1343486
Villate, A., & Marcotte, J. (2013). Le raccrochage scolaire au Québec : le discours de jeunes adultes québécois inscrits en centres d’éducation aux adultes [School re-entry in Quebec: The discourse of young adults in adult education centers]. L’orientation scolaire et professionnelle, 42(3). https://doi.org/10.4000/osp.4154
Vogel, C., & Schwikal, A. (2015). Bildungschancen für Geflüchtete. Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze beide Öffnungen von Hochschulen für Asylsuchende und Flüchtlinge [Educational opportunities for refugees: Challenges and approaches to opening up higher education institutions for asylum seekers and refugees]. https://d-nb.info/1078017239/34
Walker, J. (2022, September 8). Time to bring adult education out of the corner to better support the learning of all Canadians. Policy Options. https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/september-2022/time-to-bring-adult-education-out-of-the-corner-to-better-support-the-learning-of-all-canadians/
Wilkinson, L. (2002). Factors influending the academic success of refugee youth in Canada. Journal of Youth Studies, 5(2), 173–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676260220134430
Wong, C. W., Schweitzer, R. D., & Khawaja, N. G. (2018). Individual, pre-migration, and post-settlement factors in predicting academic success of adolescents from refugee backgrounds: A 12-month follow-up. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 19(4), 1095–1117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0589-6
Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 60–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/1361332052000341006
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Arianne Maraj, Domenique Sherab, Milagros Calderon-Moya, Ratna Ghosh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution. For general information on Creative Commons licences, visit the Creative Commons site. For the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, review the human readable summary.
