The right to education of children has been internationally recognised, yet still, the current reality of education for forced migrants is constrained by the country they find themselves in. Considering education as the basis of every society, access to quality education remains a global challenge and is approached differently in countries of transit compared to destination countries. This paper highlights the experiences of educators in Croatia as country of transit and the identities of young Syrian forced migrants in England as destination country. We explore the narratives of the educators and young refugees to discuss the implications of transit vs destination on the education of refugee children. In this paper we examine the education for refugees in Croatia through the lens of school educators in order to find out the impact of the migration status on the inclusion in practice. Croatia has encountered migrations just in recent years and is trying to find a way to cope with the new situation. Being both transit and destination country, Croatia faces some challenges while including refugee children in its schools (Bužinkić, 2017). Different perspectives inside schools have been investigated as educators face challenges while including refugee children in schools. Educational practitioners are challenged by the uncertainty about children's settlement status, highlighting that refugee children and their families’ view of Croatia as transit country influences children's attendance, attitude and performance in school. In contrast, England is a country with an extensive history of migration and integrating children of migrants in schools (McIntyre and Abrams, 2021). We discuss the situation of refugee education in England through the voices of young Syrian refugees. The narratives of the young people form a trail of their migration and a self-development journey. The young people involved in this research are resettled in England after living in a transit country. Even though they are not granted permanent legal status in the UK upon arrival, young people considered England a new home. Making sense of the narratives of the young Syrian refugees through Holland et al. ‘s (1998) self-authoring and positional identity concepts, we argue that a hybrid identity emerges. It is through this hybrid identity they experience the social cultural world finding their own way to embrace England as the destination. Only an inclusive education system that overlooks the legal status of children and focuses on their present education needs will address the challenges of educating young people on the move (Hatt, 2007). By accepting that young people’s identities are everchanging and continuously influenced by the social cultural worlds around them, we can begin to comprehend the complexity of the education of migrants. 

The qualitative data for this paper comes from teachers and headteachers in Croatian primary schools, and from resettled Syrian refugees aged 11 to 18 in England. In England, 16 young people were involved, and in Croatia, 12 educational practitioners. Our attempts to carry out the interviews in the native language (Croatian and Arabic) and in a safe familiar space aimed to mitigated against the power dynamic issues in interviews. We gained access in England through volunteering with the local authority, charity and participating in community led events. As for Croatia, it was a part of the broader research project. The ethics guidelines of the British Educational Research Association were followed throughout the research with special considerations to the age and circumstances of young, resettled refuges involved. Narratives were generated in collaboration with the participants through interviews. Acknowledging the role of the researcher and that interviews can feel unnatural, the use of narrative as a method allowed participants to take control of the conversation. Narrative research views reality as a construct of the individuals experiencing it. This method honours participants’ individuality and empowers them by giving them the freedom to share their life stories on their terms. The stories and narratives gathered emphasise the inclusivity and credibility of this method as participants engage in conversations about their lives in a more revealing and multi-layered way (Bauer & McAdams, 2004). Focusing on narratives as a way ‘to meet psychological needs’ (Gibbs, 2008, p.60) has helped in all the interviews, particularly with the young people discussing incidents of family member loss, bullying and humiliation. Telling their stories helped bring some order to their lives by attempting to shape their narratives through their experiences, even the sensitive and traumatic ones. They hopefully benefited from being listened to and some found cathartic comfort in speaking about their lives and the challenges they faced and overcame.

Education is identified to be one of the basic needs of young people, whether in transit or destination country. While this seems, theoretically, to make education or schooling appealing for all, their expectation from education varies based on many factors, including the transit/destination condition. The analysis is still ongoing and the preliminary findings show that once young people can identify with the social cultural world around them regardless of their legal status, they can truly begin to feel at home. As for educators, the challenge of a constant movement goes way beyond the education system itself but has a significant impact on it. The uncertainty about whether a child will stay in the country influences not only its attitude towards school but also parents' willingness to cooperate. However, despite all the challenges that transit brings, educators believe that every child should be supported in the same way and provided with quality education. We hope that we can contribute to a wider understanding of the role of education for young migrants and move toward aglobal awareness of the predicaments of forced migration.

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