Access to education for refugee children has been long identified as a global problem. According to global statistics in 2017, 3.7 million refugee children are out of school, while 61% of refugee children were enrolled in primary school, and only 23% of students enrolled in secondary schools (UNESCO, 2019).  Situation is even worse in countries with the highest number of refugees such as Turkey, Pakistan, Uganda, and Lebanon (UNESCO, 2019). As one of these countries in Europe, Turkey currently hosts more than 4 million refugees and asylum seekers and 1.2 million of them are children at school age. According to the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), out of these 1.2 million children, over 420 thousand of them are not part of formal education (MEB, 2021).

Studies indicate that language issues, economic difficulties, reluctance of some families to send their children to Turkish schools, inadequate school conditions, the scarcity of qualified educational personnel, inappropriate curriculum, and lack of guidance and counseling services for these students are among the barriers regarding refugee children’s lack of access to formal education (Şeker & Sirkeci, 2015; Aydın & Kaya, 2017, Bölükbaş, 2016; Human Rights Watch, 2015). Several other studies examined the situation of refugee children in Turkey focusing mainly on the students who were in the formal education system, and showed that refugee students face several individual, and systemic challenges regarding their educational experiences. Language has been reported as the most important issue both by the students and teachers as a barrier for education and communication (Karaağaç & Güvenç, 2019; Şeker & Sirkeci, 2015; Uzun & Bütün, 2016; Yüce, 2018; Uyanık, 2019), while discrimination and exclusion due to ethnicity have been reported to be major problems (Akdeniz, 2018; Yüce, 2018) as well as peer bullying, using physical violence (Uyanık, 2019). We have evidence that many children, who have never been to school or have been out of school for several years, need special support in re-adjustment to their educational environment (UNICEF, 2021).

Our review yielded no study examining the needs and challenges of the refugee children who have been excluded from formal education. In this context, it is important to determine the needs and concerns of the refugee children out of formal education and investigate the circumstances of the programmes trying to reach out to these children. The Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) which is implemented in collaboration with the MoNE, General Directorate of Lifelong Learning and UNICEF is one of the projects that targets the refugee children out of education aged between 10 and 18. It has been implemented in 75 Public Education Centers (PECs) covering 12 provinces since 2018. All students registered to ALP receive intensive Turkish Language Courses (TLC) as well. Successful students receive equivalency certificates accredited from MoNE that allow them to integrate into the formal education system (MEB, 2021). However, the low success of students in obtaining the equivalent of transition to formal education may be due to many different personal, social and economic factors. It is very important to carry out additional studies to reveal these factors and, if possible, to eliminate them.

Based on this context, we designed this study having two aims in mind: (1) determining the educational, social and psychological needs of refugee children who have been excluded from formal education in Turkey, and (2) investigating the needs and challenges of the educational personnel who work closely with the refugee children in the ALP project. We believe the experiences of the educational personnel in this project can guide us in providing a comprehensive framework of the needs and challenges of the refugee children out of education.

We adopted a qualitative research design based on interviews (single and focus-groups) to evaluate and analyze the problem in all aspects (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998) and to understand “the lived experience of these people and the meaning they make of that experience” (Seidman, 2006, p. 9). We will collect data through in-depth single interviews and focus groups with the administrators, teachers, and guidance counselors who work in the ALP project. We aim to interview 25 administrators, 25 teachers, and 25 psychological counselors from 75 Public Education Centers in 12 provinces in Turkey. Interviewees were selected through qualitative purposeful sampling which is based on the purpose of the study or criterion specified (non-probability) rather than random (probability) sampling. Purposeful sampling focuses on selecting information rich cases and key informants (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Patton, 2002). Patton (2002) defines information rich cases as “those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the inquiry” (p. 230). In this study, snowball/chain sampling method (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Patton, 2002) was applied in order to locate and select the participants. We try to make sure that we have participants from each province and more participants from İstanbul, İzmir, Hatay, and Gaziantep parallel to the number of the PECs. Focus groups include participants from all three groups of administrators, teachers and guidance counselors. Approvals from the Ethics Committee and MoNE were received before starting the study. Within the framework of the human subject protection plan, informed consent was gained from all study participants. Deception was not utilized, and informants were openly and clearly informed about the study. Informants were also provided with the right to decline participation at any time during the research process and the right to decline audio recording. Furthermore, the researchers assured participants about privacy and confidentiality at all times. Permissions were taken from informants to use direct quotes. Two data collection forms were developed, one for in-depth interviews and one for focus groups which brings together all three personnel groups. Due to distance, interviews are planned as online interviews, and audio recordings of the interviews have been taken. Up to now, we conducted 10 in-depth interviews with teachers and guidance counselors, and we plan to finish data collection in the next two months. For data analysis we have been using MAXQDA. We are following an inductive approach for data analysis.

Our preliminary analysis of the first 10 interviews with the education personnel yielded the following themes: Reasons for students to be out of formal education: Students’ lack of Turkish language, poverty, their families’ disregard for education and coeducation of boys and girls are the primary reasons for refugee children’s being out of formal education. Participants also stated that boys usually need to work to support their family economically. They also stated that families do not want girls to go to school due to religious and cultural reasons. Educational, social, and psychological needs of refugee children: The refugee children do not enjoy their childhood. They need to be accepted, trauma-focused psychological help, socialization, and a life outside of school and home. Participants also emphasized that these children need to be freed from responsibilities that are not appropriate for their age, such as making money, raising their siblings, and taking care of the house. Student-related difficulties experienced in the program: Participants revealed that disobeying the rules, behavioral problems, oppositional disorder, harmful habits (smoking, hookah, drugs), pranks, unwillingness to learn, and reluctance are the student related difficulties. Characteristics of the students who were successful and got equivalence: These children were ambitious and resilient, they were the younger ones, and their family care about and support their education. Their economic situation was good, they had a working father or brother, and there was someone in their family who had education/career. Educational, social and psychological help families might need: Participants suggested that families need economic support, language training and trauma focused psychological help. Besides they might also need training on communication skills, adolescent development, sexual health, life, laws, rights, and opportunities in Turkey. We believe our findings will contribute to discussion on the situation of refugee children both at the policy level and practice level.

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