This paper addresses the experiences of youth among socalled quota refugees in Iceland. These are refugees who are are invited to Iceland by the government and settle in various municipalities in the country. Before the refugees arrive, decisions regarding from which countries refugees arrive are made in cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR). Each municipality prepares for the arrival of the families assigned to its area. Following a medical examination, the children start school. This is normally a few weeks after arrival (Icelandic Red Cross, n.d.). The refugees are granted health services, courses in Icelandic, courses on Icelandic society, first (L1) language teaching where possible, leisure activities, services of interpreters, assistance in finding jobs and other necessary services. The numbers of refugees have multiplied in recent years and many have travelled far in their search for security and peace. Altogether 778 socalled quota refugees have resettled in Iceland in the past decades, from 1956 to 2019 (Government of Iceland, n.d.). There was a delay in receiving quota refugees in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic and few refugees came to the country during these years, but groups are expected to resettle in Iceland again from 2022. 

In 2015-2019, most of the refugees were from Syria. In 2016 a group of fifty-six Syrian quota refugees arrived in Iceland from Lebanon and settled in three municipalities; altogether ten families, comprising twenty adults and thirty-six children (Icelandic Red Cross, 2016). A study (Ragnarsdóttir & Rafik Hama, 2018) was conducted in 2016-2017 which aimed to understand the experiences of these adults and their children in their school settings in the three municipalities, and opportunities and challenges which they faced in the schools and society. 

In this paper we revisit some of the families in the study to explore how their now grown-up children, youth in upper secondary schools and universties have experienced their education and integration in Icelandic society since their arrival, and what have been the opportunities and challenges they have faced during this time.

Our main research question is: 

• What are the refugee youth‘s experiences of education and integration in Iceland during the first five years?

Sub-questions are:

• What are the opportunities and challenges that the youth have experienced in their educational process, e.g. moving from compulsory to upper secondary and university level?
• How do they describe their interactions with their peers, their sense of belonging or experiences of inclusion or exclusion?
• How do they see their racial/ethnic, gender, religious, socioeconomic and/or cultural identities affecting their education and transition between education levels?
• What are their educational expectations for the future?

The theoretical framework of the study includes critical approaches to education and integration to a new society (May & Sleeter, 2010; Nieto, 2010). These approaches provide an important framework with which to critically address the societal and educational experiences of the refugee youth and they suggest improvements. Writings on the wellbeing of refugees are also consulted (Rousseau, Measham, & Nadeau, 2012; Ziaian et al., 2012). The study also draws on theories of contact zones and safe houses/spaces (Pratt, 1991, 2007) which provide an understading of these refugee youth‘s participation and distancing in cultural, linguistic and religious encounters. An important direction of contact zones and safe spaces in education should be the acceptance of diverse races, histories and other identity makers (Pratt, 2007). Strayhorn (2012) elaborates the core characteristics of sense of beloning within higher education, that it is relational. He further indicates the influence of belonging and ownership on students´ persistence and academic achievement (Strayhorn, 2012).

This is a qualitative interview study. A qualitative, in-depth approach was chosen to conduct the research and to understand the experiences and views of the participants (Denzin, Lincoln & Smith, 2008; Flick, 2006). Methods of data collection include eight semi-structured interviews with the refugee youth (age 17- 25) as well as their written reflections on their experiences. We apply a narrative approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of the youth‘s experiences. Semi-structured interviews were chosen to collect data as they are considered one way of establishing respectful relationships with participants in close proximity to them and obtaining in-depth data (Kvale, 2007). Semi-structured interview guides were developed before the interviews. However, during the interviews, the researchers carefully provided both time and flexibility to allow the participants to talk freely about issues of their choice that were not covered in the interview guides In this research, establishing respectful relationships according to culturally responsive methodologies (Berryman, SooHoo & Nevin, 2013) with participants from the beginning was prioritized. An Arabic speaking co-researcher, herself a refugee and therefore familiar with the experiences of resettling established contact with the refugee youth. Although Icelandic or English were the main languages of the interviews, the youth had the opportunity to speak in Arabic if they needed to explain some issues further. The emphasis in all interviews was on creating an environment of trust and gaining in-depth data. All the participants in the study are of Syrian nationality and stated Arabic as their first language. The project followed the general ethical practices for research involving humans: respect of the rights, interests and dignity of the participants and related persons (Kvale, 2007). The Icelandic Data Protection Authority was informed of the research, and it was carried out in accordance with the University of Iceland Scientific Ethical Guidelines (2014). An informed consent form was developed in Arabic and presented to the participants. Their anonymity was ensured, and their decisions on language and location of the interviews were respected during the entire study period. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The qualitative procedures of content analysis were applied for analysing the interviews, including coding and constant comparison of data (Flick, 2006). The researchers read and re-read the transcripts. First, codes were developed and then the researchers discussed the codes and developed main themes based on these codes. The interviews that were conducted in Arabic were transcribed in Arabic.

While the findings in the study from 2016-2017 indicated that most of the children were doing well both academically and socially in their first months in the schools, the children and families also experienced a number of challenges. These included the illiteracy of some of the children and families and interrupted schooling of the children before arriving in Iceland, hidden traumas among the children, lack of information flow and differences in norms, values, languages, and expectations between the schools and homes. The parents expressed their loss of social networks and family, structural discrimination and loss of role and status. In this study we will add in-depth information about the experiences of education and integration of the youth in these families during the first five years of their lives in Iceland. Although the number of participants is limited, this in-depth qualitative study will shed light on the opportunities and challenges which the young people have experienced in Icelandic society, upper secondary and university education since their arrival in Iceland five years ago. The study focuses on different areas such as refugee youth‘s sense of belonging, inclusion and exclusion, different aspects of identities, opportunities and challenges that lays the groundwork for further exploration.

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