Individual teachers, teaching assistants, and other school staff have been identified as key players who are able to positively influence the educational experiences of young refugees and asylum seekers, creating places of sanctuary within often hostile wider environments. More generally, it is widely recognised that educators’ affective states – such as their beliefs and attitudes – play a critical role in the actions they take, their expectations for pupils, and the experiences and outcomes of these pupils. Little is known, however, about educators’ attitudes specifically towards refugee pupils. This study aimed to address this gap by exploring the following questions: 1) What are educators’ attitudes towards refugee pupils, and 2) How are these attitudes formed? The study is part of a larger project that explored educators’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices with refugee pupils in one local authority in England. It employed a mixed-methods approach, including a survey (n=295) of educators across the county and case studies of 17 educators at two schools. Results of the study show that participant educators had relatively positive attitudes towards refugee pupils. Survey educators scored higher on measures of positive attitudes than participants in previous studies and case study educators tended to emphasise the strengths of refugee pupils and the benefits that they conferred on their schools. Positive attitudes towards refugee pupils were associated with previous experience teaching refugee pupils. While the direction of causality could not be established, intergroup contact theory – the proposition that contact between different groups reduces prejudice between them – provides a theoretical and empirical basis for experience contributing to positive attitudes. Furthermore, school-level factors – events, ethos, leadership – were found to be important in forming educators’ positive attitudes. Such factors were, in turn, the work of individual educators – creating a ‘virtuous circle’ effect that developed positivity towards refugee pupils at both the school and individual levels. These findings have important implications for policy and practice. The case study schools in this study had extensive experience with refugee pupils and pupils with similar characteristics, but many schools in England do not. In order to ensure that all refugee pupils encounter positive, welcoming school environments, coordinated training and support for educators should be made available. Given the ‘virtuous circle’ effect between individual attitudes and school-level ethos and actions, there should be multiple levels and formats in which to provide support.

Aleghfeli, Y. K., & Hunt, L. (2022). Education of unaccompanied refugee minors in high-income countries: Risk and resilience factors. Educational Research Review, 35, 100433. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EDUREV.2022.100433 Allport, G. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Addison-Wesley. Baak, M. (2019). Schooling Displaced Syrian Students in Glasgow: Agents of Inclusion. In J. L. McBrien (Ed.), Educational Policies and Practices of English-Speaking Refugee Resettlement Countries. Brill Sense. Fang, Z. (1996). A review of research on teacher beliefs and practices. Educational Research, 38(1), 47–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013188960380104 Jussim, L., & Harber, K. D. (2005). Teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies: knowns and unknowns, resolved and unresolved controversies. Personality and Social Psychology Review : An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc, 9(2), 131–155. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0902_3 Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in intergroup contact theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35, 271–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.03.001