Research questions

This study focuses on main aspects of the pedagogical encounter between teachers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents in introductory non-formal classes within the frame of a non-governmental organization (NGO) in a Greek island.

This NGO offers housing to about 100 hundred unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents as well as introductory non-formal teaching in a number of subjects as Greek and English language, mathematics, music and art. The students are from different countries for instance, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia and Morocco.

Specifically the research questions concern:

-       Which are teachers’ main pedagogical and didactical challenges and concerns in this context?

-       How do teachers approach the unaccompanied asylum-seeking students’ heterogeneity in introductory non-formal classes?

-       How do the unaccompanied asylum-seeking students experience the pedagogical encounter with their introductory non-formal classes? Which are their main challenges and concerns?

Theoretical background

Research on the education of newly arrived refugee students is limited and mainly descriptive aiming at evaluating best practices (Nilsson Folke, 2017). Several researchers have emphasized the importance of a holistic model of addressing the refugee students’ social, emotional and learning needs (Arnot & Pinson, 2010). Moral issues such as a welcoming environment without racism (Candappa, 2019; Rutter, 2006), a caring ethos and giving of hope (Taylor & Sindhu, 2012), engagement in education Christie & Sidhu, 2006) and even compassion (Pinson, Arnot & Candappa, 2010) are signified. Devine (2009) have highlighted how the friendships that the refugee students develop at school are crucial for the sense of regularity and belonging. Specifically, during extended transition time that intensifies uncertainty and vulnerability (Dånge, 2022).

This study connects to the holistic approach highlighted by the referred previous research and investigates an unsearched area, the non-formal forms of education of unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents within the framework of an NGO in Greece. Although the educational activities of NGOs concern a transitory period, they are of great importance, as it is the first offer to unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents to be involved in an organised learning environment during a demanding, usually long period, of waiting for the outcome of asylum-seeking.

Method Interviews with nine Greek teachers and one volunteer American professor as well as three group interviews with 15 unaccompanied asylum-seeking students have been conducted. Contextual analysis was used to analyze the material (Svensson, 2020; Svensson & Doumas, 2013). Contextual analysis is based on approaching phenomena rather than defining them beforehand. In this study the phenomenon under consideration is the pedagogical encounter between teachers and unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents in introductory non-formal classes within the frame of a NGO in a Greek island. This approach involves two sides; one side is the analytic of delimitation of the whole of a phenomenon and of its parts and the other side is the contextual of discerning and delimiting this whole and the parts in and as dependent of their contexts. The delimitation and interpretation of the parts had to be made on the base of their referential meaning, in relation to the context from which they were brought out, as the same wordings may have different meaning in different contexts. Thus, the delimitation of the phenomenon is analytic and contextual at the same time. After multiple readings, those parts within each interview that were relevant to the investigation were identified and marked. After systematic comparisons between the participants’ accounts, similarities and differences were discerned that constituted the basis for the delimitation and description of the phenomenon under investigation. The outcome of contextual analysis is relatively short descriptions in the form of categories or themes that represent the character (the content and the form) of the investigated phenomenon.

Results The following types of pedagogical encounter were identified after the analysis of the interviews: The “school” as the bridge between depressing privacy and community learning life and The “school” as double-sided open window. Besides students’ main concern was characterized by the category Uncertainty and vacuum. The “school” as the bridge between depressing privacy and community learning life refers to teachers’ pedagogical and didactical approach as a continuous discovery of and adjustment of the lessons to the students’ needs, creating communities of friendship through common goals and giving hope. The “school” as double-sided open window refers to teachers’ pedagogical and didactical approach as existential acceptance of the students’ personhood, engagement in the pedagogical relation and even love as the ground for all actors’ openness to the joy and challenge of the cultural dialogue. Uncertainty and vacuum refers to students’ experience of a position in a frieze of life, waiting for long procedures with uncertain outcome. Significance This study pay attention to ethical aspects of teachers’ pedagogical didactical challenges in specific contexts of non-formal education within the frame of NGOs. This field is the first pedagogical encounter of the unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents and crucial for their mental, emotional and intellectual balance and development while waiting for the outcome of demanding decision procedures.

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