The present paper aims to explore the potential benefits of implementing feminist pedagogy in a refugee education setting in Greece through a feminist, intersectional approach. More specifically, it seeks to explore how feminist pedagogy can be of use in a forced migration education context, in which trauma is often a major concern, as students have usually experienced or are continuing to experience traumatic situations due to displacement. I argue that feminist pedagogy, a liberatory pedagogy grounded in feminist thought and theory (Bostow et al., 2015; Crabtree et al., 2009; Weiler, 1991), aligns with many of the aims of refugee education and education in times of crises, such as that of helping teachers deal with trauma in the classroom, and of assisting students to develop resilience and overcome trauma.

The presentation draws on the author’s doctoral study, which examined the obstacles and opportunities of implementing a feminist pedagogy approach in the refugee education context, as well as its reception by teachers and students. The study focuses on the Greek border-island of Leros, where data collection took place at a school for children of refugee background.

The research project arose from the need to explore a more culturally and linguistically sensitive pedagogy for teaching students of refugee background, one which would take into account the vital factors of gender, ethnicity, religion, and their intersection in the classroom. The main over-arching question which I sought out to investigate was the following: Is the ground ready for a feminist pedagogy approach in refugee education in the Greek context? Drawing from this, three subsidiary questions arose:

• Firstly, what are the obstacles in implementing feminist pedagogy in the Greek refugee education context?
• Secondly, what are the opportunities for such an approach?
• And thirdly, how do teachers and students perceive of these obstacles and opportunities?

This presentation will focus on one of the opportunities for feminist pedagogy to be of benefit in a refugee education setting, that of its potential to help teachers and students deal with trauma and develop resilience. I suggest that feminist pedagogy’s attentiveness to the emotions and lived experiences of students (Boler, 1999; Bostow et al., 2015; Fisher, 1987; Hooks, 2003; Paechter, 1998), its focus on teaching as a practice of love, care, and connection (Hooks, 2003; McArthur & Lane, 2019; Morley, 1998), as well as its deconstruction of traditional power dynamics in the classroom (Morley, 1998), are all factors which complement the aim of refugee education to help students heal from trauma, foster resilience, and generate hope.  

The project followed a feminist qualitative research methodology and was informed by feminist research epistemology (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2007). Feminist epistemology and methodology provide an explicit attention to reflexivity and awareness of positionality (Harding, 2004; Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2007; Yoshihara, 2017), which enabled me to navigate complex methodological and ethical dilemmas throughout my twofold role as teacher and researcher, and to address issues of power and positionality which arose while doing research in a forced migration context. The data collection took place during an eight-month stay on the island of Leros, Greece, where I worked as an English language teacher at a school for refugee students aged 6-16 and integrated the practice and praxis of feminist pedagogy in my own lessons. The following tools of data collection were employed i) semi-structured interviews with eight educators and two managers working in refugee education, ii) classroom discussions with two students attending the school on Leros (based on selected lesson plans informed by feminist pedagogy), as well as iii) the keeping of my own researcher diary. The data was analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2021) reflexive thematic analysis framework, and produced the three over-arching themes of “Gender as a difficult and complex construct”, “Trauma as present, but not defining” and “Culture/language as barriers”.

This presentation will focus on exploring the theme of “Trauma as present, but not defining”, drawing more particularly on some of its subthemes, titled “There is a fine line”, “The healing aspect of education” and “Connection”. While the interviews with the educators and managers demonstrated their fear around trauma and emotions and the sensitivity of navigating trauma in the classroom, as indicated in subtheme “There is a fine line”, the analysis of the data also pointed to the existence of multiple opportunities for feminist pedagogy to assist educators in handling trauma and emotions in the classroom. Firstly, the educator and managers’ belief that education should assume a healing role, as explored in subtheme “The healing aspect of education”, ties in with feminist pedagogy’s attention to emotions and their integration in the classroom. Secondly, the emphasis that the staff place on human connection and on developing trust with the students, as discussed in subtheme “Connection”, is also linked to feminist pedagogy’s view of education as an act of love and care and its attention to the concept of “community”. Finally, acknowledging that teachers do not need to know all the “right” answers and that through active listening they can help students in their healing process is related to feminist pedagogy’s view that the role of the teacher is not that of an all-knowing authority. The study’s findings therefore point to the immense value that a feminist pedagogy based on love and care, which integrates emotions, lived experiences and relationships can have in contexts of education in crisis, such as that of forced migration. While trauma is indeed present in these contexts and cannot be ignored, feminist pedagogy provides hope for the future through its commitment to fostering the students’ resilience.

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