There is a common agreement among researchers, educational practitioners, state representatives and others that education plays a crucial role in facilitating the inclusion of both refugee children and adults into the host society (see i.e. Ager and Strang 2008; Heckmann 2008; UNHCR 2007; Szente, Hoot and Taylor 2006; Rutter 2003; Salinas and Müller 1999). According to the current Czech legislation all children regardless of their nationality and legal status have the right to attend elementary schools on the Czech territory and at the same time in accordance with the trends of inclusive education, which however, have begun to be discussed only recently, also to attend a regular school which will provide them with adequate and quality support. 

However, in order for refugee children to enjoy their full right to education, several conditions require to be met. These are based on the rights embedded in several conventions on human rights and also the specific situation in the Czech Republic and they are:

1. equal educational opportunities in a mainstream physically accessible setting (‘non-discrimination and physical access’  in International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights)
2. appropriate curriculum and methodology in delivering it (‘acceptability and adaptability’ ibid.)
3. possibility of informed decisions by parents/family including the child (‘the best interest of the child’  in Convention on the Rights of the Child)
4. counselling and assessment services should be available to them
5. parental involvement (‘school-community/home links’ in UNHCR Education Strategy 2010-2012)

In 2008 the Czech Republic joint the global resettlement efforts and resettled a group of Burmese refugees from Malaysia. They were nine families, six of them having children of school age, who became the participants of a small-scale qualitative study, together with the eight elementary schools educating the children. 

The research task was defined as mapping the educational practices in relation to a group of refugee children arriving in the Czech Republic as part of a pilot resettlement programme, who, it was hypothesised, would clearly encounter some barriers to education. The research questions were, below, framed to take into account not only the refugee children’s attendance at Czech schools, but also the previously listed required conditions to full access to, participation in and derived benefit from the education provided. 

1. Do refugee children (and their parents) have access to pedagogical counselling and assessment services?
2. According to which assessment parameters are refugee children allocated to specific classes/years/schools?
3. What are the support programmes run by schools/public and private sector?
4. What is the role of language training in the school attendance of refugee children?
5. What is the role refugee parents play in the school life?

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