The psychosocial needs of displaced Syrian refugee youth in Turkish schools: A qualitative study. (English)

The psychosocial needs of displaced Syrian refugee youth in Turkish schools: A qualitative study

The study investigates the challenges facing Syrian refugee youth (14-18 years) in 3 state secondary schools in Gaziantep, Turkish. It adopted a qualitative interpretive research methodology with 23 one-to-one semi-structured interviews with refugee school students, their parents, and the schools’ teachers and administrators. While the teachers and administrators interviewed tended to focus on language as the main reason lack of academic success amongst refugee youth, the students’ and their parents’ concerns related to the psychosocial traumas resulting from difficulties integrating into host schools and societies, the making new friendships, discrimination, rejection, and of course their experiences of displacement. The schools included in the study are under pressure from local authorities to deliver their curricula with little or no concessions, or support (financial or other) to allow the schools to help integrate Syrian refugee youth and bring in specialists to support their psychosocial needs.

Keywords: Acculturation, Psycho-social needs, Refugee education, Syrian students.