Uncertainties shaping parental educational decisions: The case of Syrian refugee children in Turkey

Abstract

Around a million school-aged minors from Syria have been living in Turkey with temporary protection status over an unanticipated extended period. This prolonged temporariness leads to uncertainties and unpredictabilities for Syrian families regarding how long they will be staying in Turkey. Drawing on 17 interviews with Syrian mothers and 3 couples, this study examined the ways in which uncertainties shaped parental decisions on minors' education. The findings indicated that uncertainties played a key role in shaping the educational decisions of Syrian parents, particularly in their children's Turkish language acquisition and educational performance. This study not only fills the gap in understanding the effects of uncertainties in parental educational decisions emanated from a prolonged temporariness, but also argues that living in an uncertain context causes hurdles in language acquisition which has major educational and social consequences for children.

Parental uncertainty in plans and education of Ukrainian refugee children in European countries.

“…Regarding migrants, the leading reason to leave their home country, the dominant motive in the vast majority, is the best job and economic basis (Karaagac D, Bilecen B. and Veenstra R., 2022). As a rule, migrants may return home if necessary.…”

“…Their children can learn the language in advance of moving.In the case of refugees, parents leaving the country did not have the opportunity to prepare in advance for the upcoming hostilities, learn the language of the host country in advance, help their children learn the language of the host, and, as a rule, the rst months and even years are forced to deal more with issues of priority life support (Hahn, E. and others, 2019). As a rule, refugee parents, in any case, very clearly understand the importance of education for their children (Karaagac D, Bilecen B. and Veenstra R., 2022). However, they have to choose a strategy that takes into account several options for the development of events at the same time.…”

Parental uncertainty in plans and education of ukrainian refugee children in European countries: a pilot study introduction

“…The main and most significant problem for these children is the lack of language skills, which creates conditions for the deterioration of school performance, as well as isolation and retardation in the creation of social ties and contacts [3,4]. The main reason for migrants to leave their home country is the economic basis [5]. As a rule, migrants can return home if necessary.…”

How various adaptation schemes in the education systems of European countries affect the inclusion of refugee children from Ukraine in their educational system.

“…Researchers point to uncertainty in the plans of persons who received temporary asylum in Turkey, which signi cantly worsened the adaptation processes of children in schools (Karaagac D., Bilecen B., Veenstra R., 2022). The main reasons that worsen adaptation are the lack of material support in the host states, work permits, lack of housing, living in camps, and often even the lack of access to water and electricity, which forced parents to send their children to work uno cially (Crul, M., Lelie, F., Biner, Ö. et al 2019, Şafak-Ayvazoğlu A., Kunuroglu F., Kutlay Yağmur K., 2021.…”

“…A signi cant barrier is a need for knowledge of the host country's language. Even with the right to work, the state of uncertainty and incomprehensible status did not stimulate parents and, as a result, children to learn the language of the host country, in particular Turkish, which made it di cult for children to adapt to school (Karaagac D., Bilecen B., Veenstra R., 2022). Therefore children are not fully included in the education system and even those children who, due to their age, could quickly learn the language.…”