Pathways to Educational Success Among Refugees: Connecting Locally and Globally Situated Resources

Summary

This study identifies pathways to educational success for refugees. It examines the nature and content of supports that students identify as important. Refugee young people point to close relationships with family, friends, and teachers—both in-person and virtually—as providing critical motivation, mentorship, and academic support.

The findings suggest that both locally- and globally-situated relationships, mediated by technology, are critical to enabling refugee young people’s educational success.

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American Educational Research Journal cover, Pathways to educational success among refugees

Key Takeaways

We offer the following practical steps and actions based on this research below (click to expand).

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Citation (APA): Dryden-Peterson, S., Dahya, N., and Adelman, E. (2017). Pathways to educational success among refugees: Connecting locally and globally situated resources. American Educational Research Journal, 54(6), 1011-1047.

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Sarah Dryden-PetersonNovember 21, 2019Globalization, Conflict Transformation, Equity, Pedagogy, For Educators, For Researchers

INSIGHTS		ACTIONS
Supportive relationships enhance educational success for young people experiencing conflict, social instability, and a lack of equal educational opportunities. Whether local or global, these relationships are particularly important in moments where students face a fork in the road in their educational journeys.	➟	Invest in people who can provide support in times of decision or change, including periods of financial difficulty, transitions between grades, and the completion of secondary school. Facilitate access to female mentors who can help girls navigate schoolwork and domestic work.
Refugee young people are not solely reliant on international humanitarian aid structures for educational success. They access educationally important relationships in their communities and through support from diaspora.	➟	To meet educational needs, build on existing face-to-face and virtual relationships, both local and global.
Access to technology promotes supportive relationships that are critical to educational success in hard-to-reach areas. Virtual connections can enable access to the local and global supports refugee students need to pursue educational pathways.	➟	Use technology to expand possibilities for career guidance, mentoring, tutoring, and peer groups, especially in remote education settings.

INSIGHTS		ACTIONS
Refugee students reported that their most common sources of academic support are in their immediate environment: teachers, friends, and family members. Included in this support were virtual connections with people from their countries of origin who had migrated elsewhere.	➟	Strengthen students’ existing support networks in curricular and extracurricular activities. Leverage virtual relationships for educational success, especially for students who are physically isolated from needed supports in their local area.
70% of students noted academic support, such as guidance, tutoring, writing support, exam preparation, and course selection, as “extremely important” or “very important,” rising to 81% for those who had lived in a refugee camp for an extended time and 89% of women who lived in a refugee camp.	➟	Offer guidance, tutoring, writing support, exam preparation, and course selection support through check-ins with teachers, small groups, peer feedback, or projects supported by mentors.
Students cited career guidance, social support, and emotional support as the other virtual supports most critical to their educational success.	➟	Build a network of mentors and role models who meet with students in person or virtually. Include diaspora, who may share some experiences and identities, and expand students’ ecosystems of resources and relationships.