Language, Teaching and Pedagogy for Refugee Education

Enakshi Sengupta, Patrick Blessinger

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781787439382
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Teoria e pratica della didattica

This volume is focused on the core areas of imparting education to the refugee population and highlights the recent developments intended to meet an urgent need: that of the refugees who have no or very little previous schooling and who are in need of both language learning and furthering their studies for higher education.
This book is designed to provide recognition to those who are working relentlessly towards imparting education to vulnerable people and giving them the tools they need to help withstand and recover from the effects of conflict and displacement. The chapters in this book speaks about some exemplary work done by individuals and institutions from Africa to Germany.

PART I

SEEKING HIGHER EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE, TEACHING, AND PEDAGOGY FOR REFUGEE EDUCATION

Enakshi Sengupta and Patrick Blessinger

ABSTRACT

Research conducted on refugees and their learning abilities has generally been myopic in nature, highlighting only the challenges and barriers faced, and less focus has been given to the enormous work and achievements accomplished both by non-profit bodies, educational institutions, and refugees themselves. Research has been conducted in the past where learning has been studied from a psychological perspective, as opposed to drawing on the learner theory. Refugees and asylum seekers have been lumped together as a homogenous group, and studies of single language groups have made conclusions that may not apply to others. This chapter, which serves as the introductory chapter to the book, speaks about the inflow of refugees and the growing need of education for an entire generation displaced from their home countries. The chapter highlights educational access, policies, and the importance of language learning. The last section of this chapter is dedicated to present an overview of the chapters in this book which speaks about some exemplary work done by individuals and institutions from Africa to Germany.

Keywords: Migrants; trafficking; multilateralism; students; language requirement; young learners

INTRODUCTION

Displacement tracking matrix flow monitoring data have shown in recent days that an estimated 30,971 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe between January and April 2018, using different sea and land routes. Although this represents a 39% decrease when compared to the 50,400 registered in the same period in 2017, the picture still looks very grim. More than half of the migrants and refugees registered this year arrived in Greece (14,352). Italian authorities reported that 9,467 migrants and refugees who attempted to cross the Central Mediterranean in unsafe dinghy boats were rescued and brought to Sicily and coastal areas in the South of Italy. Another 6,690 individuals arrived in Spain through the Western Mediterranean route. The remaining 462 migrants and refugees were registered in Bulgaria and Cyprus. Most of the refugees are using smuggled routes and availing the help of human traffickers from Libya (International Organization for Migration [IOM], 2018)

Burdened with the number of existing refugees who arrived in 2017, Europe has been overwhelmed with the flow of migrants again this year and a row has deepened among countries to share the burden of the inflow of refugees. We have witnessed in the recent past the growth of far-right political parties that have refused to house the refugees. Italy has canceled a meeting with France amid a growing diplomatic row over a refugee ship that Rome refused to accept. French President Emmanuel Macron severely criticized the Italian government’s refusal, calling them insensitive and irresponsible for having denied entry to the rescue ship containing a number of hapless people seeking refuge. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, known for his anti-immigrant sentiments, agreed on the need to curb uncontrolled migration and crack down on people trafficking. Italy did not take President Macron’s criticism well and has now challenged France to take in the refugees it promised under a European Union (EU) agreement and has counter accused France of turning back 10,000 migrants at Italy’s northern border. Italian far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that France had committed to accepting 9,816 refugees under a 2015 scheme, but it had accepted only 640 in three years (The Australian, June 14, 2018).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing crisis at home and among her neighboring countries due to her policy to accept refugees in Germany. Addressing her parliament, she mentioned that the migration crisis could become the “make-or-break one for the EU.” She urged the politicians to manage it and she implores that the people in Africa will still believe that people in Europe and especially Germany are guided by values and believe in multilateralism and not unilateralism. The rest of the world she said will be looking up to the European nations for help and not stop believing in them and in the system of values that has made Europe so strong in the past (Meredith, June 28, 2018, CNBC). While countries are battling out as to who will shoulder the burden of the refugees how and where does it leave those who have walked on foot for days, swam across nation not knowing whether they will survive, fleeing persecution and impending death in their home country.

THE CURRENT SCENARIO

The current wave of displacement is having a choking effect on nations. More than 65 million people around the world have been forced to flee their homes. Although more than 40 million have sought shelter within their own countries and are now referred as internally displaced people or IDPs, more than 22 million others are seeking new lives as refugees, in neighboring countries or have traveled far, crossing nations and rough terrain to seek refuge in European nations. Although half of all displaced people currently come from just three countries (Syria, Afghanistan, and Somalia), the responsibility for this growing crisis is, nonetheless, a global one, requiring nations and organizations, including educational institutions at all levels, to work together to address the growing problem. The refugee crisis will not go away on its own. The problem will presumably continue to worsen if not addressed in a globally collaborative way (Blessinger & Sengupta, 2017).

The IDPs are more likely to seek protection in cities and among the host communities, rather than in refugee camps. Housing the refugees or the IDPs in the cities or the outskirts has significant consequences for the local authorities who are responsible for meeting their protection and assistance needs. The integration of refugees and IDPs is a task that can be confusing and complex. It is a dynamic and multifaceted process, which requires constructive efforts by all willing parties, including a state of mind on the part of the refugees that will help them to adapt and accept the host society without having to sacrifice their own cultural identity. On the other hand, it also needs a readiness on the part of host communities and public institutions to welcome refugees without prejudice and meet the needs of a diverse population (Sengupta & Blessinger, 2018). The displaced require access to social services in the medium-to-long term. Short-term emergency measures of housing, food, and medical care are not a sustainable means to provide education, skills training, psychosocial support, or health care. In the long term, these refugees will have to be given the right to earn a sustainable livelihood and have to be provided with security without the threat of eviction or impending deportation. These facilities have to be accomplished within an urban context, where there may already be pressure on labor and housing markets as well as social services. Scarcity of resources and fear of losing their jobs to the freshly arrived refugees lead to tension between established residents and new arrivals. Welcoming refugees who arrive spontaneously, or increasing the number of refugee resettlement slots, are political decisions for national leaders, which at times are made without taking into consideration the sentiments of those who are residing in those towns. Balancing the moral duty and responding to a humanitarian catastrophe with the needs and wishes of existing constituents is complex, and increasingly so at a time of rising ethnic nationalism in Europe and other parts of the world.

Popular attitudes toward refugees are also problematized by the views possessed by politicians and media. For every positive narrative, we hear horrific accounts of cases of xenophobia and violence against refugees, often generated by misinformation and lack of cultural understanding. Such unfortunate incidents can be avoided by the outreach potential and communication skills of local authorities where refugees are hosted and by raising awareness of why refugees need safety, security, and compassion to help host communities prepare for new arrivals (Brand & Earle, 2018).

The situation is not confined to Europe or the Middle East alone. Southeast Asia has seen a similar story with the rise of Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Risking death by sea or on foot, nearly 700,000 Muslim minorities have fled the destruction of their homes and persecution in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar (Burma) for neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017 (BBC News, 2018).

Housed in make-shift tents and with the advent of monsoon, the Rohingya refugee camps of Cox’s Bazar face the risk of water-borne disease among the inhabitants of the congested bases. So far, health authorities have found 873 Rohingya patients suffering from acute watery diarrhea, doubling the number every week. Authorities in Bangladesh are working around the clock to undertake urgent steps to face the emergencies: 169 medical centers equipped with doctors and medical staff are providing treatment to the Rohingyas and even that is not enough to combat such a medical crisis (Sumon, 2018).

Similar stories are repeated in the other half of the world where thousands of Ukrainians, who have fled war in their own country and are now living in make-shift homes and even hotels as refugees on the borders of Eastern Europe. Their destiny remains overlooked and unknown as their plight remains to be highlighted by politicians and the media. Western parts of Ukraine have become home to several thousand refugees, who have fled the armed conflict in Donbas (Cincurova, 2015).

EDUCATIONAL ACCESS

Faced with a choice between complete dependence, isolation, humiliation, indignity, and a bleak future, the refugee population is struggling to meet their basic needs. In their struggle, the need for education is losing its priority and this may result in one of the biggest disasters in human civilization, resulting in an entire generation who are barely literate. As refugee children get older, the problem of accommodating them in schools in host countries becomes bigger. Only 23% of refugee adolescents are enrolled in secondary school, compared to 84% globally. The picture is even worse in low-income countries, which host 28% of the world’s refugees. The number in secondary education is disturbingly low in these countries, amounting to only 9% as offering education to refugee students is not their immediate priority (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2016). The plight of refugee girls remains all the more disadvantaged with very few of them enrolling in primary schools. The number dwindles in secondary schools with fewer than seven refugee girls for every 10 refugee boys (UNHCR, 2016).

In order to find a working solution to the problem, politicians, diplomats, officials, and activists from around the world have gathered from time to time, trying to create a path for addressing the plight of the ever-increasing number of refugees. The outcome of their discussion resulted in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which was signed by 193 countries. This declaration gave special emphasis to education as a critical element of the international response. Apart from that, the ambition of Sustainable Development Goal 4 is to deliver high quality education for all people around the world and promote lifelong and life-wide learning. Signatories to the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (2016) declared, “access to quality education, including for host communities, gives fundamental protection to children and youth in displacement contexts, particularly in situations of conflict and crisis.”

Despite the overwhelming support of these declarations and all good intentions expressed in several drafts...