The global ‘refugee crisis’ is increasingly affecting Europe and especially Greece, which has been the country through which many people on the move enter Europe. Within refugee education the role of teachers is recognised as the key facilitator of education, yet there are few studies which centre on teachers. This paper aims to explore and compare how teachers re/construct their ideas about the value of education, their vision on education and their role as a teacher as a result of their experience working in refugee education. Key concepts of the study are a holistic approach to teachers’ professional development, construed as teacher identity, and refugee education. The study centralises the narratives of eight teachers of different nationalities who worked or are working in Greece, either on the mainland or on the islands. Data was collected through narrative interviews applying the biographical method. An inductive coding process led to four themes: teachers’ development, teachers’ profile, educating refugees, and vision on refugee education. Similarities and differences between the stories of teachers form the basis of comparisons about teaching refugees of different ages, female refugees, and at other locations. The findings are discussed in light of the principles and concepts of Life Course Theory and Transformative Learning Theory. The findings show that teachers’ choices and actions in teaching refugees are embedded in the contemporary context of time and place, motivated by the current global crisis. The experiences of teaching refugees impact teachers personally and shape not only individual but also collective attitudes through principles of linked lives, time, and place. Teachers describe their ongoing and cumulative teacher identity re/construction, including altering their perspectives on the narrative of refugees due to their work experiences, which aligns with key concepts and principles of (adult) learning in the Life Course Theory and Transformative Learning Theory.

According to UNHCR data from 2018, there are approximately seven and a half million school-age child refugees, with only 61% of them having access to primary education (versus 91% of the total child population). In Greece, child migrants have been around for several years, but they have not had access to education for a long time and some children still do not. The situation was dealt with in various alternative ways, through non-profit organizations, volunteers from around the world and refugees themselves. The thesis is conceived theoretically and empirically. The theoretical part of this thesis deals with these issues. It seeks to explore the educational situation of refugee children in the world, describes the recent migration crisis in Greece, deals with the right to educate refugee children at world and European level, and also in Greece, introduces educational opportunities for refugee children in Greece, both formal, provided by the state, and informal, provided by volunteers and non-profit organizations. In the empirical part, qualitative research examines the barriers that non-formal education providers have encountered in trying to deliver education to refugee children and describes the methods overcoming these barriers. Conducted ethnographic research included volunteer observation in...