abstract: Given the surge of immigrant and resettled refugee student enrollment in public schools, a strong understanding of the transition process for these students and their families and facilitating the creation of effective schooling contexts are major educational priorities. It is critical to determine how to best support and assist resettled refugee students in academic and other endeavors. This study seeks to better understand the perspectives of resettled refugee students who are recent high school graduates and their mentors in order to contribute practical insights into resettled refugee education and to give voice to these students. Informed by sociocultural theories as reflected in the works of Daniels, Cole and Wertsch, (2007) and others, twelve resettled refugees from Bhutan, Iraq and Burma (aka Myanmar) and ten mentors participated in individual interview sessions and focus group discussions. The study took place in Arizona. The participants' responses were audio-recorded, transcribed, interpreted, coded, and categorized into themes. Study findings suggested that: resettled refugee students struggled with adjusting to their new school system. They were marginalized and faced discrimination and suffered low teacher expectations. They were placed in English language classes that they felt were not beneficial to them; and almost all attended inner city urban schools in areas with a high poverty concentration characterized by gang and drug activities that further adversely affected their performances. Against the odds, with the help of their mentors, striving for a better life, commitment to family, and resilience, the study participants were able to not only complete their high school education on time but earned impressive grade point averages of between 3.5 to 4.2 that helped five of them win scholarships to four-year colleges. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

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This study analyses social age as a phenomenon and if unaccompanied refugee children has a social age that, according to the Swedish culture, do not correspond with their biological age and if so is, the reason for that. Furthermore, our study has discussed the potential consequences of the effects for the unaccompanied refugee children and the social age when interacting with Swedish society. According to our study, the social age is effected by other factors besides cultural norms, values and role expectations that a society has on a specific biological age. The results in this study shows that social age is a vital component to someone’s identity. Therefore, the social age is an important factor for individuals when it comes to meeting and handling new social environments such as new countries.

The subject being studied is education for refugee children. Today, there are many children that are not allowed, or have the possibility to go to school and get an education which is a failure towards children's development in relation to human rights. Despite that refugees are supposed to have rights to be provided education, they are reported getting lower access to education than other children. The purpose of this study is to understand the educational contribution from an organisation’s perspective and how to understand what needs to develop to ensure all refugee children with education. The research question that this study is based on is: How can we understand the role of education at a young age for refugees in relation to children's development? The method chosen for this study is a case study through two reports of the United Nation High Commissioner (UNHCR) to collect data of their education strategy implemented in a project called Educate A Child. Theory selected to analyse and understand the strategy is Pierre Bourdieu's theory of Field, Capital, and Habitus. The conclusion of the study is that the educational sector has several factors that play different roles. Teacher’s training is of great importance and must be taken more into account in their role and responsibility towards the children, the economic capital is important to be able to develop opportunities for children to attend school, and inclusion and partnership also play a great role. Keywords that have been used are education, primary school, UNHCR, refugee children.

Approximately 250 nursery schools and 600 schools were destroyed during the First Karabakh War in Azerbaijan in 1988–94, interrupting the education of over 210,000 school-aged children. Of the 111,043 children until age 5, only 8,300 (7.5%) were registered in preschool, with around 90,000 children out of school and never enrolled. The purpose of this qualitative narrative research study was to explore how the protracted 30-year occupation of around 20% of Azerbaijani lands by Armenian armed forces impacted the educational journey of displaced Azerbaijani school-aged children, who are now adults, during and after the First Karabakh War in 1988-94. It also examined the extent it has affected their full economic integration into society today. Three participants took part in this study. Data collection included one semi-structured interview, a questionnaire, and a follow-up interview. All participants received interview questions prior to their main interview to facilitate reflection of lived experiences. The results indicated that despite years of displacement, hardship, and trauma, the children (now adults) were able to achieve economic prosperity with resilience and high family expectations. This finding suggests that despite experiencing hardship during war, children may be able to achieve economic prosperity if they acquire critical skills to succeed in the labor market with active family involvement, becoming contributing members of society and enjoying financial stability as adults.

The aim of this study was to investigate unaccompanied migrant children (UMC )experiences, challenges and coping strategies in South Africa as they navigate their lives with no parental care and protection in a foreign country. The continuous inflow of UMC remains a major challenge globally and more so in South Africa. The inflow resulted in unaccompanied migrant children facing adverse challenges such as exploitation, marginalisation, discrimination and violation of human rights. In response to this influx, the South African Government embarked on several commendable initiatives, notwithstanding the national guidelines by the Department of Social Development, which unfortunately could not provide adequate guidance for social workers, on how to respond effectively to challenges facing UMC. The study was qualitative guided by exploratory, descriptive, and contextual designs. A sample was drawn using purposive sampling. Participants sampled for data collection were UMC and social workers tending them, from two shelters; one in the Limpopo and one in the Gauteng provinces, respectively. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using Tesch’s eight steps of data analysis in Creswell (2013). The findings confirmed that unaccompanied migrant children do not receive satisfactory services from social workers who are mandated by the Department of Social Development to look after all the vulnerable children in South Africa. In addition, the findings further confirmed the contradictions and misalignment of legal frameworks that make it difficult for social workers to provide effective services to the UMC, thus exposing the latter to a continued plethora of daily challenges. Despite the magnitude of challenges presented by the host country, it emerged that unaccompanied migrant children demonstrate a range of coping mechanisms to survive the challenges experienced within the borders of South Africa. Prominent in the findings was the dissatisfaction of social workers regarding lack of clarity and inconsistencies in the current Social Development Guidelines on; Separated and Unaccompanied Children Outside their Country of Origin in South Africa. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for practice and additional guidelines were developed to enhance service delivery to the UMC. / Social Work / D. Litt. et Phil. (Social Work)

A shortcoming in the literature is the lack of information and research into how refugee children from Africa experience life in South Africa and what their degree of exposure to xenophobia is, from South Africans. This motivated the researcher to investigate the extent of xenophobia towards refugee children living in Shelters in Cape Town. A survey of refugee children was done by means of a questionnaire that assessed the forms of xenophobia and who it was that discriminated against refugee children because of their foreignness. The results of the study showed that refugee children do experience xenophobia, in various forms from different sectors of South African society. Although some of it is violent in nature, it is mostly prejudice and xenophobic comments that the children are exposed to. This research provided a baseline for more extensive research into this phenomenon. / Social Work / M.A. Diac.(Play Therapy)

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur HVB-personal på olika hem i Stockholm arbetar med ensamkommande flyktingbarn rörande barnens kulturer och traditioner samt ta reda på hur personalen arbetar för att integrera flyktingbarn in i vad de upplever vara ett svenskt samhälle. Studien har även till syfte att ta reda på ifall HVB- personalen upplever att det finns problematik kring att integrera barnen samtidigt som de måste ta hänsyn till ursprunglig kultur och tradition hos barnen. Uppsatsen grundar sig i en kvalitativ ansats av tio intervjuer med personal som arbetar på olika HVB-hem. Med hjälp av de teoretiska begreppen gräsrotsbyråkratier, systemintegration, social integration, kultur, kulturmöte och kulturkrockar men även tidigare forskning visar resultat och analys ett sammanhängande mönster. Resultaten visade att HVB-personalen i hög grad värderar hänsynstagande till de ensamkommande flyktingbarnens/ ungdomarnas kulturer och traditioner under integreringsprocessen. De främst återkommande punkterna som personalen menar är viktigast att ta hänsyn till rörande kultur och tradition är barnens/ ungdomarnas; värderingar, religioner, högtider och ursprungliga språk. HVB-personalen upplever att deras huvudsakliga mål som HVB-personal är att integrera barnen/ ungdomarna till det svenska samhället. Tillvägagångsätten för att integrera barnen beskrivs som ett vardagligt arbete som omfattar personalens engagemang i att vägleda, informera barnen/ ungdomarna om samhällets viktiga organ så som att gå i skolan eller att lära dem skillnaderna mellan rätt och fel enligt Sveriges normer och värderingar. Begreppet integrering handlar för våra respondenter sammanfattningsvis om att flyktingbarnen/ ungdomarna tar del av ett nytt samhälle och blir en del av det. Studien visade avslutningsvis att spänningar/ obalans kunde uppstå vid integreringen av barnen/ ungdomarna som resultat av kulturskillnader och kulturkrockar men även på grund av skilda tolkningar av arbetsuppgifter för personal. / The purpose of this study is to investigate how staff from residential care homes in Stockholm work with unaccompanied refugee children/ adolescents concerning the children's/ adolescents cultures and traditions. The study also aims to find out how the staff work to integrate refugee children/ adolescents into what they perceive to be a Swedish society. Lastly the study also aims to find out if the staff experienced problems concerning the integration of the children/ adolescents while they have to take their original culture and tradition into account. The essay is based on a qualitative approach of ten interviews with staff working in different residential homes in Stockholm. With the help of the theoretical concepts grassroots bureaucracies, systems integration, social integration, culture, culture meeting and cultural clashes but also previous research showing results and analysis of a coherent pattern. Results showed that staff and their perceived values take into account of the unaccompanied refugee children/ adolescents different cultures and traditions during the integration process. Values, religions, traditions and the original language were described as the most important parts to take into consideration when focusing on the children’s/ adolescent’s cultures and traditions. Approaches to integrate the children was described as a main objective and a casual work which includes staff involvement in guiding, informing the children/ adolescents of society's major institutions such as going to school or to teach them the difference between right and wrong according to Swedish standards and values. Further the concept of integration according to our respondents, means that the refugee children and adolescents take part of a new society and become a part of it. Finally, the study showed that stress or imbalance could arise during the integration of children/ adolescents as a result of perceived cultural differences and cultural conflicts but also because of different interpretations of the duties of staff.

A shortcoming in the literature is the lack of information and research into how refugee children from Africa experience life in South Africa and what their degree of exposure to xenophobia is, from South Africans. This motivated the researcher to investigate the extent of xenophobia towards refugee children living in Shelters in Cape Town. A survey of refugee children was done by means of a questionnaire that assessed the forms of xenophobia and who it was that discriminated against refugee children because of their foreignness. The results of the study showed that refugee children do experience xenophobia, in various forms from different sectors of South African society. Although some of it is violent in nature, it is mostly prejudice and xenophobic comments that the children are exposed to. This research provided a baseline for more extensive research into this phenomenon. / Social Work / M.A. Diac.(Play Therapy)

Sjuksköterskor verksamma på barnavårdscentral (BVC) möter dagligen flyktingbarn och deras föräldrar i sitt arbete och dessa möten ser olika ut beroende på olika faktorer. Syftet med studien var att beskriva BVC- sjuksköterskors arbete med flyktingbarn och deras föräldrar. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Ur resultatet kom tre kategorier: att skapa trygghet, att vara lyhörd och att ge stöd. I kategorin att skapa trygghet beskrev BVC- sjuksköterskor hur de arbetade för att skapa jämlik vård, öka tillgängligheten samt belyste de vikten av kontinuitet i vården för flyktingbarnen. Kategorin att vara lyhörd innefattade sjuksköterskors sätt att se det enskilda barnets behov. Detta tillämpades med respekt, förståelse och acceptans för kulturella skillnader. Att ge stöd genom behjälplighet vid språk-och kommunikationssvårigheter, rätt anpassad information och samverkan med andra professioner gav flyktingbarnen tryggare och snabbare integrering i det svenska samhället. Svårigheter som BVC- sjuksköterskorna beskrev var kommunikation via tolk, brist på resurser och brist på kontinuitet i arbete med flyktingbarn. Fortsatt forskning behövs för att få ökad kunskap och förståelse kring flyktingbarns behov. Det behövs även fortsatta studier i utveckling, organisation och samordning av verksamheter som bedriver vård och omsorg för flyktingbarn. / Nurses working in Child Health Centers (CHC-nurses) face daily refugee children and their parents in their work and these meetings vary depending on various factors.The aim of this study was to describe CHC-nurses experience of working with refugee children and their parents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. From the result three categories emerged; to create security, to be responsive and to provide support. In the category to create security the CHC-nurses described how they worked to create equal care, increase accessibility, and highlight the importance of the continuity in the health care of refugee children. Category to be responsive comprised nurses' approach to the individual child's needs which was applied with respect, understanding and acceptance of cultural differences. Providing support through helpfulness with language and communication difficulties, the right customized information and collaboration with other professions gave refugee children safer and faster integration into the Swedish society. Difficulties described by the CHC-nurses were communication through interpreters, lack of resources and lack of continuity in the work with refugee children. Continued research is needed to increase knowledge and understanding of refugee children’s needs. Further studies in development, organization and coordination of activities engaged in health care for refugee children are needed.