Teachers’ Attitudes to Syrian Refugee Students in Turkey

Abstract

From the last decade on, the matter of refugees in Turkey has become a key issue in almost all social and political areas including education. Following the refugee influx from 2011 on, Turkey has immediately taken action to provide the Syrian refugee students with necessary educational opportunities in its mainstream schools. The present study was targeted at revealing Turkish teachers' attitudes towards these Syrian refugee students in their classrooms. A total of 95 in-service teachers from different fields participated in the study. The data were collected through a composite instrument. Teachers' attitudes were categorized under three main subheadings; communication, adaptation, and efficiency. The statistical results indicated that the teachers were eager to help the refugee students overcome their adaptation problems which were mainly caused by their language-related deficiencies. They also had positive attitudes to communicate effectively with these students although they did not have enough practice in their undergraduate years in regards with the refugee education. Moreover, the teachers with high efficacy beliefs had better attitudes toward refugee students in their classrooms. The results were discussed in line with the refugee education and teacher education policies in the literature.

Comparison Of Perceptions Of School-Age Migrant Children About School With Pictures

“…Lordoğlu ve Aslan'ın (2018) Türkiye'deki Suriyeli işçi çocuklara dair yaptığı araştırmada da okula devam eden çocukların iyi Türkçe konuştuklarını ifade etmesi bizim araştırmamızın bu yöndeki bulgularını destekler niteliktedir. Türkiye'de bulunan Suriyeli öğrencilere yönelik öğretmen tutumlarının incelendiği bir araştırmada ise öğretmenlerin, göçmen çocukların dil ile ilgili problemlerini çözmede istekli olduğu sonucu ortaya çıkmıştır (Ekin ve Yetkin, 2021). Bu bulgu, dil problemleri konusunda okula gitmeyi işlevsel bir çözüm yapan faktörün, öğretmenlerin bireysel çabası olabileceğini göstermektedir.…”

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“…An analysis of RBSs' experiences in public schools indicated that the major roadblock in teaching RBSs was the communication problem between teachers and RBSs (Arslan & Ergul, 2022;Atalay et al, 2022;Bozkırlı et al, 2018;Ekin & Yetkin, 2021;Ergen & Şahin, 2019;Kaya & Ok, 2021;Kocak et al, 2021;Yiğit et al, 2021). Teachers expressed that they struggled to build background knowledge, deliver the content, explain the activity instructions, and clarify the confusing items due to RBSs' limited Turkish proficiencies (Ergen & Şahin, 2019;Kaya & Ok, 2021;Yiğit et al, 2021).…”

“…To increase teachers' efficiencies in teaching RBSs and RBSs' academic success, in-service teachers were offered training such as psycho-education or multicultural education training by the TMoNE (2022) and international projects (e.g., Erasmus projects such as REFUGEEClassAssistance4Teachers). However, these initiations could slightly increase teachers' self-efficacies or RBSs' school achievement (Ekin & Yetkin, 2021). We believe that pre-service teachers also need training in teaching RBSs so that the training can have wider and longer impacts and increase equity in the Turkish education system.…”

“…The studies that specifically focused on the impact of teacher practices on RBSs' academic experiences revealed that teachers often experienced communication problems with the RBSs due to their limited Turkish proficiencies and, thus, failed to deliver the content effectively (Ekin & Yetkin, 2021;Kaysılı et al, 2019). Moreover, they experienced difficulties in building background knowledge due to the RBSs' cultural differences (Atalay et al, 2022).…”

Welcome culture in German schools: teachers’ perspectives

“…These are examined in the context of school-related immigration and acculturation research (see Hachfeld and Syring, 2020). One focus of the research has been on teachers' attitudes toward pupils who have fled Syria (Ekin and Yetkin, 2021). Ekin and Yetkin summarize the research findings available for Turkey as follows: Language problems, pupil and teacher adjustment problems, and inadequate training related to refugee education were reported by teachers.…”