The role of different school organizational models in the psychological adaptation of refugee adolescents

Abstract

Given the high number of refugee children and adolescents around the globe, it is critical to determine conditions that foster their adaptation in the receiving country. This study investigated the psychological adaptation of recently arrived adolescent refugees in Germany. We focused on whether psychological adaptation reflects the organizational approach taken by the school that refugee adolescents initially attended. School is an important context for the development and acculturation of young refugees. As in other European countries, the schooling of refugee adolescents in Germany is organized in different models: separate instruction in newcomer classes, direct immersion in regular classes, and mixed approaches. To answer our research questions, we used self-reported data from 700 refugee adolescents (12-, 14-, and 17-year-olds) in a representative survey of refugees in Germany. As indicators of their psychological adaptation, we analyzed their sense of school belonging, their emotional and behavioral problems, and their life satisfaction. Comparing them to non-refugee peers, the refugee adolescents showed similar levels of psychological adaptation, and an even higher level in the case of school belonging. Multiple regression analyses provide limited support for the assumed advantage of the mixed school organizational model: While students who initially attended a mixed approach reported higher levels of school belonging than those in other models, no differences emerged on the other indicators. We discuss the implications of our findings for the schooling of newly arrived refugees.

Psychological and Pedagogical Aspects of Adaptation of Students Who Received Temporary Shelter to the Educational Environment of Another Country

“…Therefore, the social adaptability of an individual as a certain quality should be understood as the current result of the social adaptation, which can be characterized as the ability of a person to satisfy his/her needs at an acceptable level for himself/herself in a certain situation in a specific social environment. In this aspect, the findings of this study confirm the conclusions of Cerna and McBrien (2022) and Pagel and Edele (2022). The researchers believe that social adaptability is determined by the extent to which a person has acquired certain personal qualities.…”

Education in exile: Ukrainian refugee students in the schooling system in Poland following the Russian–Ukrainian war

“…Most of the Ukrainian refugee students were enrolled in regular school classes. This outcome offers an interesting contrast to other studies that have presented integration models characterised by top-down policy, rather than a forced choice resulting from the size of migration and organisational constraints (e.g., in Sweden, Tajic & Bunar, 2020; in Germany, Pagel & Edele, 2022). Factors that helped students from Ukraine to integrate included prior experience with students from other countries in the school, staff members who spoke Ukrainian or Russian, and the presence of Ukrainian students predating 2022.…”

“…In contrast to other education systems in Europe, schools in Poland have limited experience in educating migrants; thus, substantial innovation and adaptation have been required at the local level. The literature on the integration of migrants in schools emphasises the importance of national institutional arrangements, access to education, the pros and cons of segregated settings, and implementation problems (e.g., Crul et al., 2019; Edele et al., 2021; Erling et al., 2022; Fandrem et al., 2021; Horgan et al., 2022; Koehler & Schneider, 2019; Nilsson & Axelsson, 2013; Pagel & Edele, 2022; Tajic & Bunar, 2020). Polish experiences offer an additional empirical case that differs in many respects from those of other countries.…”

A study on cultural adaptation of Chinese Students in Indonesia

“…Gender: In terms of gender, compared to boys, girls can adjust better in terms of adaptation in the aspect of communication with the masses, adaptation in the learning aspect, and adaptation in the cultural aspect, but in terms of life satisfaction it is less good [33]. That's because female students' Indonesian skills are usually better than boys.…”