Social Sciences

Research

16 pages, 621 KB

Open AccessArticle

Governing Refugee Education Through Waiting: Temporality and Agency in Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Minors’ Narratives of (Dis)engagement with Schooling

by Eugenia Katartzi

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(8), 511; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15080511 - 1 Aug 2026

Viewed by 59

Abstract

In utilising a governmentality of migration and temporality theoretical lens, the paper illuminates the technologies of power, regimes of practices and rationalities that govern refugee educational reception, drawing upon a British Academy-funded study that documented unaccompanied asylum-seeking children’s lived experiences in Southern European [...] Read more.

In utilising a governmentality of migration and temporality theoretical lens, the paper illuminates the technologies of power, regimes of practices and rationalities that govern refugee educational reception, drawing upon a British Academy-funded study that documented unaccompanied asylum-seeking children’s lived experiences in Southern European borderlands. Through an ethnographically informed research design that involved observations, interviews and focus groups conducted in two reception centres for unaccompanied minors in Greece, the paper examines their (dis)engagement with schooling, locating it at the interface of asylum and educational regimes and their respective temporalities. The participants’ accounts, situated in the liminal context of asylum-seeking, illustrate the challenges they face with respect to access, reception and inclusive learning (or lack thereof) and the intricate ways that power, agency and temporality are interwoven in their narratives. Notwithstanding the educators’ well-intentioned efforts, schools amplify the profound uncertainty characterising unaccompanied minors’ lives, with waiting emerging as a technology of power through which their engagement with schooling is governed, and often resisted, poignantly pointing to the ambivalence of refugee educational reception and its exclusionary operation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

17 pages, 445 KB

Open AccessArticle

Governing Refugee Education Through Pay: Teacher Compensation, Precarity, and Policy Control in Forced Displacement Contexts

by Mary Mendenhall, Kemigisha Richardson, Sarah Etzel, Tiffany Tryon and Whitney Hough

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(7), 465; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15070465 - 10 Jul 2026

Viewed by 273

Abstract

In forced displacement contexts, refugee education is often governed through hybrid arrangements that blend national education systems with humanitarian financing and bordering regimes. While scholarship typically focuses on student enrollment and learning outcomes, less attention has been paid to how education is governed [...] Read more.

In forced displacement contexts, refugee education is often governed through hybrid arrangements that blend national education systems with humanitarian financing and bordering regimes. While scholarship typically focuses on student enrollment and learning outcomes, less attention has been paid to how education is governed through teachers’ work and compensation. This study integrates and compares data from three interrelated research studies, including a multi-country mixed-methods study, a global donor mapping, and a focused case study of South Sudan. Drawing on teacher interviews and focus groups, along with key informant interviews with donors, UN agencies, and stakeholders, we examine how compensation policies affect teachers’ lives. The findings reveal that differentiated systems produce profound inequities. Refugee teachers are largely excluded from national payrolls and are governed through humanitarian “incentive” schemes that normalize precarity and mask long-term state responsibility. We argue that teacher compensation operates as a mechanism of “policying and policing” within the broader architecture of refugee education governance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 257 KB

Open AccessArticle

Whose Peace Counts in German Classrooms? On the Mobilization of School Peace (Schulfrieden) and the Policing of Palestine Solidarity

by Mahdis Azarmandi and Maryam Sharifkhani

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(7), 418; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15070418 - 25 Jun 2026

Viewed by 267

Abstract

School peace, or Schulfrieden, is often portrayed in German education as a neutral condition enabling learning. Yet this study interrogates how peace itself becomes a tool of governance, selectively policing who can safely occupy the classroom. Examining the Berlin Senate’s October 2023 directive, [...] Read more.

School peace, or Schulfrieden, is often portrayed in German education as a neutral condition enabling learning. Yet this study interrogates how peace itself becomes a tool of governance, selectively policing who can safely occupy the classroom. Examining the Berlin Senate’s October 2023 directive, which banned symbols showing solidarity with Palestine, we show that school peace is less about conflict resolution than about shaping affective hierarchies. Fear, anticipation, and symbolic association circulate to mark some bodies as threats while leaving others unexamined. Through the lens of Sara Ahmed’s affective economies and Zembylas’s affective ideology, we argue that the directive transforms political expression into a site of emotional correction, preemptively disciplining marginalized students and rendering their solidarity politically suspect. Peace, in this framing, is primarily rule and order: it secures institutional comfort while curtailing engagement with global injustice. The classroom becomes a laboratory of anticipatory governance, where ethical awareness is unevenly distributed, and dissent is contained before it emerges. By tracing how school peace operates affectively, the study reveals the subtle mechanics by which liberal education reproduces racialized hierarchies under the guise of neutrality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

15 pages, 304 KB

Open AccessArticle

Historic Belonging and Contemporary Displacement: Syrian Armenians Navigating “Status” in Armenia

by Setrag Hovsepian

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(6), 394; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15060394 - 16 Jun 2026

Viewed by 556

Abstract

Internal and civil wars affect the lives of religious and ethnic minorities the most. For Syrian citizens of Armenian origin, the Republic of Armenia represented one of the most accessible and meaningful destinations to relocate to, shaped by shared ethnicity, collective memory, and [...] Read more.

Internal and civil wars affect the lives of religious and ethnic minorities the most. For Syrian citizens of Armenian origin, the Republic of Armenia represented one of the most accessible and meaningful destinations to relocate to, shaped by shared ethnicity, collective memory, and historical ties. When the Syrian war erupted in 2011, thousands opted to resettle in Armenia, yet they and host institutions struggled to categorize them as immigrants, refugees, or repatriates. This ambiguous status has received little scholarly attention. To explore these complexities, the study employed a survey-based research design involving 124 participants, supplemented by an open-ended question intended to capture personal narratives and nuanced identity negotiations. The manuscript examines how the labels immigrant, refugee, and repatriate carry distinct legal, social, and emotional implications, especially against the backdrop of the 1915 Armenian Genocide’s enduring memory and the particularly negative connotations of “immigrant” and “refugee” in Western Armenian and Arabic languages. Within this contested semantic and policy terrain, repatriation appears not merely as a bureaucratic category but as a culturally resonant and sometimes preferred pathway for some Diaspora Armenians, informed by lifelong exposure to repatriation narratives through formal education (language textbooks) and informal communal practices. The case sheds light on the broader conception of stakeholders, including how they self-identify, how they understand their status in Armenia, and the factors shaping their choices, particularly in the context of contemporary geopolitics and the role of education in influencing external perceptions of them. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

18 pages, 276 KB

Open AccessArticle

From Protection to Policing: The Discursive Construction of the “Person of Concern” in Global Refugee Education Policy

by Adnan Turan

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(4), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15040265 - 20 Apr 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 599

Abstract

This study examines how UNHCR’s administrative category of the “person of concern” functions as a governance mechanism in refugee education policy, stripping refugees of political agency and positioning them as subjects of institutional control rather than rights-bearing actors. Employing Fairclough’s three-dimensional Critical Discourse [...] Read more.

This study examines how UNHCR’s administrative category of the “person of concern” functions as a governance mechanism in refugee education policy, stripping refugees of political agency and positioning them as subjects of institutional control rather than rights-bearing actors. Employing Fairclough’s three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis alongside Quijano’s coloniality of power, the paper analyzes five key policy documents: four UNHCR education strategies spanning 2010 to 2020 and the World Bank’s INSPIRE Guide to Refugee Inclusion in National Education Systems (2025). The analysis identifies four dominant discursive themes: education as a mechanism of control, dehumanization and the passive subject, the neoliberalization of refugee education, and colonial legacies in knowledge production. The INSPIRE Guide is examined as a paradigmatic text crystallizing the shift from humanitarian parallel systems to developmental inclusion, revealing how the language of inclusion, efficiency, and sustainability reconfigures refugee education as economic governance while leaving the “person of concern” category uninterrogated. The study argues that UNHCR education policies reproduce colonial governance patterns in which education actively produces particular refugee subjects who can be governed, surveilled, and integrated into host-state frameworks on institutional terms. Findings challenge the assumed neutrality of humanitarian education frameworks and call for decolonial approaches centering refugee agency, epistemic sovereignty, and self-determined educational futures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

23 pages, 430 KB

Open AccessArticle

Emergent Bilingual Newcomers: Fostering Culturally Responsive Welcoming Practices and Integration into School and Community

by Eman Abo-Zaed Arar, Khalid Arar and Emily R. Crawford

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(3), 203; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15030203 - 19 Mar 2026

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1122

Abstract

Newcomers to the United States face numerous obstacles. This article examines the perceptions and practices of school personnel in one Texas K–12 school district concerning culturally responsive leadership (CRL) and school practices for emergent bilingual (EB) newcomer students with refugee backgrounds. The two [...] Read more.

Newcomers to the United States face numerous obstacles. This article examines the perceptions and practices of school personnel in one Texas K–12 school district concerning culturally responsive leadership (CRL) and school practices for emergent bilingual (EB) newcomer students with refugee backgrounds. The two research questions guiding this paper include (1) What are the perceptions of K–12 school personnel about the policies, programs, and practices that shape the experiences of EB newcomer students with refugee backgrounds? and (2) How do K–12 school personnel perceive and practice culturally responsive leadership to create inclusive schools for EB newcomers? Despite robust scholarship on refugee education and culturally responsive leadership (CRL), less is known about how school personnel interpret policy and organizational constraints and subsequently translate those interpretations into everyday leadership and pedagogical practices. Following a qualitative case study research design, this study used interviews, focus groups, and vignette discussion prompts with teachers, administrators, and district representatives to show how personnel interpreted policy, categorization, and accountability pressures and how they reported responding through welcoming, relational, and culturally responsive practices. Findings are reported at the level of personnel perceptions and reported practices rather than student outcomes. The study offers practical implications for schools and districts seeking to better support the integration of EB newcomer students with refugee backgrounds into schools and communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research, Other

20 pages, 226 KB

Open AccessReview

Trauma-Informed Schools in a Fragmented Policy Landscape: Evidence and Implications for Newcomer Students

by Miriam Potocky

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(8), 503; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15080503 - 26 Jul 2026

Viewed by 240

Abstract

In a policy context characterized by both supportive initiatives (e.g., school-based mental health services) and enforcement-oriented approaches that may contribute to student stress, schools are increasingly tasked with addressing trauma-related needs. A rapid umbrella review was conducted on existing systematic reviews of trauma-informed [...] Read more.

In a policy context characterized by both supportive initiatives (e.g., school-based mental health services) and enforcement-oriented approaches that may contribute to student stress, schools are increasingly tasked with addressing trauma-related needs. A rapid umbrella review was conducted on existing systematic reviews of trauma-informed school practices. The umbrella review synthesized findings from multiple systematic reviews to provide a comprehensive assessment of the evidence, identify areas of consensus or inconsistency, and explain discrepancies across studies. Fifteen reviews met the inclusion criteria of a systematic or scoping review of mental health and academic outcomes associated with trauma-informed school practices. Nine of these included studies with newcomer students. Overall, most reviews reported positive associations between trauma-informed practices and student outcomes, including reductions in trauma symptoms and behavioral problems, as well as improvements in resilience, engagement, and academic performance. Evidence was strongest for targeted clinical interventions delivered by trained mental health professionals, while classroom and schoolwide approaches showed promising but less conclusive results due to methodological limitations. Findings suggest that while trauma-informed approaches are beneficial, their implementation remains fragmented and often incremental. Greater attention to cultural, linguistic, and relational dimensions of displacement, along with improved cross-system coordination and rigorous evaluation, is needed. Trauma-informed school practices represent a promising but underdeveloped strategy for supporting newcomer students within complex and evolving policy environments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

Other

Jump to: Research, Review

28 pages, 3994 KB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Bordering, Surveillance, and Schooling: An Integrative Bibliometric-Informed Systematic Review of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education Governance

by Khalid Arar, Adnan Boyacı, Hamit Özen and Yusuf Attila Yiğit

Soc. Sci. 2026, 15(4), 232; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci15040232 - 1 Apr 2026

Viewed by 1657

Abstract

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of 461 studies on refugee and (im)migrant education governance, covering the period from 2015 to 2025. All studies were articles indexed in the Web of Science category. The analysis reveals publication trends, conceptual and intellectual structures, and [...] Read more.

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of 461 studies on refugee and (im)migrant education governance, covering the period from 2015 to 2025. All studies were articles indexed in the Web of Science category. The analysis reveals publication trends, conceptual and intellectual structures, and the evolution of themes. Data were analyzed using the Bibliometrix R package. Document coupling and thematic analyses indicate a modular research ecosystem structured around policy governance, inclusion and diversity, refugee education, and access to higher education, with governance-focused scholarship playing a prominent connective role. A systematic review, guided by the PRISMA technique, was conducted to enhance these structural insights, focusing on the 25 most cited and conceptually significant studies identified during the bibliometric phase. The systematic review examined research features, participant demographics, educational settings, and analytical frameworks, with particular attention to the theoretical and operational aspects of governance, bordering, and surveillance themes. The findings reveal a pronounced geographic concentration in affluent Western contexts, especially the United States, alongside a smaller but conceptually significant body of work situated in refugee-hosting regions of the Global South. Education systems are consistently described as mechanisms of migratory governance, in which policies, accountability frameworks, and routine institutional activities establish borders and surveillance. This study combines extensive bibliometric mapping with comprehensive systematic synthesis to present a coherent overview of the conceptualization of refugee and (im)migrant education over the past decade, highlighting ongoing theoretical fragmentation and the need for more cross-scalar, integrative strategies in education governance within migration contexts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Policying and Policing: The Governance of Refugee/(Im)migrant Education in an Age of Hostility—2nd Edition

Share This Special Issue

Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Published Papers (8 papers)

Research

Review

Other

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI