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.

Keywords

• Refugee
• refugee education
• migration
• teacher attitude
• Syrian refugees

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