Challenges for refugee children at school in eastern Turkey

In this study, we focus on the challenges faced by refugee children at schools in Van, an eastern province at the Iranian border. Focusing on the teachers’ assessment of problems encountered by refugee children at school, this paper is based on qualitative interviews conducted at three schools in the city centre of Van province. The qualitative interviews were conducted with a semi-structured interview schedule. As teachers reported, main problem areas are lack of Turkish language ability among refugee children, absence of education tailored for refugee children, and problems with relations with other pupils. Among recurrent themes, limited language skills that refugee children have mostly suffered from and problems with making friends among peers were prominent. The teachers interviewed were willing to address these issues encountered by refugee children and they seemingly considered these issues as part of a wider set of complex issues with multifaceted details