Çalışma Hikayesi Olan Suriyeli Çocukların Eğitim Sorunları Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma

Abstract

Children who are defenceles side of the war, are becoming disadvantageous with their process of the forced emigration and also the period of the studies. Emigrant children’s education issue has critical importance because of finishing the disadvantages circumstance of studies and having adaptation with society which they live in. Thus, this vulnerable group’s process of the education has new difficulties which they have to struggle against them beside the difficulties which they had until reaching. At this point, some non-governmental organisations have significant and unique studies on the purpose of including Syrian children in the education life and standing by them against the difficulties of education process. In this scope of research, association which choosed with purposive sampling had focus group discussion with 4 students and in-depth interview with 17 students which are participating education life instead of working life. This research was found ethically appropriate according to the decision of the social and human sciences research and publication ethics committee, dated 07.12.2021 and numbered 2021/67. Thereafter, in this qualitative research which is conducted with descriptive approach proved the difficulties and struggles which Syrian children’s had initially passing from working life to education life and after orientating the education system. Accordingly, it is possible to list the problems in their working life that working hours, working conditions and the hurtful attitudes in working environment. In addition, the problems in Syrian children’s education life that the difficulties of the lessons, the hurtful attitudes of the the teachers and the hate speech directed by other students. Structured Abstract: After the civil war in Syria in 2011, 10 years have passed and the number of Syrians who took as refugee in Turkey has exceeded 3 million. Due to its diameter, in this largest migration wave encountered in Turkey's migration history (Erdoğan, 2015: 342), the ongoing crisis environment in Syria still proceed the migration process. With the prolongation of this process, an intersectional disadvantage is emerged. Because Syrian children, who are already in a disadvantageous position with the migration process due to the war, experience a second disadvantage with the education process which they stay away from. Syrian children who have already interrupted their education due to the conditions in their home country before seeking asylum, were exposed to the continuation of discontinuity in their education for a Öğr. Gör., İstanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi, Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Sosyal Hizmet Bölümü Lecturer, İstanbul Medeniyet University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Social Work Department 0000-0001-6871-688X envermengu@gmail.com ** Doç. Dr., İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa, Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi, Sosyal Hizmet Bölümü Lecturer, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Faculty of Health Sciences, Social Work Department 0000-0001-9989-8575 omermirac@gmail.com 2060 Enver Mengü Ömer Miraç Yaman Turkish Studies Social, 16(6) while due to the demand for both a residence permit document and a document stating their previous education status in Turkey. Although the Temporary Protection Regulation has succeeded in removing bureaucratic obstacles in many dimensions regarding the education of Syrian children, financial difficulties remain as the limiting factor in the education issue. Although, Geçici Koruma Yönetmeliği (the Temporary Protection Regulation) has succeeded in removing bureaucratic obstacles in many points of views regarding the education of Syrian children, financial difficulties remain as the limiting factor for education continuity. As a matter of fact, educational materials and transportation costs can increase the total cost of the school and it puts Syrian families even more difficult economically. For this reason, Syrian families force their children either to work (Çiçekli, 2009: 8) or to marry (Culbertson & Constant, 2015: 19) due to financial inadequacy and economic pressures. The deprivation which is experienced by Syrian children in education is primarily a matter of fundamental rights. Because, in accordance with the principles that guide policies on immigrant children on the basis of international law, the child has the best benefit (Atasü-Topçuoğlu, 2012: 71-72). Secondly, the deprivation that Syrian children are exposed to in terms of education makes them more prone to harmful groups and habits (Aras & Yasun, 2016: 2). For this reason, the education campaign that started with Geçici Eğitim Merkezleri (the Temporary Education Centers) has gained importance and prevalence in the last period. Furthermore, while it is relatively important to overcome the obstacles to the education of Syrian children and their access to education, mostly, they are not sufficient. As a matter of fact, Syrian children encounter new problems during the education process. Syrian children which, encounter with a different language structure (İ.H.İ.Ö., 2015: 18), an unfamiliar curriculum accompanied by a foreign teacher (Emin, 2016: 21-22), and generally in overcrowded classrooms (Kirişçi, 2014: 26), enter a chaotic educational process that requires an effort to follow. In this regard, education centers, which are produced by nongovernmental organizations and provide reinforcement lessons for Syrian children, have also come to the fore in time, providing them with certain skills along with religious and language education (Culbertson & Constant, 2015: 20). Within the scope of this research, Syrian children who were brought into education from working life through Yeryüzü Çocukları Derneği (the Earth Children's Association) were discussed. In this context, the difficulties that Syrian migrant children face in their working life in Turkey, the difficulties they face in their education life after being included in the education system in Turkey, and the representatives of Yeryüzü Çocukları Derneği (the Earth Children's Association) in particular and a non-governmental organization in general will be presented. With the protracted migration process, integration policies have started to become more significant in Turkey. The primary target group of the integration policies is the Syrian children. Because children stand out compared to adults because of their learning skills and adaptability. The critical role of children in adaptation gives its first appearance for the education life. Educational problems of Syrian children will have a direct impact for firstly on school dropout and later on crime rates. For this reason, it is important to make the problems, which they encounter, visible and to highlight examples of solutions. This research is important because of this aspect. This research is found ethically appropriate according to the decision of the social and human sciences research and publication ethics committee, dated 07.12.2021 and numbered 2021/67. In this study, which was conducted with a total of 17 Syrian children who were brought into education life from working life, qualitative research was preferred as it would provide a descriptive variation by providing the opportunity to see the problems experienced by the children from their own perspective and to convey their experiences in their own language. In the scope of qualitative research, purposive sampling method, which is considered as non-probability sampling method, was preferred. In addition to the observation information obtained by being involved in the education process, in-depth interviews and focus group techniques will be used to reveal the work stories of Syrian children, their ideas about work and education, the problems they encounter in education and the mechanisms they have developed for the problems they encounter. According to the results, first of all, the majority of children complained about the length of the working period. Secondly, the majority of the children stated that they were very hurt because of the treatment towards them at work. Other answers given by the children on the difficulties of working life were given as “standing”, “carrying heavy things” and “waking up (early) in the morning”. Çalışma Hikayesi Olan Suriyeli Çocukların Eğitim Sorunları Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma 2061 www.turkishstudies.net/social It is possible to take the difficulties faced by Syrian children in education through three dimensions: lessons, teachers and students. The courses that students say they often have difficulties as Turkish, Literature, Mathematics and English. Participating children claim that as a result of the interviews, teachers deliberately gave them low performance grades in their homework. The most interesting information from the interviews is about the student point of view of the difficulties they experience in education. Because most Syrian students state that their schoolmates are exposed to a lot of hate speech.