Empowering school administrators for refugee education in Türkiye: insights from multiple stakeholders on a training programme

Abstract

ABSTRACTFollowing the Syrian Civil War in 2011, more than 5.5 million people have fled Syria. As a neighbouring country, Türkiye has hosted nearly four million Syrian refugees, with children under 15 years old making up almost half of this population. Concomitantly, ensuring that these refugee students receive quality education and schooling has become both a priority and a challenge since then. The government in Türkiye has implemented a variety of education policies and accompanying regulations in response. Among other initiatives, an inclusive education programme for school principals was developed in cooperation with UNICEF-Türkiye, specifically tailored for the vulnerable, disabled, and refugee-background students, aiming to raise awareness and provide inclusive learning environments for all. In this study, we provide information about how this in-service training programme, rooted in principles of inclusion and integration, was designed and investigate the constraints and offerings of the programme from the perspectives of 24 participants including school administrators and programme designers. The findings of this study provide insight into the practices that promote inclusive leadership in school settings, taking into account contextual factors and realities. The limitations of the research are presented, and implications are discussed herein.KEYWORDS: Refugee educationeducational leadership programmein-service trainingleadership for social justiceTürkiye Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availabilityThe data are not publicly available due to the privacy of research participants.Additional informationNotes on contributorsEmine GümüşEmine Gümüş is an associate professor of Faculty of Education at Maltepe University, Turkey. She received her PhD in Educational Administration from Atatürk University, Turkey. Her research interests are focused on leadership, professional development of school principals and teachers, and multicultural education.Hilal BuyukgozeHilal Buyukgoze is a research assistant in Hacettepe University, Ankara Turkey. She completed her PhD in Educational Administration on leader and school mindfulness at Hacettepe University in 2021. Her research interests focus on school improvement, educational leadership, and education policies. She can be contacted at: buyukgoze@hacettepe.edu.tr.