“What was your home country like?”- Syrian refugee youths’ experiences of school belonging

ABSTRACT Objective To explore the experiences of how Syrian refugee youth resettled in Canada negotiate and facilitate a sense of belonging within their school environment. Method Semi-structured interviews in English were conducted with nine Syrian refugee youths aged 16 to 18. The content of the interviews was analysed through Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Results Participants identified a variety of factors which helped them or became hurdles for within this process. Three themes of language proficiency, shared experiences, and school environment were described. Overall, it was apparent that schools with robust policies, such as having trained teachers and language support programmes, were important in facilitating belonging. Peers who were from the same sociocultural background or were migrants themselves often were highlighted as important individuals as they acted as cultural brokers. Conclusion Syrian refugee youth within this study actively found ways to facilitate belonging within their school environments, even if there was a lack of structural support in the forms of inadequate language programmes or poor school policies. This study’s findings also iterate that Syrian refugee youth are active agents in their environments, as they engage in various opportunities to socialize, integrate, and thrive in their new environments. KEY POINTS What is already known about this topic: Refugee youth face a plethora of challenges when integrating into a new school. The education system is a very important agent of socialization. School climate has implications for influencing outcomes of mental health and wellbeing. What this topic adds: Attention to how structural supports are crucial in supporting refugee youth integrate to their schools. Emphasis on how refugee youth are active agents in the process of facilitating belonging within a school environment. Highlighting how the education system is a frontier for facilitating positive resettlement outcomes and sociocultural integration