Meeting the Needs of Refugee Learners

Abstract

This chapter considers how Lebanese national and Syrian refugee teachers working in Lebanon understand their academic, emotional, and social obligations towards the refugee children in their classrooms. Drawing on the CCS approach, this analysis involves a vertical comparison between obligations laid out for teachers of refugees within global refugee education frameworks and teachers’ prioritization of these obligations. It also engaged in a horizontal comparison between the experiences of national and refugee teachers working with refugee students. Global frameworks outline a challenging set of obligations for teachers of refugees, but they offer no consideration of the difficulties teachers may face in efforts to meet the needs of their students. Moreover, academic, emotional, and social obligations carry equal importance within these frameworks, yet teachers often decide which ones to attempt to meet, given their skills, priorities, and comfort levels in these areas. Personal background, professional experiences, and relevant local circumstances were found to be important factors influencing how teachers of refugees understood and executed their ascribed obligations within the classroom, factors not reflected in global frameworks. The chapter concludes with a consideration of how the CCS approach enables a multi-dimensional analysis of teachers working with refugee youth.