Asylum seekers

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Education Act (1996) ‘require refugee and asylum seeker children to be provided with education’ (Spencer, 2002: 8). Also as Stanley (2001: 5) points out, this is applicable ‘to all children regardless of immigration status’. It may be significant to know that the estimated number of asylum seekers makes it clear that many schools do now or will in the near future have the opportunity to welcome an asylum seeker into their community. ‘It is estimated that approximately 80,000 asylum-seeking children live in the UK, of whom the greatest number, 62,000, live in Greater London’ (Rutter, 2002). The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, ‘now represent approximately 6 per cent of all children in care, mainly concentrated in London and the South East’ (HMSO, 2003: 35, 2.50). Thus it is imperative that the policies and practices of schools enable educators to provide for these learners’ educational needs in a practical and understanding manner.

Clarke writes:

One of the many entitlements often denied young asylum-seekers and refugees is the chance to be normal the right to be part of a school community and a life dominated not by the local consequences of bloody international conflicts but by moaning about exams, sneaking guilty World-Cup-watching revision breaks. (2003: 177)

There may therefore be a requirement to provide a mixture of learning environments, a variety of group-learning situations and of strategies and skills to meet their varied needs.

So what may asylum seekers experience as barriers to their learning? Clarke (2003) has identified a number of factors that she considers are some of the most common difficulties asylum seekers may experience:

■ English language level may be low and this will therefore also affect their ability to concentrate in a classroom;

■ obtaining resources for these learners can be difficult as they can arrive from anywhere in the world;

■ a difficulty with understanding classroom expectations and protocols, the irrelevance of the curriculum, and poor study skills;

■ these children may experience depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome due to past experiences;

■ if unaccompanied, the lack of a key adult can make life problematic;

■ fear of deportation and dispersal for those who have not been granted at least an Extended Leave to Remain (short-term refuge, usually until their 18th birthday) if not full refugee status;

■ inadequate or inconsistent housing does not help establish a routine or a feeling of security and can affect their ability to attend school regularly or to even complete homework, etc.

Discussion

There are many issues to consider when a learner who is also an asylum seeker joins a school community. How would you, and the establishment in which you work, support this learner so that he/she may experience both a chance to be normal and a positive education environment? Are there any other professionals or agencies you may consider consulting to assist you in this task? If so, which?