School Principals Views on Syrian Refugee Students’ Education in Turkey: Challenges and Recommendations

Metin Özkan, Özgür Çakmak

Abstract


The aim of the present study was to identify the administrative problems that school principals face at schools in the city located in the east of Turkey with high Syrian student population and to provide suggestions for overcoming these problems. The city is a province in Turkey having the highest ratio of Syrian to Turkish population with 95.61 %. Therefore, the city is an important topic for the education and social integration of Syrian students. Based on the findings, it has been identified that school principals experience problems such as language and communication problems, crowded classrooms and environments, registration uncertainties, accordance between the parents (Turkish-Syrian), school culture, discipline and behavior. In addition, problems were also identified under headings such as financial resource insufficiency, personnel requirements and in-service training requirements. It has been emphasized that making courses more active, increasing the number of course hours for the targeted culture language will be more beneficial for overcoming the language issues. It has also been indicated that equal distribution of Syrian students to the schools and balancing the student ratio in the province through the use of transportation options if necessary will also be beneficial.

Keywords


Syrian Refugees, School Principal, Refugee Education Problems, Language Barriers, Turkey

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References


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.9n.2p.125

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