engleski

Refugee education in Croatia from relevant stakeholders’ and asylees’ perspectives

The aim of the presentation is to share the insights of the recent study exploring the needs and challenges related to the integration of the asylees in 30 local communities in Croatia. We focus here on the adjustments and challenges of Croatian educational system that were put forward in the interviews and focus groups with: i) relevant educational stakeholders (school staff, representatives of local authorities and organisations responsible for refugee education provision) and ii) asylees themselves. The results reveal the lack of experience in refugee education in most of the selected local communities. Language acquisition, which was recognized as crucial for the successful integration by the stakeholders and by asylees, was often reported to run with obstacles. Several topics emerged as stumbling blocks of school enrolment: lack of (educated) school staff, uncertainty of the procedures and jurisdictions, financial and administrative issues, lack of targeted professional development programmes for school staff and lack of motivation of asylees due to perceiving Croatia as a temporary station on the predetermined path. At the same time, majority of the asylees expressed satisfaction with their or their children’s experiences related to education.

refugees ; education ; local communities ; Croatia

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