engleski

How children understand social integration: Perspective of refugee children and their host- society peers

Purpose: The aim was to explore the process of social integration of refugee children in Croatia. Background: According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to education, which is implemented in the legal acts in Croatia, where refugee children are included into the school system within 30 days upon arrival. School is the place where children spend a lot of time and where social interaction occurs naturally. Refugees’ social relations with host-society peers are a key factor for their successful integration into a new community. Since social integration is necessarily a two-way process, the perspectives of both refugee children and their host society peers were explored. Methods: We conducted a qualitative study in six elementary schools in Zagreb, exploring perspectives of both refugee and host-society children, regarding their intergroup social relations and inclusion in Croatian elementary schools. We interviewed fifteen refugee children aged from eight to fifteen and conducted seven focus group discussions with their classmates (N = 50). Results: Both groups realise that social interaction is predominantly limited to the classroom context and often on teachers’ demand. The main barrier to closer intergroup relations is language. However, negative intergroup behavior is rarely mentioned and both groups expressed their willingness to build closer relations with their peers. Conclusions: Since close social relations between refugee and host-society children are rare, there is a need for intervention programs focused on building intergroup friendships not only in elementary schools, but also within the local community.

refugees ; social integration ; children’s perspective ; intergroup relations

nije evidentirano