Participatory parity in schooling and moves towards ordinariness: a comparison of refugee education policy and practice in England and Sweden

ABSTRACT

Within the current global refugee crisis this paper emphasises the fundamental role of education in facilitating the integration of young new arrivals. It argues that a humanitarian problem of such scale requires a commensurate humanitarian response in the form of socially-just educational policies and practices in resettlement contexts within Europe. Utilising the theoretical concepts, ‘participatory parity’ (Fraser) and ‘resumption of an ordinary life’ (Kohli), we explore educational policy-making in Sweden and England, noting how the framing of these policies indicates how different nation states view their role in the global migration crisis. In England, child refugees are rendered invisible and not a legitimate focus of national educational policy, whereas in Sweden they are foregrounded in policy discourse though not necessarily in policy enactment. The paper concludes that newly arrived future citizens of Europe require socially-just policy and practice to best serve their own and their resettlement context’s best interests.

KEYWORDS:

• refugee education
• policy
• resettlement
• forced migration
• social justice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by seed funding from The University of Nottingham and Lund University.