ABSTRACT
Many refugee families face challenges in their new educational environments. This qualitative research study aims to explore the experiences of six Syrian refugee families who arrived in Iceland from Lebanon in 2016 and settled in three municipalities (Stjórnarráð Íslands Citation2019) and their children in their preschool settings; and to explore the experiences of staff in their preschools. The theoretical framework of the study includes critical approaches to education (May and Sleeter Citation2010) and multilingual education for social justice (Cummins Citation2004). The findings indicate that while most of the children are doing well in the preschools according to the teachers and parents, many challenges have appeared, including the illiteracy of some of the parents as well as differences in values, languages and expectations between the schools and the parents.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).