The Scottish Government

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

People have sought asylum ¹ in Scotland for many years, but with relatively few points of international arrival and therefore less opportunity for application for asylum at point of entry, the refugee population there has been different from that in England. A proportion of refugees and people seeking asylum in Scotland until recently were students or former students of Scottish higher education establishments, some of whom had been caught mid-course by war or political changes in their home country (Closs et al, 2000). At that time around eighty percent of people seeking asylum in Scotland were reported to be men (Macaskill and Petrie, 2000). However, in 1999 just over 300 refugees from Kosova arrived in Scotland under the UK government's Humanitarian Evacuation Programme. They represented a cross-section of their society, and their arrival resulted in a dramatic rise in numbers and a change in the profile of people seeking asylum and refugees in Scotland. Since then, with the increased dispersal of people seeking asylum out of London and the south east of England under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Scotland has received asylum seeking individuals and families from a range of sending countries.

There are no accurate demographic data on the number of asylum-seeking and refugee children in Scottish (or indeed any UK) schools, since disclosure of immigration status in voluntary, and known cases might be less than total numbers present. Estimates are often based on country of origin, home language, etc., and agencies' estimates may differ. Scottish Executive figures for 2005 ² (the year in which the main fieldwork was carried out) suggested this to be approximately 2,260 (in 2006, the approximate figure was 2,300 ³), whilst National Asylum Support Service ( NASS) figures for 2004, based on the number of asylum-seeking and refugee children housed by them, suggest it to be around 3,500. Multiverse Consortium data indicate a city in Scotland to be one of only three UK cities outside of London with more than 2,000 asylum seeking/refugee pupils in its school population (Multiverse, 2004).

Research shows that refugee and asylum seeking children are a very diverse group, coming from a range of countries and social backgrounds. But they have some experiences in common, which are likely to affect them more than other groups of children:

• the experience of overwhelmingly traumatic events which may lead to a need for psychological interventions;
• being targeted for bullying, often of a racist nature, alongside isolation in school;
• the likelihood of having parents who are unemployed, living in temporary accommodation and thus economically disadvantaged;
• the likelihood of needing support in learning English; and
• the possibility of having to act as language brokers and advocates for parents who speak less English than they do.
  (Candappa and Egharevba, 2000; Jones and Rutter, 1998; Rutter, 1994; Stead et al, 1999).

As a universalist service, the school is, in principle, well placed to play a pivotal role in helping asylum seeking/refugee children adjust to their new lives in the host country. For many refugee and asylum seeking children it may be the only statutory agency from which they derive support (Candappa and Egharevba, 2000), and recent research in Scotland has underlined the importance of the school for asylum seeking/refugee pupils (Macaskill and Petrie, 2000; Save the Children and Greater Glasgow Council, 2002).

All children in Scotland have full rights to education. The Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended, states that all children, which by implication includes asylum-seeking and refugee children, are entitled to school education. Additionally, the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 states that:

it shall be the duty of the authority to secure that the education is directed to the development of the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of the child or young person to their fullest potential...

More recently, the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, which came into force while this study was underway, gives education authorities a duty to establish procedures for identifying and meeting additional support needs of every child for whose education they are responsible. Other key legislation includes the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, which requires local authorities to ensure that they have taken into account a child's racial, linguistic, cultural and religious identity within their service (including education) provision. Additionally, the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 - which came into effect in Scotland in 2002, brings in a statutory duty for public authorities to promote racial equality.

However, research undertaken in 1999 suggested that 'the ability of Scottish local education authorities to meet refugee needs effectively and fairly remains to be seen' (Arshad et al, 1999). That research investigated, inter alia, whether education authorities had specific policy statements on refugees, and if any policies in operation at the time were seen as relevant for supporting refugee pupils. Their findings indicate that few schools had specific education policies on refugees. Some schools had Refugee Forums, though their individual compositions differed, from multi-agency to local government-level only. The value of multi-agency working in developing policy for refugees, suggested in an English study (Warren and Vincent, 1998), is relevant in this context.

Arshad et al's (1999) study further found that the ESL/ EAL service played an important role in identifying or supporting refugee pupils and their teachers. Evidence also suggested that authorities and schools seeking to embed multicultural/anti-racist education into their policy development and curriculum delivery were best placed to support refugees, even though some may not have had a diverse ethnic pupil population at the time. Factors that might 'nurture a caring school', such as the need to understand and empathise with the needs of pupils, including contextualising pupils' experiences in relation to previous experiences, are also highlighted in this research.

1.2 Research aims and objectives

The study that is the subject of this report was commissioned by the Scottish Executive Schools Directorate to take stock of issues relating to the education of asylum-seeking and refugee pupils. The aims of the research were to:

• provide an overview of the current education provision for asylum seeking/refugee children, in primary and secondary settings
• identify what might constitute 'best practice' within the context of Scottish education for the integration of asylum seeking/refugee pupils into schools as successful learners and members of the school community.

Within these broad aims, the study had the following specific objectives:

• to ascertain whether and to what extent policy and practice in relation to asylum seeking and refugee children has changed in Scotland since research conducted in 1999 by the Scottish Centre for Research in Education - SCRE (Stead, Closs and Arshad, 1999)
• to review policies relating to asylum seeking and refugee pupils in two selected Scottish cities at education authority-level and in relation to selected primary and secondary schools in these education authorities
• to compare local policies and practice in the selected Scottish cities with those in two local education authorities ( LEAs) in England, and selected schools in the four areas where recognised good practice has been developed
• to explore the educational experiences of asylum seeking and refugee pupils from a range of backgrounds at primary and secondary schools, and consider whether and how educational provision for such children has changed since the 1999 SCRE research (cited above)
• to investigate the kinds and levels of support needed, the barriers to successful learning and integration into schools, as well as solutions identified by case study schools selected on the basis of good practice
• to explore the views of parents/carers of asylum seeking/refugee children on the school experiences of these children
• to identify key issues relating to education and integration into schools for asylum seeking/refugee pupils in Scotland in conjunction with key stakeholders in the field.

The Scottish Executive subsequently requested further information relating to policy and practice towards asylum-seeking and refugee pupils developed in the Education Authorities where case studies were sited, to cover:

• strategic approaches to supporting asylum-seeking and refugee pupils
• policies in place to directly support asylum-seeking and refugee pupils and other policies that may be relevant to this group
• examples of good practice that have been developed in schools
• approaches to further developing relevant policies

1.3 Methodology

The research was undertaken by the Thomas Coram Research Unit ( TCRU), Institute of Education, University of London, and directed by Mano Candappa. The study was implemented in collaboration with and strongly supported by Nick Putnam from the Scottish Refugee Council, and Jennifer Turpie and Natalie Morgan-Klein from Children in Scotland. Miriam Ahmad, Ben Balata, Rayenne Dekhinet, and Dogan Gocmen worked as bilingual researchers on the project, and conducted the majority of interviews with young people and parents. The main fieldwork element of the study commenced on 20 June 2005 and was conducted over a seven-month period. Two officers each from the two selected Scottish education authorities were subsequently interviewed for the extension study in November 2006 and January 2007 respectively.

The study comprised two separate but related parts:

(a) a background survey of Scottish Education Authorities; and

(b) empirical study in two Scottish cities, and in two selected local education authorities in England.

(a) Background survey of Scottish Education Authorities: This was designed to explore education policies used by authorities to support the learning of specific pupil groups such as bilingual learners (not solely asylum-seeking and refugee pupils), and intended to provide baseline data for future work in this area.

Prior to the survey, every Scottish Education Authority was contacted by SEED in July 2005 to inform them of the study, to invite their participation, and to ask for contact details of a named officer for the purposes of the survey. By the end of August 2005, 30 authorities had responded positively and provided the required contact details; the remaining two authorities did not respond. A short self-completion questionnaire was dispatched electronically by TCRU to all 32 authorities in November. The questionnaire sought to explore:

• types of data collected by authorities in relation to bilingual learners, additional support needs (other than specific educational needs), mid-term arrivals, and asylum-seeking and refugee children;
• whether authorities had specific policies for supporting the above groups, as well as on related issues of anti-racism and anti-bullying; and
• whether specific streams of funding were available to authorities to support work in the above areas.

Respondents had the option of completing the questionnaire on-line or in hard copy. Reminder letters were sent out electronically to non-respondents on 8 December, offering to extend the deadline for receipt for those requiring further time for completion. A further reminder was sent out to those requesting further time in January 2006.

(b) Empirical study in two Scottish cities, and in two selected local education authorities in England: This part of the study focused on asylum-seeking and refugee children and young people, and its purpose was to investigate 'good practice', to determine how best to support these children so that they might be successful learners and members of the school community. Research in the Scottish cities was more in-depth to provide detailed data specific to the Scottish context, and to identify existing good practice in Scotland. Research in the English authorities was at policy level only, to give an overview of practice in other authorities with experience of working with asylum-seeking and refugee children, that could be relevant in further developing best practice in Scotland. The research comprised three elements:

• research in schools
• interviews with children and young people
• interviews with parents.

Research instruments were developed through consultation with a stakeholder group of key individuals and organisations working in the field of refugee education and support in Scotland, and through issues arising from the research literature.

Research in schools: Two primary and two secondary schools in each of the two Scottish authorities were selected for study, from a list of schools recommended as examples of good practice by the respective education authorities. Those selected included denominational and non-denominational schools in both cities; and in the dispersal city, also schools that had been multi-cultural prior to dispersal policies, and those that had been largely mono-cultural prior to that time, plus one school that had won awards for inclusive practice. One primary and one secondary school in each of two English local education authorities ( LEAs) were also similarly selected for study. One of these was a metropolitan borough, and had high numbers of people seeking asylum and refugees, to 'match' City 1 in Scotland; the other was a county with very small numbers, to 'match' City 2 in Scotland. Schools in the English LEAs were also selected on the basis of positive practice towards asylum-seeking and refugee pupils, and chosen with the help of LEA officers responsible for support in this area.

In each of the study schools the Head and/or a senior teacher was interviewed and documentary evidence collected. Interviews with Heads/teachers were semi-structured, and covered the school's history of having asylum-seeking and refugee pupils within its population; school policy and practice towards supporting these children's needs; information gathered on these children and how their progress in the school is monitored; language issues in relation to communication with the child and his/her family; extra-curricular provision within the school; staffing; and outside support available to the school, including from education authorities, for its work with asylum-seeking and refugee students.

Interviews with children and young people: A total of 28 asylum-seeking/refugee children and young people were interviewed for the study, 20 in City 1 and eight in City 2. Interviewees were drawn from study schools and from a College of Further Education, and interviews were held at the respective schools and college.

The low numbers of interviewees from City 2 as compared with City 1 is related to the difference in numbers of asylum-seeking and refugee pupils in their respective schools' population. A larger number of interviewees were male (19). This was a result of (a) fewer girls being found in the City 2 study schools; and (b) only one young woman from a group of unaccompanied minors at the College of Further Education self-selecting for interview. A breakdown of interviewees by age and gender can be found at Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Interviews with young people: breakdown by age and gender

Interviewees came from three broad geographical regions, and represent major refugee community groups in Scotland, as seen in Table 1.2 below.

Table 1.2: Interviews with young people: breakdown by gender and sending regions

Interviewees were given the option of being interviewed in English or in community languages, as preferred, and bilingual researchers who were native speakers of Arabic, French, Kurdish, Turkish and Urdu were available for conducting interviews. A note on process relating to planning for and delivering this part of the research can be found at Annex B.

Data collection: All interviews were qualitative and semi-structured. Interviews with children and young people who were at school sought to explore (i) their first experiences of schooling in Scotland; (ii) their present school experiences, including access to the curriculum, ability to cope with homework, social and pastoral supports, and school actions against racism, bullying, homophobia, and in relation to equal opportunities; (iii) wider social issues that could impact on their education and schooling, such as responsibilities towards their homes and families, friendships and social networks, and racism or bullying experienced outside the school; and (iv) their hopes and concerns for the future. These issues were discussed with interviewees at a level appropriate to each individual's age and understanding, and took about an hour on average. Interviews with young people who were not at school were less wide-ranging, and investigated (i) their educational careers up to the present, including access to English language supports; (ii) issues that could impact on their educational progress, such as social life and availability of social supports; and (iii) perceptions of their career and future prospects. These interviews took about 45 minutes on average.

Interviews with parents: Interviews were conducted with a total of 14 parents (ten individuals and two couples) in City 1 and City 2. Two parents resided in City 2, the rest (including the two couples) came from City 1. One parent and the two couples were interviewed individually, the rest in small groups of 2 to 3.

In recruiting parents for interview a multi-pronged approach was adopted, with invitations extended through study schools, the Scottish Refugee Council, and researchers' personal contacts. However, the majority of responding parents were from one study school in City 1, which has developed strong links with parents as part of its approach to supporting asylum-seeking and refugee pupils. A breakdown of parent interviewees by gender and geographic region of origin is shown in Table 1.3.

Table 1.3: Interviews with parents by gender and sending region

Interviews with parents were semi-structured, and explored issues around, (i) the start of their children's schooling in Scotland; (ii) their children's educational progress and the home-school relations; and (iii) related factors such as racism and bullying. An interview with Somali parents in City 1 was conducted through an interpreter, two interviews in City 1 and one in City 2 were conducted in English, the rest were conducted directly by researchers in community languages. One parent interview was held at a study school, the rest at Scottish Refugee Council premises in each of the two cities. Parent interviews took about 45 minutes on average.

1.4 Structure of the report

The rest of this report is structured around the study data and related issues. Chapter two presents findings from the survey and discusses their implications; and Chapter three focuses on data from interviews with children and young people and parents, presented thematically, for each of the two Scottish cities. Chapter four explores policy and practice developed in the four case study authorities, and good practice developed in study schools that might inform service development. Data on the English authorities reflect their situation at the time of the initial fieldwork, whilst data on the Scottish authorities include information from the extension to the original study. Conclusions from the research are drawn in Chapter five. Three Annexes provide references,a note on preparing for and implementing interviews with students and parents, and useful contacts and resources, respectively.

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