Current conditions and issues at Temporary Education Centres (TECs) for Syrian child refugees in Turkey

Abstract

Since the outbreak of Syrian conflict 2011, Turkey has received more than 3.5 million refugees, including a great number of school-aged children. Providing education to Syrian child refugees has therefore become important in Turkey. To effectively deal with this issue, Turkish government has developed educational policies and legal arrangements. Establishing Temporary Education Centres providing education in Arabic based on an adapted Syrian curriculum, was one of the main changes in Turkish educational system to accommodate Syrian child refugees. This paper aims to present the current conditions and issues at TECs based on views of Syrian teachers working in these centres. The findings show that TECs have faced several challenges, which can be categorized under three themes: infrastructral, student-related, and teacher-related challenges. The issues related to each of themes are disscussed based on the views of teachers working in TECs and suggestions relevant to both policymakers and researchers are presented in this paper. © 2020, © 2020 Korean Association for Multicultural Education.