Teachers' Attitudes about Teaching Adolescent Refugee Students

• Main Author: Daniel, Lynn Rochelle
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Adolescents; Curriculum Design; Data Analysis; Educational Development; Educational Environment; Educational Needs; Educational Quality; Individualized Instruction; Language Acquisition; Language arts; Language Skills; Literature Reviews; Pedagogy; Reading instruction; Student Experience; Teaching Methods
• ISBN: 9798582505198

Attitudes are bound by beliefs, and beliefs are bound to practices that can influence policy for the instruction and learning of refugee students. In the twenty-first century, the importance of making education accessible to students outside of the mainstream is paramount for their academic success. However, a lack of teacher preparation for educating adolescent refugee students can reinforce a lack of inclusion for these students, so in today’s world, training that improves teachers’ understanding of the needs of adolescent refugee students must be adequate. In the literature on refugee student (newcomers) education, policy frameworks on inclusive practices speak to the problem of access to education for adolescent refugee students. This means research, theory, and practice for adolescent refugee students have the potential to shift pedagogical paradigms and strategies for improved instruction and learning. The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ instructional approaches along with the kinds of support and training teachers need to be able to create the best instructional environment for this population of students. For this, one main question and three sub-questions regarding language literacy and instructional experiences of participants were researched. This study reflected the divergent cultural, language, and literacy instructional realities of teachers of adolescent refugee students. The results demonstrate the diverse instructional realities of participants regarding non-indigenous students. These findings offer new insights into how teachers of adolescent refugee students understand and implement formal schooling for these students and reflect on the realities of the teachers’ lived educational experiences.