G7 Italy-digi

Citizen safety
ISTOCK / SILKFACTORY
Quality learning
depends on quality
teaching. And
teacher training,
development, and
support are vital to
quality teaching
ISTOCK / SILKFACTORY
Volunteers serving lunch outside the Souda
refugee camp in Greece
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Political mistakes and inertia failed to
address cause of mass flow of refugees
Governments must provide refugees
with access to public education
Unaccompanied minors present
a major challenge
enable teachers to have more direct contact
with students, and professional autonomy
so that they can play a central role in
curriculum development, which is even
more critical for forcibly displaced children.
Quality education for refugees is not just
for the young, but for all ages. Often, they
will require language training and other
skills to adapt to their new homelands.
Empathy is key
As with other students, quality learning
depends on quality teaching. And teacher
training, development and support are vital
to quality teaching. Professional skills need
to be developed to allow teachers to better
understand and address the education
needs of refugees as well as the trauma
faced by many due to what they have
experienced, but also because of the shock
of being uprooted.
A major challenge for schools, but also
for communities (for example, housing and
other services), is unaccompanied minors.
There are many such refugees. They are
separated from their homelands, also from
their families. In some cases, they are the
only survivors in their families. They have
often experienced dangerous and traumatic
journeys and conditions (including, at times,
trafficking) and require attention and
sensitivity from professional teachers and
school leaders, comprehensive policies,
and cooperation with other public bodies.
Many refugees are teachers. In some
cases, they were targets of repressive
regimes or non-state actors perpetrating
violence and oppression. As far as possible,
they should be involved in education
under the leadership of certified teachers
and their teaching credentials should be
recognised.
The mission of education includes
democracy, respect and human rights,
values which may or may not have been
part of education in refugees' countries of
origin. In some cases, this will also require
special attention to the rights of girls and
women. Girls may have been deprived
of education or other rights. This entails
emphasis on equality issues in education,
and also engagement with parents and
communities.
Education concerning refugees is not,
however, just about educating refugees. It is
also about educating non-refugee children
and host communities. Refugees too often
face barriers of discrimination, bigotry and
xenophobia. It is difficult to flourish where
you are planted if the soil has been poisoned.
Refugees contribute to communities
and economies, and also to education. As
John Dewey, the American educator and
philosopher said early in the last century,
“The intermingling in the school of youth
of different races, differing religions, and
unlike customs creates for all a new and
broader environment.” G7
g7g20.com May 2017 • G7 Italy: The Taormina Summit 43