Revisiting Resilience: Case of Syrian Children in Turkish Education Ecosystem

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097685/v1

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Revisiting Resilience: Case of Syrian Children in Turkish Education Ecosystem

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4097685/v1

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Resilience is studied by researchers from various disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry and biological disciplines. Though the resiliency literature has expanded to a considerable extent, only a few studies have examined the resiliency patterns in child asylum-seekers/refugees. Using the constructivist perspective, the aim of the research to identify whether Syrian asylum-seeker children are able to develop resilience in Turkish education system. The date for this research were collected through a comprehensive field work based on interviews with a total of 100 Syrian children who are in the Turkish education system aged 13–18 living in Turkey, Kocaeli province. In the study, participants identified eight resilience strategies to deal with current traumatic stress generators and five education resilience parameters. These strategies positively influenced Syrian children to strengthen their sense of belonging, self-confidence and self-esteem. Based on the results, %64,4 of the participants believed that education is a significant tool to deal with struggles in host society; %60,6 stated education enabled them to find out their abilities; %81,6 emphasized if they did not join a class, they could feel more anxious and depressed; %82,2 reported that they have a fulfilling relationship with their teachers, %88,9 stated that they feel safe at school environment.

Education resilience

asylum-seeker children

host society

post-migration traumatic experience

resilience parameters

The notion of resilience has been widely used in recent years especially in psychology literature. The word resilience comes from the present participle of the Latin verb resilire, meaning "elasticity” (World Bank Group, 2017, p. 24). Though the definition of the term has been conceptualized by different disciplines, a common denominator of the definitions is the power of standing back up in the face of hurdles and challenges. Resiliency explained as an inner power that derives individuals to achieve a sense of sef-worth, pursue self-actualization, face and overcome the experiences of adversity, allowing them to adapt to traumatic life experiences (Richardson & Waite, 2002; Winblad, Changaris, & Stein, 2018). In the contemporary world, resilience studies primarily focus on the adaptive capacities of individuals in the face of traumatic events (Werner & Smith, 1982; Rutter, 1993; Bonanno, 2004; US Aid, 2013); community groups (Sonn & Fisher, 1998) and ecosystems (Godschalk, 2003).

In early resilience studies, the definition of the notion is described as ‘close relationships with competent and caring adults in the family’ and ‘community’, ‘self-regulation abilities’, ‘positive views of self’, ‘motivation to be effective in the environment’ and ‘friendships and romantic attachments with prosocial and well-regulated peers’ (Cicchetti, 2010, s. 147). Other factors that contribute to resiliency associated outcomes include ‘self-reliance’, ‘self-esteem’, ‘optimism’, ‘hope’, ‘ability to control risks’ and ‘internal locus of control’ (Werner & Smith, 1982; Rutter, 1987; Garmezy, 1991; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998). While there are various definitions of resilience, the notion was referred to dynamic and multidimensional process through which individuals are able to reach positive outcomes within the context of severe adversities (Werner & Smith, 1982; Masten, Best, & Garmezy, 1990; Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000; Olsson, Bond, Burns, & Vella-Brodrick, 2003). Resilience is also defined as a trait which favours the argument that people are assumed resilient due to their personal characteristic (Connor & Davidson, 2003).

The researches of resilience have become widespread following observations and studies focus on vulnerable population groups who have the ability to develop adaptive outcomes and bounce back from threats when faced with (Werner & Smith, 1992; Masten, 2001). One of the most prominent populations analysed in resilience studies are children who are exposed to social adversity due to severe circumstances such as lack of education, nutrition, freedom of movement due to forced migration, protracted wars and poverty (Harrell-Bond, 2000). Young refugees are considered to be signficantly vulnerable group due to exposing to psychological distress caused by traumatic life experiences in their country of origin and the adaptation challenges to a new life and culture in the host country (Bean, Derluyn, Eurelings-Bontekoe, Broekaert, & Spinhoven, 2007).

Most studies of resilience development associate low levels of resilience with psychiatric distress and post-stress domains, and define resilience as a quantitative variable (B. Amstadter, M. Myers, & Kendler, 2018). While some longitudinal studies aim to examine the strength of coping strategies of war-affected children exposed to severe trauma and to predict short- and long-term post-traumatic stress reactions (Kuterovac-Jagodić, 2002), other studies examine protective processes that contribute to children's mental health and provide a pathway for the development of resilience in war-affected children (Betancourt & Tanveer Khan, 2008). (Mohamed & Thomas, 2017); (Betancourt, Brennan, Rubin-Smith, Fitzmaurice, & Gilman, 2010); (Fayyad, et al., 2016). The majority of research on resilience has linked the development of resilience to protective factors and only covers sufficient functioning despite adverse life experiences. However, there is a need for more qualitative studies that include contextual, socio-cultural and gender variables that are at the heart of resilience research.

As various reserachers emphasized that child resilience should not be interpreted solely as an individual or parental effort to develop positive life outputs (Angelkovski, 2016) but as an ongoing process that may compromise various systems (Este & Van Ngo, 2011, s. 29). As Wright and Masten implied family, school, community and culture affect the child’s ability to be a resilient individual (Masten & Powell, 2003, s. 17). Some studies investigated school environment promotes psychosocial well-being contribute to developing skills such as appropriate communication, collaboration, empathy, and resilience (Stermac, K. Clarke, & Brown, 2013); (Abu-Amsha & Armstrong, 2018).

Education resilience is “the heightened likelihood of success in school and other life accomplishments despite environmental adversities brought about by early traits, conditions, and experiences” ( C. Wang, Haertel, & Walberg, 1994, s. 46). In a study designed to investigate potential resilience factors related to five socio-ecological levels: child, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macro system. The findings proved significant heterogeneity whereas microsystemic and mesosystemic factors were found to play the most important role in educational resilience. Within the framework of the study, eighteen articles were reviewed and twenty-six factors were identified as risk and resilience factors.

Education and schooling for refugee youth has the potential to support displaced individuals to develop resilience, yet little evidence exist to demonstrate effectiveness of schooling and/or educational programming in developing resilience. Although the education of refugee children and adolescents has been extensively analysed, there is a need to rigorously assess the gendered experiences and the role of peers, family members and teachers in influencing refugee children's well-being. Moreover, some findings emphasize the significance of hearing the voice of refugee children in interpreting what it means to be educationally resilient (Chase, 2009); (Kohli, 2006).

The rationale for this research was driven by the relative lack of qualitative research on resilience development taking into account gender differences, cultural stereotypes and peer-to-peer relationships. In this respect, in the absence of agreement on how resilience is constructed in young refugees, qualitative measures are signifcantly helpful because they seek answers to questions about the 'how' or 'why’ (Green & Nicki, 2018) and these measures can identify culture-specific and contextual factors associated with resilience-building (Ungar & Nichol, 2002).

The Study

The political tensions that began in 2011 spiralled into a multi-faceted, protracted war in Syria. Ten years of civil war have unleashed one of the world's worst disasters, and the humanitarian crisis caused by the Syrian civil war is far from over. More than eleven million Syrians have forced to fled their homes since civil war began in 2011. Syria's immediate neighbours have taken in most of those fleeing across their borders, and no country has done more to shelter the homeless than Turkey, which hosts the world's largest refugee population, including 3.7 million Syrians under temporary protection. Over 98 per cent of refugees in Turkey live in host communities, and less than 2 percent live in Temporary Accommodation Centres (UNHCR, 2020). Among the Syrians who have found shelter in Turkey, there are around 1.2 million school-age children between the ages of 5 and 17. Although Turkey has been reluctant to develop a long-term education strategy for Syrian children, the growing number of school-age children has prompted Turkey to take steps to provide children with free and compulsory primary education. According to the latest data (2021), 64.40% of Syrians in Turkey are currently enrolled in school. According to the Ministry of Education data, the enrolment rates of these students are 26% in kindergarten, 78% in primary school, 79% in middle school and 39% in high school (Directorate General of Life-Long Learning, 2021).

With the aim of contributing to the identification of patterns in the development of resilience in migrant children, the study seeks to answer the following questions:

Does being part of the education system encourage Syrian children to achieve positive outcomes and build resilience?

How Syrian refugee children define resilience?

The current research took place in Turkey, involving five schools in the Darıca district of the East Marmara region. The research aimed to explore how Syrian children perceive the factors that contribute to the development of their resilience, and whether they have a positive perception of the Turkish education system, which has contributed to the development of their resilience. The research questions explored in depth the resilience patterns of children in the education system. The research focused solely on educational functioning, as multiple domains make assessment more difficult. Therefore, clarifying the operational definition of educational resilience for Syrian children living in a specific location in Turkey and identifying group-specific analytical variables is of paramount importance.

Participants

The research focused mainly on Syrian children aged 13–18 who have been living in Turkey for more than 10 years. The data for the study was collected in 2019. The researcher chose the target group between the ages of 13–18, assuming that they were sufficiently familiar with the Turkish education system and were able to express their feelings and thoughts clearly.

The children in sample group, are dwelling in Darıca province located in the East Marmara region of Turkey. Darıca is an important location in terms of sheltering the majority of Syrian asylum seekers in the East Marmara region, where a temporary education centre has been established, marking the district as a point of attraction for Syrian families. Based on interviews with local administrators, it was reported that the temporary education centre was closed shortly after it became a new ghetto area where Syrian children were isolated and excluded from the rest of society. After the closure of the center, the Syrian children were distributed among the regular schools in Darıca.

According to the data received from the local authorities, a total of 1687 Syrian students in the formal education system (pre-school, primary and secondary schools) were identified in Darıca. According to the official statistics of the Darıca District National Education Directorate, 125 students between the ages of 13–18 were identified out of 1,687 students. Of these 125, only 25 were not interviewed because they were absent from school. A convenience sample of Syrian children of both genders, aged 13–18 years, living in Darıca district was selected from a population of 1,687. The researcher was able to interview all of the target students, allowing the researcher to obtain relevant information by capturing a representative percentage of the target population. The pre-identified 100 potential participants were given the opportunity to decline participation. The questionnaire was pilot-tested on 10 Syrian students to ensure the validity of the answers and to guarantee its reliability. The survey was carried out during April and May 2019.

Initially, 100 students from five schools were interviewed using a semi-structured, pre-designed questionnaire consisting of a total of 25 questions which were both closed and open-ended. The questionnaire collected data on participants' demographic and socio-economic characteristics (such as age, gender, parents' educational attainment and current employment status, and perceived household income). Information was also collected on their academic performance, teacher support, educational expectations, peer cohesion and family support.

Out of 100 students, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 students selected using a purposive sampling strategy. They had a good command of Turkish and were keen to talk more about their experiences. These intentionally selected group of participants helped researcher to understand and interpret phenomenon of resilience in a more coherent and comprehensive manner. Each student was interviewed separately in a quiet and spacious public space at their school, where there was plenty of separation and privacy from others. Prior to the interviews, the researcher informed the participants of the purpose of the research. In the event of emotional distress or discomfort, the researcher informed participants that they had the right to take a break, skip a question, stop the interview, or withdraw from the research at any time. Ethical aspects were taken into account in several ways: (1) questionnaires were send to university and looked through by the faculty members on the Ethics Committee (2) Interviews were conducted on informed consent by the parents. Prior to interviews, families were informed about the research and a formal consent paper was received from Darıca Directorate of National Education (3) Interview dates were scheduled in collaboration with the Directorate of National Education. Interviews were conducted in a normative setting under the supervision of the researcher so each student was interviewed at their schools.

Research Instruments

Descriptive analysis were conducted to assess the socio-demographic features of the study sample. In the sample, results were categorized under the titles of “demographic measures”, “relations with peer groups”, “overall assessment of education, “academic scores”, “the effects of education to their talents, abilities, capabilities and psychologic resiliencies”, household responsibilities”, “teacher-student relations”, “family-school-student relations”, “students’ general needs”, “general perception of security”, “financial situation of households”, “employment situation of children”, “perception of self-confidence” are profoundly analyzed based on gender differences.

The reseracher applied grounded theory analysis to ensure systematic data collection, analysis process and transforming it into concepts in order to get clues about children’ own resilience indicators. Through the research, grounded theory analysis were employed on a three stepped process (initial coding, axial coding, theoretical coding). (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Glaser, 1992; Charmaz, 2006). Factors and processes based on participants’ direct remarks promoted or inhibit their resiliency education were coded. Data collected each day was linked together to build a relational model around a central category that holds all concepts together. The researchers wrote more than 150 memos about concepts and insights acquired from interviews. Participants’ sentences, ideas and comments were preliminary tools to detect the bonds among variables. Collected data were analyzed as follows: finding relationships between categories and sub-categories, linking categories and/or sub categories, integrating categories with the validated relationships among concepts (Harding & Whitehead, 2013).

Socio-Demographic Profile Results

The age of participants ranged from 15 to 17 years with 47,5% identified as female, 52,5% male. Family’s median residency term in Turkey is 7 years. Eight out of 10 children are in the Turkish education system for 3 years. While %81,6 of participants reported that they get on well with their Syrian peers; %61,6 get on well with their Turkish peers at school. Participants who get on well with Syrian peers stated they are likely to be targeted among their Turkish peers as bully-victims for the way they get dressed, eating different foodstuff and having a different accent. %94,9 of the participants reported that accessing a qualified education is a positive asset for a promising future; however, only %40,4 of the participants stated that they have a good command of lessons instructed in Turkish language.

On the other hand, %64,4 of the respondents believed that education is a significant tool to deal with struggles in host society. %60,6 of the participants stated that education enabled them to find out their talents and abilities. To put it in other words, 6 out of 10 students claimed that education paved the way to foster their creativity and enhance divergent thinking. %81,6 of the participants conceived that if they did not join a class, they could feel even more anxious and depressed. %82,2 of the participants reported that they have a fulfilling relationship with their teachers. The majority of the students claimed that teachers can stipulate their learning process and keep their motivation up. %80,6 of the participants stated that when their academic scores are high, their parents appreciate them. In particular, children with more highly educated parents develop higher aspirations for their own education.

According to research, when children leave school to enter labor force, they are more likely to drop out of school. Based on the research findings, %11,76 of girls and %60,53 of the boys were reported to be in employment. Male participants stated that they work after school in service sector such as in a restaurant, café or hair dresser. Based on interviews with teachers, children in employment have lower academic record compared to their peers. Child labour in multiple sectors is one of the most paramount issues to be solved to accelerate child welfare in Turkey. As Yalçın put forward “in particular, recent news on the presence of massive Syrian child labor in the supply chains of major international brands gives us concrete insight into the extent of the problem. Being the third largest supplier of textiles to Europe, the Turkish textile industry increasingly relies on Syrian children’s cheap labor, which is becoming an integral part of the global supply chain used by European brands” (Yalçın, 2016, s. 91).

Gender appears as an important variable in terms of resilience and adaptation. Although the gender effect was not studied in studies on the adaptation of immigrant children in the first years, studies in the field have increased in recent years (Qin, 2006). Actually, gender differences in the pathways to resilience building of children were explored and dramatic gender differences were identified in resilience building process. In conflict, natural disasters, and other emergencies, girls face specific vulnerabilities and barriers that can frequently prevent their access to education (Rohwerder, 2016; Diamond & Oberg, 2019; Hattar-Pollara, 2019).

Analysis based on the gender of migrant children in war-affected regions and countries, showing that the experiences of females and males under war conditions are different. According to the interviews, female students are much more resilient than male students because females take on more family responsibilities (housework, caring for siblings, teaching brothers, etc.) than males. Even though gender stereotypes attributed to female students (such as cooking and cleaning) can lead to the emergence of various tensions and conflicts with their own families (Arab & Sagbakken, 2019), in-depth interviews with Syrian children revealed that female students act as 'bearers' by ensuring the continuity of their structures, and this function makes them even more resilient in the host society.

Grounded Theory Results

In the first step of data analysis, all the information gathered from the semi-structured demographic questions and the in-depth interview phases was collected and the codes were clustered into categories. From the raw data, over 50 individual concepts were coded from the children's utterances. The data was then grouped into related categories, including specific words and phrases, to reveal the interaction. For example, one category was identified as 'having a good command of Turkish', which describes a major setback in developing resilience. Categories were also classified according to gender differences. 14 categories for female students and 8 categories for male students emerged from the initial coding process.

The research was conducted based on a motivation of lack of studies conducted in Turkey specifically focused on Syrian children's strengths and challenges. Therefore, participants mostly talked about current motivators that help them build a sense of self-efficacy that will carry them through future challenges. They were also asked about current stress-generating factors that prevent them from developing positive outcomes at school. To conduct the initial coding, the researchers gained a general overview of the participants' insights into the cultivation of resilience and addressed the question "When do you feel strong and resilient? Table 1 shows initial codes in the resilience building process based on gender differences.

Table 1

Coding Table²
INITIAL CODING
When do you feel strong and resilient?
Female Students	Male Students
• Having a good command of Turkish	• Having a graduate degree
• Being faithful /practicing religious duties	• Having a profession /career
• Be appreciated by her parents	• Having an income-generating job
• Access to school / having academic success	• Feeling safe
• Peace and harmony in family	• Being successful
• Having freedom to act independently	• Having a financial back-up plan for family
• Having a profession and career	• Having an academic success
• Being self-reliant	• Having leisure time activities
• Coping with problems
• Helping family members and friends
• Having positive peer relations
• Having a remarkable ability in making dreams come true
• Thinking ahead / planning future
• Being with family members

² (Çalhan, 2019)

Based on initial coding interviews, while female students tend to feel strong and resilient in terms of moral and ethical aspects, male students' resilience is based more on material and financial motivations. The religious/spiritual motivation of female students is particularly noteworthy. Each interview was carefully scrutinised for overlap in terms of concepts and statements, and for similar words and meanings. The process of analysis included the following steps: (a) The researchers carried out an initial coding analysis based on the participants' narratives to identify the main themes of the research; (b) Following the initial coding, the data were re-arranged to define central phenomena from the categories and salient relationships between the categories. Sub-categories identified by axial coding were classified in themselves, which was carried out after the core variable was identified. The core explains the attitudes and main concerns of the participants (c) Once the core variable has been identified, the researcher selectively codes the data associated with the core to refine the integrated categories for theory building (Corbin & Strauss, 1998), (Glaser B. G., 1992). Basic parameters for assessing children's resilience have been established.

Participants identified both hypothetical and current motivators that could make them resilient. Current central resilience motivators were classified as “accessing to education”, “maintaining a hopeful outlook”, “a more developed spirituality” and “having good relations with their peers”. After consolidating the themes listed in the initial coding, related sub-themes that seemed to fit together were categorised under a general phenomenon. For example while “having a good command of Turkish” and “accessing to school/having academic success” were grouped under the main category of accessing to education; “having a remarkable ability in making dreams come true” and “thinking ahead / planning future” were grouped under maintaining a hopeful outlook. The remaining categories are called sub-categories of these concepts. These sub-categories are included in the ideas for the key concept of that main category.

Resilience Generating Factors

Among the resilience-building factors, access to education is one of the most remarkable stimulators of resilience for Syrian children. Research suggests that schools can develop resilience in students through caring environments and nurturing relationships. In particular, teachers can help students to develop positive outcomes by meeting their basic needs for safety, belonging, compassion, achievement and learning (Benard, 1997); (Msengi, Marsh, & Harris, 2020). Similarly, Pieloch identified social support from friends and community, a sense of belonging, the value of education, a positive outlook and strong family ties as important factors in promoting resilience among refugee children (Pieloch, McCullough, & Marks, 2016). The main findings of the current education literature are that "education and schooling are essential links through which asylum seeker and refugee children are integrated into their new communities.

Accessing to Education

An important component of children's social and emotional development is the promotion of resilience to cope with life's challenges. Being part of the education system, feeling safe at school and fulfilling educational aspirations are among the most important factors in ensuring the development of resilience for asylum seeker/refugee children (OECD, 2018). School is the first ecosystem where migrant children are able to socialise outside the home; therefore, positive school experiences enable children to develop resilience. As such, schools can play an important role as a protective factor, promoting safety, motivation, relationships and support for positive student outcomes (Osher, Kendziora, & Spier, 2014).

The research was basically designed to find out about educational resilience, whether access to education plays a role in helping students build resilience or not? Wang, Haertel and Walberg defined the notion of educational resilience as an increased likelihood of success in school and other life outcomes, despite environmental adversity, brought about by early characteristics, conditions and experiences (Wang, Haertel, & Wallberg, 1994). A 12-year-old female student stated that:

“Education is very critical for me because if I receive a high school diploma, I can change my life forever”.

Another child added:

“When I get good scores over class average, I feel so happy and academic success help my self-confidence building up” (Female, 14 year old).

A 14 year male student expressed that:

“I’m really eager for obtaining a bachelor degree. If I manage to enroll in one of the Turkish universities, my dreams come true”.

Syrian children perceive access to school as a golden opportunity to move up in the host society and get an income-generating job; however, the presence of barriers within the Turkish education system hinders the upward mobility of Syrian children. The majority of participants stated that adapting to the Turkish curriculum was so difficult and admitted that they could hardly understand the information given in lectures and the content of lecture notes. A large proportion of participants are unable to communicate orally and in writing in Turkish lectures. Research has shown that the language barrier is one of the most significant factors that interrupts the process of building resilience in children. The children said that sometimes they felt it was pointless to go to school because adapting to the Turkish curriculum was so difficult. Even though the children are given extra support to follow the curriculum, they still struggle to make sense of what is being taught in Turkish. Most of the participants confirmed that they are placed in lower classes than the ones they attended in Syria. As a result, they sometimes feel disappointed when they go to school.

“Turkish curriculum is so hard, I have serious learning problems based on lack of Turkish language competency” (15-year-old male student).

“My Turkish is not good enough to learn the lessons. I always struggle to understand what I read” (16-year-old female student).

Successful integration of migrant children in a new educational context requires, first and foremost, the acquisition of sufficient language skills (Sarmini, Topçu, & Scharbrodt, 2020). The data from the field research suggested that intervention programmes will not work if they focus primarily on removing the language barrier, due to the importance of Turkish language skills. Teachers confirmed that the Turkish education system is not sufficient to promote the socio-cultural and psychological adaptation of Syrian students, and the curriculum offered is not suitable to follow up on children's problems and traumas in the school environment. In addition, the Turkish education system is ill-equipped to assess the level of students and their actual Turkish language skills. Therefore, the obvious language barrier was identified as an initial priority to ensure educational adaptation (Graham, Minhas, & Paxton, 2016); (Taşkın & Erdemli, 2018); (Kardeş & Akman, 2022). Therefore, the obvious language barrier was identified as an initial priority to ensure educational adaptation. Supportive stories from parents and teachers, peer support and family cohesion are key motivators for Syrian children to be engaged in class.

This study provides detailed insights into the resilience pathways of Syrian children who arrived in Turkey during the peak influx years between 2013 and 2019, and who resided in one of the urban areas in Turkey. The researchers took a broader view of the term, looking at resilience not just as a fixed personal trait that operates after trauma and challenge, but also as an ability to develop positive outcomes based on various external assets, such as supportive parents, peer groups and caregivers. Therefore, resilience is also the adaptive capacity of individuals to use external resources to achieve and maintain an acceptable level of functioning.

As part of the research, a total of 100 Syrian children between the ages of 13 and 18 were interviewed about how they cope with traumatic experiences following migration, as part of a completely new educational curriculum to explore resilience. The most important factors that enable Syrian children to develop resilience were identified as access to education, participation in social activities, gaining autonomy, positive relationships with peers and family members, becoming a functioning member of a particular group, and socialisation through leisure activities.

Participants identified various resilience parameters in the research; however, they actively use eight resilience strategies to deal with current traumatic stressors: (1) having a sense of belonging (2) having self-confidence (3) accessing to school (4) having high academic scores (5) practicing religious activities (6) having positive relations with peer groups (7) being a functional member of their family (8) having future plans. They also identified five education resilience parameters: (1) having a good command of curriculum (2) parental interest and motivation (3) presence of teachers who have a genuine interest in children’s well-being (4) having high academic scores (5) being appreciated. These strategies positively influenced resilience: they helped Syrian children to strengthen their feeling of belonging, self-confidence and self-esteem.

The research findings show that resilience is not a fixed characteristic of Syrian children and that they can be assessed as both vulnerable and resilient at the same time. The general tendency to identify children through binary labels such as victim/survivor or resilient / vulnerable is excluded in this research. The results showed that some Syrian children can be both vulnerable and resilient, depending on a good command of Turkish and the school curriculum, positive relationships with peer groups, and the presence of supportive teachers and family members. The factors that negatively influenced educational resilience were lack of Turkish language skills and limited understanding of the school curriculum in core subjects. Child labour is another risk factor that hampers the resilience of refugee children, as school attendance and performance are lower for children who work.

Understanding why some children develop positive outcomes and social adjustment skills, despite adverse early experiences and current challenges, is crucial to implementing effective policies and programmes that help more asylum-seeking and refugee children to reach their full potential. Neither individual characteristics nor the social environment alone are likely to ensure positive adaptation, leading to the identification of noteworthy evidence to support resilience building. Social support from friends and the community, a sense of belonging, valuing education, having a positive outlook and family ties are important factors in promoting resilience in refugee children (Pieloch, McCullough, & Marks, 2016).

The use of grounded theory as a methodology added richness and depth to the findings of this study. Although the resilience and protective factors of asylum-seeker/refugee children are currently being explored, there is a limited amount of qualitative research that allows their voices to be heard. Participants identified both hypothetical and actual motivators that could make them resilient. The benefits and challenges of being a student in the Turkish education system identified four key factors that foster resilience such as “accessing to education”, “maintaining a hopeful outlook”, “a more developed spirituality” and “having good relations with their peers”.

The research also identified a specific set of common factors, valid for both genders, that make children resilient individuals in the education system of the host society. The research revealed eight strategies associated with resilience: (1) having a sense of belonging (2) having self-confidence (3) accessing to school (4) having high academic scores (5) practicing religious activities (6) having positive relations with peer groups (7) being a functional member of their family (8) having future plans. Syrian children's experiences of resilience are shaped by interwoven factors that go beyond being a Syrian asylum-seeking child in the Turkish education system. Gender and years in education were identified as intersectional factors affecting resilience building. Because of these factors, female students are more resilient than male students, and Syrian children become even more resilient when years of education are extended beyond five years.

The findings of the review have a number of implications for research on the educational resilience of Syrian asylum-seeking children living in host countries. Very little information is known about the long-term educational outcomes of Syrian asylum-seeking children following resettlement in a host country, and there is a strong need to design longitudinal studies of children's educational resilience and outcomes (Feinstein, Khalifa Aleghfeli, Buckley, Gilhooly, & Kohli, 2021).

The research findings have a number of implications for practitioners, policy makers and academics involved in the education of asylum seeker/refugee children. Firstly, the results showed that there is a clear mismatch between educational needs and existing educational provision in Turkey. Turkish curriculum is not sufficient to provide a holistic approach for Syrian children. Secondly, although there is a developing literature on the educational needs of asylum-seeker/refugee children, broader educational needs should be explored that address their specific needs and circumstances and support them in their educational trajectories, particularly in developing countries. Finally, schools and teachers should recognise the existence of possible misunderstandings due to language barriers. According to the results of numerous studies, the lack of Turkish language skills among Syrian children could be a major obstacle to their academic success at school (Şeker & Sirkeci, 2015); (Sarmini, Topçu, & Scharbrodt, 2020). This evidence calls for the development and elaboration of specialised interventions and programmes to motivate Syrian children to develop resilience at school.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding

This work was developed and expanded from Çalhan’s (2019) PhD thesis titled "Resilience Opportunities of Syrian Children in Education Eco-System: Darıca Case." in Kocaeli University, Turkey. No other financial supports or funds were used for the study.

Biographical Statement

Merve Calhan: Merve Calhan received her PhD in social policy at Kocaeli University in 2020. Her PhD dissertation title is “Resilience Opportunities of Syrian Children inEducation Ecosystem: Darıca Case.” She graduated from Middle East Technical University with an MS degree in Middle East studies in 2008. She wrote her MS thesis about identity constructions of Iranian asylum-seeker children in Turkey. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2005 at Ege University. She worked in various EU-funded projects located in Southeastern Anatolia Region in Turkey. She has worked as a social development expert in social development programs and projects in policy design, implementation and evaluation processes in various regional development agencies of Turkey. Her research interests are identity construction and integration patterns of asylum-seekers and refugees, education resilience, Middle East politics, Iranian studies and regional development. She has written numerous OP-EDs in Middle East and Iranian politics. She is currently working as the head of Planning Unit in East Marmara Development Agency.

Author Contribution

Merve Çalhan wrote all the main manuscript text

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No competing interests reported.

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Revisiting Resilience: Case of Syrian Children in Turkish Education Ecosystem

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Socio-Demographic Profile Results

Grounded Theory Results

Resilience Generating Factors

Accessing to Education

DISCUSSION

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