User:Sdevreede/sandbox

PE Org: Oakland International High School

Oakland International High School is a public high school in Oakland, California that supports immigrant and refugee students in english language acquisition, college preparation, and integration. As a volunteer, I will serve as a classroom assistant and support the students in learning the curriculum and engage with them in activities.

Article Selection

Area

• Oakland International High School: This article is about the site where my PE will take place. The page outlines the background and methods of the school and how they support their mission with an emphasis on the international education approach. I am not sure what I would be interested in adding to the page as it looks sufficient for the purpose of the organization, but upon starting my PE I might find an aspect of the school that is worth putting on the wiki page.
• Asylum in the United States: This page has a thorough overview of the process/history of seeing asylum in the United States. What it lacks and could be useful is a section on education of asylum seekers, or something that addresses minors' experiences in the US as they begin their lives.
• Education of Immigrants in the United States: This article outlines the demographic statistics of immigrants in the United States, but it has little reference to the actual process of educating immigrants in the US. It would be useful to add more information concerning the legislative history of immigrant education as well as strengthen the existing information with discussions and references.

Sector

• Refugee children: The refugee children article has a section on education and outlines various barriers to education for those in the resettlement process. It goes into extensive detail about the process of educating refugees and the systemic difficulties of doing so. If I were to add to this article, I am considering a section on the role of 'refugee-focused' educational programs/schools/curricula to provide and example of an organization that acts to solve the problems presented in the section of the article. I believe it could be a useful addition to the article because it would leave readers with an understanding that there are active solutions working toward overcoming obstacles in refugee education. - focus in America/Bay Area
• International Education: This article is of interest to me because it details the approach of education with respect to an education that encompasses a "full range of international, social, political, cultural, and economic dialogue". The Oakland International High school describes their approach to education as "international," therefore it is meaningful to understand what that implies. The practice of international education as defined by the article poses an interesting interpretation of how education should be administered under this particular framework. I think it would be interesting search for literature that addresses how education/this privileged approach to education has an impact for market actors (i.e. legacies of students of international education). Thought - connection between international education and the education section on the refugee children page.
• Empowerment: This article provides a definition and overview for the term and practice of empowerment. It has various sections on types of empowerment, the process, in social work, economically, etc. I think it would be interesting to add a section on education and discuss the view/practice of education as empowerment and what that means in the context of the word. Because my PE org is education-based, and often empowerment is a term coupled with education, delving into the literature about education as empowerment may prove some interesting results.

NOTES:

There seems to be a disjunct among articles titled by "refugee", "immigrant", and "asylum" which among them have references to education in various forms. I am interested in expanding on the definitions of the three classifications of migrants and possibly start a new page addressing education of "migrants" to the United States.

Update: Research focus is on Immigrant Education in the United States and Refugee Education curricula. Literature draws on the "alienation" experience of such students and is specific to immigrant/refugee-hood when necessary.

Article Evaluation - Final Selection

Area

Education of Immigrants in the United States

This article is weak in that it covers a lot of topic areas without clarification on some large claims made. I would like to add a section that specifically addresses the education immigrants receive in the United States, as it seems that this article mostly refers to the impact levels of education have on economic success. Because I would like to use this article for my Area, my research focus is on what conditions of the immigrant education experience led to the existence of my PE org, Oakland International High School. I intend to add descriptions of how schooling affects immigrant education throughout the page. The talk page has a series of questions by a confused non-American who believes that the information on this page does not do the topic justice. While I don't intend to clarify the facts presented by the original editor, I hope to add useful content by examining the education system as it serves immigrants.

Sector

Refugee children

One of the most striking improvements I would suggest to make to this page is to turn the "Education" section into a new page titled "Refugee Education". I think that there is enough information and room for expansion to create a new page focusing on the role of education in refugee transitions. In the "Article Suggestions" section of the talk page, others have suggested a similar update to the "Education" section and have provided scholarly articles to contribute. I would like to expand the scope of the section, addressing the differences in refugee education between countries of refuge as well as expand on the topics already briefly presented in the article. For example, the "Issues Faced" section addresses the structure of the educational system and other issues that would be valuable to expand upon.

Update: 5/2019 I created the Refugee Education article with contents from the Education section from the Refugee Children article. All subsequent edits are in the Refugee Education article

Update: 5/16/2019, the "Refugee Education" article was not approved by the Wiki editors because they disagreed with its need to be its own article. My edits are now under the "Education" Section of the Refugee Children article.

Scholarly Sources

Area

Borgonovi, Francesca, Mario Piacentini, and Andreas Schleicher. "Improving the Education and Social Integration of Immigrant Students." Humanitarianism and Mass Migration, 2019, 325-52. doi:10.1525/9780520969629-019.

Borgonovi et al. find that low performance among immigrant students can be linked to the fact that they are often concentrated in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools. They describe ways in which the education system faces pressure to serve immigrant students, drawing on PISA research data to demonstrate the disparities in their educational outcomes. They conclude that from an educational standpoint, a lot can be gained from increasing diversity that comes with immigration seen as a resource and propose “cooperative learning” as a pedagogy for immigrant education. This source was useful for its details and supporting data to describe the inefficiencies of U.S. immigrant education for my background research which I used for my Area’s Wikipedia page as well as in this essay. In the context of my PE org, its concluding proposal regarding cooperative learning is an approach OIHS uses in its classrooms.

Gibson, Margaret A., and Silvia Carrasco. "The Education of Immigrant Youth: Some Lessons from the U.S. and Spain." Theory Into Practice 48, no. 4 (2009): 249-57.

In their article, Gibson and Carrasco compare and contrast the approaches the U.S. and Spain take in the immigration of immigrants. I primarily focused on the explanations of the U.S. system where the authors emphasized the role of high academic standards and the use of testing to produce unequal results for immigrant students. They draw on research from the California Department of Education showing the disparities in subject scores between English language learners and their counterparts. Their conclusions were also useful to explain the effects of an inadequate immigrant education system, noting how students internalize their deficits rather than realizing the problem with the system. This research contextualizes the reason my PE org exists and was valuable in my background research to provide details about the inadequacies of the education system.

Lukose, Ritty A. "The Difference That Diaspora Makes: Thinking through the Anthropology of Immigrant Education in the United States." Anthropology & Education Quarterly 38, no. 4 (2007): 405-18.

Lukose’s research outlines the purpose of education as place of assimilation and inculcation of nationalism for the nation-state. She argues that nationalism is a powerful force in schooling, but cannot be taken as the natural and assumed horizon of education. I found this article insightful as it took a more abstract view to the background of immigrant education, drawing on theories that construct how migrants are educated in the U.S. I was surprised at the articles critical approach to the system that gave context to the details my other Area sources were describing. I used this article to emphasize the nationalist approaches the migrant education uses both in this essay and for my Area’s Wikipedia article. It also contributed to my understanding of my PE org in that OIHS doesn’t exist as a nationalist institution like public schools do, in line with Lukose’s conclusion that nationalism does not have to be an assumed endpoint or framework for education.

Mavisakalyan, Astghik. "Immigration, Public Education Spending, and Private Schooling." Southern Economic Journal 78, no. 2 (2011): 397-423.

This article’s content was most surprising to me, in that it demonstrated how the concentration of immigrant populations in public schools leads to an increase in private school enrollment, disproportionately affecting expenditure for the public school system. Mavisakalyan’s research provided a new perspective to my background research, highlighting an understated phenomenon that has a critical influence on the ability of public education to serve the needs of refugees. I used this article to detail supporting factors in my area research that lead to the creation of OIHS and to include as a point in my Area’s Wikipedia article on U.S. immigrant education

Ornstein, Allan C. "Curriculum Trends Revisited." Peabody Journal of Education 69, no. 4 (1994): 4-20.

Ornstein’s article outlined the compounded effects of socioeconomically disadvantaged immigrants in their educational outcomes, supporting much of my other Area research sources’ conclusions as well. Of such outcomes, he explains how the mislabeling of students with cultural differences in learning styles as “slow” educationally stratifies them and leaves them out of crucial opportunities. To conclude, he proposes the enhancement of multicultural curricula to help immigrant children achieve more acceptance and respect in their new countries. This approach is in line with OIHS’s strategy of a multicultural curriculum and further provided context to the experiences of migrant students that lead them to OIHS. I used this source to further support connection between the structural poverty of immigrants and their poor educational outcomes.

Ovando, Carlos J. "Bilingual Education in the United States: Historical Development and Current Issues." Bilingual Research Journal 27, no. 1 (2003): 1-24. doi:10.1080/15235882.2003.10162589.

Ovando provides context to bilingual education as it responds to the changing political environment in the United States. Bilingual education is a necessary part of the immigrant educational experience and in making schools more adaptable to English language learners. He argues that the U.S. lacks a consistent ideology to shape the national response to language education and is privy to changing political, social and economic forces. I found the point he makes about the enhanced role of symbolic politics insightful to my Area research, where he emphasizes that the resentment of special treatment for minority groups shapes the landscape of politics affecting the U.S. education system. It helped me understand the political context of OIHS’s approach and their curriculum and I used it to explain the role of politics for my Wikipedia article.

Solórzano, Ronald W. "High Stakes Testing: Issues, Implications, and Remedies for English Language Learners." Review of Educational Research 78, no. 2 (2008): 260-329.

Solórzano’s article expands on the points Gibson and Carrasco (no. 2) as well as Suárez-Orozco et al. (no. 8) make about the adverse effects of high-stakes testing and its inappropriate use for English language learners. He outlines how their continued use for high-stakes decisions have detrimental consequences for immigrant students. I found the political connection he makes unexpected in that he describes the need of an accountability systems for policy makers who are ignorant of how the tests effectively serve as a “border control” mechanism. While I did not use this phrase in my addition to my Area’s Wikipedia article, its sentiment and supporting details were useful both for the background section of this paper and to explain the effects of high-stakes testing in my article. Further, it made me question the types of tests used at OIHS or how students are prepped for high-stakes tests such as college entrance, etc. at the school.  

Suárez-Orozco, Marcelo M., Tasha Darbes, Sandra Isabel Dias, and Matt Sutin. "Migrations and Schooling." Annual Review of Anthropology 40 (2011): 311-28.

This article provided a significant amount of information on factors affecting education of migrants in the United States. The analyses of Suárez-Orozco et al. are echoed in many of my other sources in this research, most notably the connection between migrants, poverty and their educational outcomes as well as the use of high-stakes testing and lack of accountability in the system. It concludes with the sentiment that the combination of these conditions undermines students’ ability to sustain motivation and academic engagement in school. This article was most useful for my framing of my Area research in that it provided an articulated foundation for the background conditions in which my PE org exists in response to. I used many of the facts in this article for this essay and for citing many points in the Wikipedia articles.

Wheaton, H. H. "The United States Bureau of Education and the Immigrant." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 67 (1916): 273-83.

Written by H. Wheaton, J.D., a “Specialist in Immigrant Education” at the Bureau of Education in 1919, this source is by far the oldest in my research. His article articulates the American sentiments regarding the education of immigrants such as the embeddedness of nationalism in educational policies—a phenomenon that many of my other sources respond to and Lukose (no. 3) effectively criticizes. This article is riddled with unsettling undertones of American exceptionalism that reflect the legacy of inadequate, unaccommodating migrant education in the United States. Wheaton concludes by emphasizing the role of education in instilling the ideals and attitudes of America in hopes of making “real American citizens of the strangers within our gates.” This article was useful for my research to support my claims of the discursive history of U.S. immigrant education and provided context to my PE’s operations as a public school that aims not to explicitly inculcate American ideals.

Sector

Avalos, Beatrice. "Education for the Poor: Quality or Relevance?" British Journal of Sociology of Education 13, no. 4 (1992): 419-36.

In this article, Avalos discusses what it means to educate the underserved and argues for a revised understanding of quality and relevance as they are used in educational policies and practices. The main substance of her article addresses the concept of ‘relevant education’ which she explains is a holistic approach to education that is responsive to the needs of different groups within a society. This framework serves as an important foundation in my Sector research as it pertains to educating migrant populations. This understanding of ‘relevant education’ fell in line with the practices of my PE org, in that beyond its curriculum, OIHS provides resources for their students relevant to their experiences as refugees. Avalos concludes that sometimes attempts at providing relevant education only serve as a palliative and do not fully address the failings of middle and upper-class education as it doesn’t respond to the needs of the lower-class.

Bajaj, Monisha, Amy Argenal & Melissa Canlas. "Socio-Politically Relevant Pedagogy for Immigrant and Refugee Youth." Equity & Excellence in Education 50, no. 3 (2017): 258-274, DOI: 10.1080/10665684.2017.1336499

Bajaj et al. highlight the key tenants of a socio-politically relevant pedagogy for transnational youth. Their framework for addressing adequate curriculum for refugees proved useful in my understanding of the strengths of my PE org’s approach and brought attention to aspects that may be perceived as weaknesses, such as the cultivation of a critical consciousness around their experience as refugees. The conclusions of this article provided key points that I used for my sector research and echoed the sentiments of other articles such as Avalos (no. 10). I used the key tenants they proposed to add to the Wikipedia article about refugee education.

Cooper, Elizabeth. "Praxis in a Refugee Camp? Meanings of Participation and Empowerment for Long-Term Refugee Youth." Children, Youth and Environments 17, no. 3 (2007): 104-21.

Cooper’s research detailed the use of Participatory Action Research in a refugee camp, and provided an example of how institutions aiming to help refugees can greatly benefit from the participation of refugees in their research. Cooper found that refugees expressed decreased self-esteem associated with a lack of education. Her research prompted my wondering about how participatory OIHS’s strategy is when it comes to the development of their curriculum. I used Cooper’s findings as an example of a potential weakness my PE org has in its intervention strategy and as an added fact to my sector’s article.

Dryden-Peterson, Sarah. "INCLUSION AND MEMBERSHIP THROUGH REFUGEE EDUCATION?: Tensions between Policy and Practice." In Humanitarianism and Mass Migration: Confronting the World Crisis, edited by Suárez-Orozco Marcelo M., 218-31. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2019.

In this article, Dryden-Peterson provides an analytical assessment of education as a mechanism for inclusion and membership for refugees. She gives a background of policies surrounding refugee education and outlines three scenarios regarding the structure of education, content of education, and how their intersection provides opportunities for the future. Non-specific to the American education system, this article provides a useful global perspective on education that acknowledges “needs” that a universal education system must address, especially with regard to refugees. The framework Dryden-Peterson provides is useful for my understanding of how my PE operates and brings up questions I will keep in mind as I work with the school. Her framework also provides a solid understanding of the global state of refugee education which is useful for the education section under the Refugee Children Wikipedia article.

Larsen, Marianne A., and Jason Beech. "Spatial Theorizing in Comparative and International Education Research." Comparative Education Review 58, no. 2 (2014): 191-214.

This article utilized a theoretical approach to describe how globalization and education interact to redefine the influence of space in curriculum. Through the lens of spacial theory, Larsen describes how critical pedagogy is crucial for the education of transnational students and that educational policy should take into account the centralizing forces that “territorialize” education. I used Larsen’s content emphasize the role of the nation state in educational policymaking, in tune with Walters and LeBlanc’s (no. 16) analysis. This proved influential to my understanding of OIHS as a public school and how it operates within a nation-state but not necessarily to emphasize national ideals

McInerney, Peter. “Toward a critical pedagogy of engagement for alienated youth: insights from Freire and school‐based research.” Critical Studies in Education50, no.1 (2009): 23-35.

McInerney’s article explained the experience of alienation in schools, a condition of the migrant experience in national education systems. He argues that a meaningful response to the phenomenon requires a critique of the dehumanizing forces that operate within and outside schools. He concludes with a suggestion for a renewed critical pedagogy that is more attuned to the influences of globalization on young people’s lives. I found his evaluation of schools’ approaches to alienation as inadvertently implementing a “pedagogy of poverty” useful for my research because of how specialized attention to marginalized groups can inadvertently reinforce the structural poverty of such groups. I used his examples of stratification through specialized programs in this essay as well as an addition both my area and sector Wikipedia pages.  

Waters, Tony, and Kim LeBlanc. "Refugees and Education: Mass Public Schooling without a Nation‐State." Comparative Education Review 49, no. 2 (2005): 129-47.

Walters and LeBlanc frame refugee education as responsibility of the international relief regime in acting as a “pseudo-state” to identify curriculum and pedagogies relevant for the education of migrant populations. They echo the sentiment that mass education serves the interests of the nation-state, but when students are state-less new difficulties arise in developing curricula. They describe various policy considerations that affect the development of such curricula, and echo the sentiments of Larsen et al. (no. 14) on the emphasis of the nation-state in education. This reading contextualized OIHS’s position as a school operating within the confines of a nation-state, in that they are privy to political interests but have the responsibility of educating students not served by the nation-state. I incorporated much of the analysis Walters et al. presented throughout this essay, and used it to emphasize the role of the nation state in my Wikipedia article.

Yoon, Bogum. "Uninvited Guests: The Influence of Teachers' Roles and Pedagogies on the Positioning of English Language Learners in the Regular Classroom." American Educational Research Journal 45, no. 2 (2008): 495-522.

Yoon evaluates the pedagogical approach of teachers tasks with educating English language learners. They argue that the positioning of teachers and students in classroom contexts where the emphasized objective is language knowledge, students can inadvertently be disempowered when their strengths are not on par with their peers. Further, teachers get frustrated when their students do not meet their expectations for linguistic development, not taking into consideration their cultural and social needs as English language learners. Yoon’s analysis helped me emphasize the strengths in OIHS’s approach of incorporating the holistic needs of its students and as an example of pedagogical approaches that impact refugee education for the Wikipedia article.

Summarizing and Synthesizing

Area

The focus of my area research is the conditions affecting the education of immigrants in the United States, in order to contextualize how my PE org came to exist. Through my research, I have learned that the American public education system serves largely as a tool for nationalization, which is exposed most when educating foreigners. Through a historical lens, this concept of nationalization is emphasized by a 1916 report that states "education is the most potent force toward inculcating American ideals and impulses" and further characterizes the inability to speak English as a handicap. This sentiment is prevalent in my contemporary sources as well, where English as a Second Language students are noted to internalize this view and rationalize their achievement gaps as such. Further, I've found that low performance among immigrant students is largely influenced by the fact that they are often concentrated in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools and that public school systems lack the resources to meet the pressure of serving such populations. In addition, a prominent factor preventing english language learners from succeeding in American schools is the emphasis placed on high-stakes testing and have massively adverse consequences. Such culmination of inadequate resources is exacerbated by the fact that as concentrations of immigrants in public schools increase, enrollment in private schools for natives also increase which negatively affects expenditures on public education and quality of education at the public level. Coupled with a political resentment of special treatment for minority groups, immigrant students (especially low-income) are left at an incredible disadvantage in the American public school system.

Sector

My sector research builds off of the sentiments found in my area research (in that it acknowledges the conditions adversely affecting migrant students), but focuses in particular on the educational strategies and pedagogies regarding education of refugees. Some sources are largely theoretical, and discusses abstract concepts in order to identify the refugee (educational) experience more broadly, particularly in the context of an ever-globalized world. Further, my research addresses what it means to educate disadvantaged communities where the concept of "relevant education" is brought up in addition to the notion of "alienation" in education and how emphasizing such experiences can lead to a "pedagogy of poverty." Moreover, my sector research draws on articles that discuss the global refugee education system, and how the absence of a nation-state in deciding curricula bring up key issues in developing education programs for refugees. Overall, researching refugee education through the lens of pedagogies has enabled a breakdown of what it means to educate in the first place, and what the intentions and goals behind educating the state-less and migrant communities are/should be.

Drafting

Area:

Education of Immigrants in the United States

in the "Immigrant Integration" section:

Preceding text (for reference): "The United States Government has introduced several programs to help fix and minimize economic inequality in immigrant households. This integration is defined by the Migration Policy Institute as a "process of economic mobility and social inclusion for newcomers and their children" and "touches upon the institutions and mechanisms that promote development and growth within society". With these programs the United States government is attempting to successfully give these new citizens jobs and equal opportunities"

For children and young adults, participation in the American public school system is a significant contributor to integration. Education plays a strong role in nationhood, where a sense of unity emerges among student cohorts who go through an education system together. For young migrant populations, public education serves as one of the strongest mechanisms of integration as the American education system largely focuses on "Americanization", the development of a national consciousness.

Under "Education in the United States" section

Many immigrants in the United States suffer from structural poverty reinforced by the education system. They often settle in segregated, impoverished communities where the schools are too under-resourced to accommodate for English language learners, proven to be a significant risk factor for the educational outcomes of migrant populations. Cultural differences in learning styles or thinking patters lead to students being mislabeled as “learning disabled” or “slow,” resulting their stratification among peers such as grade repetition or exclusion from necessary college preparation. Further, the dominant use of high-stakes testing in United States to make educational decisions puts English language learners at a disadvantage. Policy implications affecting immigrant students in education include the lacking emphasis on bilingual and multicultural education coupled with the movement of non-immigrants to private schools, increasing the lack of public school funding to support English language learning populations.

Sector:

Refugee Education

Under the section "Access to Education" subsection "Structure of the education system"

Preceding text: "Many refugee children face legal restrictions to schooling, even in countries of first asylum. This is the case especially for countries that have not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. In countries where they lack official refugee status, refugee children are unable to enroll in national schools. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, unregistered refugee children described being hesitant to go to school, due to risk of encountering legal authorities at school or while on the way to and from school."

After the second sentence: the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol both emphasize the right to education for refugees, articulating the definition of refugeehood in international contexts. Nevertheless, refugee students have one of the lowest rates of access to education. The UNHCR reported in 2014 that about 50 percent of refugee children had access to education compared to children globally at 93 percent.

Under "Structure of classes" subsection:

Preceding text: "Teacher-centered instruction often predominates in refugee classrooms. Teachers lecture for the majority of the time, offering few opportunities for students to ask questions or engage in creative thinking.In eight refugee-serving schools in Kenya, for example, lecturing was the primary mode of instruction."

In order to address the lack of attention to refugee education in national school systems, the UNHCR developed formal relationships with twenty national ministries of education in 2016 to oversee the political commitment to refugee education at the nation-state level. The UNCHR introduced an adaptive global strategy for refugee education with the aim of "integration of refugee learners within national system where possible and appropriate and as guided by ongoing consultation with refugees".

Under the "Residence" subsection:

Preceding text: "Refugee children who live in large urban centers in North America have a higher rate of success at school, particularly because their families have greater access to additional social services that can help address their specific needs. Families who are unable to move to urban centers are at a disadvantage."

Also, children with unpredictable migration trajectories suffer most from a lack of schooling because of a lack of uniform schooling in each of their destinations before settling.

Under the "Pedagogical Approaches" Section:

Refugees fall into a unique situation where the nation-state may not adequately address their educational needs, and the international relief system is tasked with the role of a "pseudo-state" in developing a curriculum and pedagogical approach. Critical pedagogical approaches to refugee education address the phenomenon of alienation that migrant students face in schools outside of their home countries, where the positioning of English language teachers and their students create power dynamics emphasizing the inadequacies of foreign-language speakers, intensified by the the use of compensatory programs to cater to 'at-risk' students. In order to adequately address state-less migrant populations, curricula has to be relevant to the experiences of transnational youth. Pedagogical researchers and policy makers can benefit from lessons learned through participatory action research in refugee camps, where student cited decreased self-esteem associated with a lack of education.

Article Edits

Area

I added the following to the Education of immigrants in the United States article:

• For children and young adults, participation in the American public school system is a significant contributor to integration. Education plays a strong role in nationhood, where a sense of unity emerges among student cohorts who go through an education system together. For young migrant populations, public education serves as one of the strongest mechanisms of integration as the American education system largely focuses on "Americanization", the development of a national consciousness.
• Many immigrants in the United States suffer from structural poverty reinforced by the education system. They often settle in segregated, impoverished communities where the schools are too under-resourced to accommodate for English language learners, proven to be a significant risk factor for the educational outcomes of migrant populations. Cultural differences in learning styles or thinking patters lead to students being mislabeled as “learning disabled” or “slow,” resulting their stratification among peers such as grade repetition or exclusion from necessary college preparation. Further, the dominant use of high-stakes testing in United States to make educational decisions puts English language learners at a disadvantage. Policy implications affecting immigrant students in education include the lacking emphasis on bilingual and multicultural education coupled with the movement of non-immigrants to private schools, increasing the lack of public school funding to support English language learning populations.

Sector

I added the following to the Refugee Education article:

• "While the initial purpose of refugee education was to prepare students to return to their home countries, the current focus of American refugee education is on integration."
• the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol both emphasize the right to education for refugees, articulating the definition of refugeehood in international contexts. Nevertheless, refugee students have one of the lowest rates of access to education. The UNHCR reported in 2014 that about 50 percent of refugee children had access to education compared to children globally at 93 percent.
• In order to address the lack of attention to refugee education in national school systems, the UNHCR developed formal relationships with twenty national ministries of education in 2016 to oversee the political commitment to refugee education at the nation-state level. The UNCHR introduced an adaptive global strategy for refugee education with the aim of "integration of refugee learners within national system where possible and appropriate and as guided by ongoing consultation with refugees".
• Also, children with unpredictable migration trajectories suffer most from a lack of schooling because of a lack of uniform schooling in each of their destinations before settling.
• Refugees fall into a unique situation where the nation-state may not adequately address their educational needs, and the international relief system is tasked with the role of a "pseudo-state" in developing a curriculum and pedagogical approach. Critical pedagogical approaches to refugee education address the phenomenon of alienation that migrant students face in schools outside of their home countries, where the positioning of English language teachers and their students create power dynamics emphasizing the inadequacies of foreign-language speakers, intensified by the the use of compensatory programs to cater to 'at-risk' students. In order to adequately address state-less migrant populations, curricula has to be relevant to the experiences of transnational youth. Pedagogical researchers and policy makers can benefit from lessons learned through participatory action research in refugee camps, where student cited decreased self-esteem associated with a lack of education.