Practice: contemporary issues in practitioner education

Socially Just Refugee Education: Global Challenges and Promising Practices

As the global population of forcibly displaced people continues to rise—often in direct response to socio‑political and environmental violence—and as neo‑conservative discourses of hostility toward migrancy proliferate, this special issue of PRACTICE: Contemporary Issues in Practitioner Education invites urgent exploration of humane and socially just educational responses across international contexts.

Many of the challenges faced by people from refugee backgrounds stem from persistent structural barriers and systemic exclusions within national education and wider systems, regardless of geographical location (Morrice, 2021). While education agendas worldwide aim to integrate refugee-background learners into national systems, how this integration unfolds in practice varies considerably. Policy agendas can both enable and constrain access to tertiary education, and the commitment and compassion of educators similarly shape learners’ educational trajectories (Gola Boutros et al., 2022). Further nuanced understandings of integration—alongside examples of both promising and problematic approaches—are essential for assessing how policies affect students’ learning and wellbeing (Salem, 2021).

In classroom settings, practitioners often feel underprepared to meet the complex needs of newly arrived children whose educational experiences are frequently marked by instability and extended periods in temporary accommodation (Kendall et al., 2021). Teacher resilience becomes a dynamic and entangled process, shaped by constraints and possibilities, as well as by broader sociopolitical discourses that increasingly extend teachers’ roles beyond traditional classroom boundaries (Puttick, 2024).

This special issue seeks to explore past, present, and future developments in policy and practice in education for refugee and newly arrived communities across global contexts. We aim to open space for insights into how refugee and newly arrived education unfolds on the ground, illuminate gaps in current practice, and generate new ways of thinking through prevailing complexities.