Turkey's Education Policies towards Syrian Refugees: A Macro‐level Analysis

Published date01 April 2019
AuthorK. Onur Unutulmaz
Date01 April 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12476
Turkeys Education Policies towards Syrian
Refugees: A Macro-level Analysis
K. Onur Unutulmaz*
ABSTRACT
This study discusses the transformation of Turkeys education policies towards Syrian refugees
in three major stages. It argues that education policies in these different stages reect the gen-
eral perception of and political vision for Syrian refugees by the Turkish state, and that they
are also instruments through which this political vision is materialized and declared. The
remarkable evolution of Turkeys education policies towards Syrian refugees, from early poli-
cies that aimed at temporary accommodation to later policies that have aimed at full integra-
tion, needs to be understood in this framework of a changing vision in addition to the security
concerns. Lastly, the article argues that, while the current strategy of complete integration of
Syrians into formal education system is certainly positive, it also brings about a number of sig-
nicant challenges related to the political and legal context in Turkey that will have to be han-
dled in its realization.
INTRODUCTION
The education of Syrian refugees is one of the most pressing public policy domains in Turkey, par-
ticularly concerning their social, cultural and economic integration in the society (Erdo
gan, 2014,
2017; Bircan and Sunata, 2015; Culbertson and Constant, 2015). The signicance of this issue is
accentuated by the demographic and socio-economic prole of the Syrian community in the coun-
try (Y
ucesßahina and Sirkeci, 2017). While the importance of this issue seems to have been initially
overshadowed by the expectation that the presence of Syrians would be only temporary, recent
years have witnessed an increasing acknowledgement that the presence of Syrian refugees in Tur-
key will be long-lasting and have far-reaching implications (Unutulmaz, 2017). This article argues
that, as a result of this transformation in the way the Syrian presence in the country is understood,
the education of Syrian refugees which in the beginning was not considered to be a signicant
issue and was handled with a laissez-faire approach by the state has become subject to complete
governmental control through a dynamic process.
This study describes and discusses this evolution of Turkeys education policies towards Syrian
refugees from early policies that aimed at temporary accommodation to later policies that have
aimed at full integration (Bircan and Sunata, 2015; Emin, 2016). The article attempts to illustrate
that these education policies reect, or rather mimic, the general perception of and political vision
for Syrian refugees by the Turkish state, and that they are also instruments through which this
political vision is materialised and declared.
To achieve its goals, this article begins with a brief section on methodology and another on edu-
cation policies towards Syrian refugees in different countries. The article then offers an analytical
* Social Sciences University of Ankara
doi: 10.1111/imig.12476
©2018 The Authors
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 57 (2) 2019
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
overview of the historical evolution of education policies towards Syrian refugees in Turkey. It
argues that Turkeys approach to the education of Syrian refugees has gone through three separate,
yet somewhat overlapping, stages. The subsequent section discusses how this transformation of
education policies should be understood, and the nal section discusses the future prospects for the
current strategy of complete integration of Syrian refugees into the formal national education sys-
tem and highlights several signicant challenges that will have to be handled in its realization.
METHODOLOGY
This article draws upon data collected as part of a study entitled Supporting Turkey in the Devel-
opment of a National Harmonisation Policy. This research was conducted by a team of researchers
and coordinated by the Turkish Ofce of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) for the
Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM), between September 2016 and
December 2017.
In terms of the methodology, a number of data-collection instruments were employed in the
framework of this project. To complement the review of sources of secondary data, including aca-
demic literature, research reports, policy documents and relevant statistics, various methods of pri-
mary data collection were also used. These included a number of semi-structured in-depth
interviews, which aimed to understand the general framework of education of Syrians and other
immigrants in Turkey. As such, the interviews included questions aimed at mapping out the various
actors as well as what they do concerning the education of Syrians, their respective agendas and
objectives, and their general perspectives and experiences concerning education of immigrants. In
order to achieve a comprehensive picture of the current situation, representatives from a diverse set
of institutions were interviewed.
These included interviews with representatives of relevant public institutions such as the Migra-
tion and Emergency Education Unit of the Ministry of National Education (MoNE), the Turkish
Higher Education Council (YOK), and various departments from the DGMM under the Ministry of
Interior. Interviews were also conducted with representatives from international organizations
including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Chil-
drens Fund (UNICEF) and Save the Children, as well as local and national NGOs. A last group of
interviews were conducted with a number of prominent academics working in the eld. In total, 32
in-depth interviews were conducted with individuals. In addition, a workshop was organized at the
DGMM headquarters in Ankara with the participation of representatives from the relevant units of
all public institutions that carry out activities concerning the education of Syrians.
Lastly, in Hatay, one of the cities with the largest Syrian refugee communities, a brief eldwork
was conducted which included several in-depth interviews with local representatives of the MoNE,
Syrian educators and NGO workers, as well as informal conversations and on-site observations at
several Turkish schools and Syrian Temporary Education Centres (TECs). In total, 15 in-depth
interviews were conducted in Hatay. The eldwork was essential in including the experiences and
perspectives of the Syrians themselves, in addition to acquiring a sense of more micro-level imple-
mentation of the national policies and strategies in a local context.
All the interviews and the workshop discussions were voice recorded, with the express consent
of the participants after being informed about the purposes and the structure of the research.
Although consent has been acquired to use the names and titles of all interviewees, their personal
details are anonymized in this study to protect their privacy. The collected primary information,
including the eld-notes taken by the researcher, have been stored in and analysed using
MAXQDA, a qualitative data analysis software, through coding and running code-based queries.
For the purposes of this study, data collected on education policies, their implementation and
236 Unutulmaz
©2018 The Authors. International Migration ©2018 IOM

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