Refugee Education and Literacy Practices
Summary
Refugee education and literacy practices encompass a spectrum of interventions and approaches designed to address the unique linguistic, cultural and psychosocial needs of displaced learners. Programmes range from formal classroom instruction in host‐country languages to informal community‐based and digital initiatives that foster reading, writing and critical engagement. Central themes include the creation of safe and nurturing learning environments, the integration of learners’ prior experiences and languages, and the deployment of trauma‐informed pedagogies. Recent developments have emphasised the potential of digital media and multimodal activities to promote agency, identity construction and social connection among refugee‐background youth. Simultaneously, educators and policymakers are exploring inclusive frameworks that link school and out‐of‐school settings, strengthen parental and community cooperation, and adapt curricula to reflect the histories and aspirations of displaced populations. Across diverse contexts, research highlights the importance of combining language support, psychosocial care and participatory literacy projects to foster resilience, belonging and educational continuity, thereby contributing to both individual empowerment and broader social cohesion.
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Refugee Education and Literacy Practices publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in refugee education and literacy practices across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Refugee-background youth: Young people who have experienced forced displacement and subsequent resettlement processes.
Digital literacy practices: The strategic use of digital technologies to access, interpret, produce and communicate information across online and offline contexts.
Multimodal literacies: Forms of communication that integrate text, images, sound and other semiotic modes to construct and convey meaning.
References
- A Qualitative Study of Adolescents from Refugee Backgrounds Living in Australia: Identity and Resettlement. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2024).
- Digital Media Production of Refugee-Background Youth: A Scoping Review. Journalism and Media (2021).
- Navigating Challenging Digital Literacy Practices: The Settlement Experiences of Adults from Migrant and Refugee Backgrounds. Adult Education Quarterly (2023).
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