Thursday, April 14, 2016
Ormandy East (DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia Center City)
Youth are on the move across Europe, often entirely on their own. This paper offers a critical analysis of the educational restrictions and perspectives of minor refugees in Europe, especially in Germany. They face barriers to systematically accessing services and thriving. Concerning their access to education, minor refugees in Germany are discriminated against by different forms of juridical, administrative, institutional and structural restrictions. Their capacity for learning and for acting is severely restricted through the lack of clarity and security in exercising their human and legal rights. Institutional discrimination within the formal educational system can also be a barrier that needs to be addressed via a more flexible and inclusive social services safety net that extends into the community and into third spaces. Mass experiences of exclusion and violence during their flight may cause trauma, damage and problems to the minor refugee. Often responders focus entirely on the “problems” that these youth bring. It should, however, not be overlooked that the manifold experiences can also be a source of strength. Young refugees especially can develop enormous cultural capital, capacities, resources, and ambitions in terms of education. If the general perception does not focus on this potential but only on problems of language and integration, important possibilities for education and development are continuously blocked. The paper includes a detailed analysis of the discrimination and exclusion faced by minor refuges in the education system and offers suggestions and recommendations for actors in the broader fields of social work and pedagogy.
