A Different Perspective of Teachers on The Issue of Syrian Students in Türkiye: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to comparatively examine the opinions of teachers who have Syrian students in their classrooms and those who have never been involved in educational activities with Syrian students. The study is based on the case study design, a qualitative research approach. The study group consists of primary school teachers who work at public schools and are divided into two groups considering the presence of Syrian students in their classrooms. In the research process, the data were collected using a semi-structured interview form and analysed through the content analysis method. As a result of the analyses, five themes were created to represent the problems experienced by the teachers who were instructing Syrian students. In this context, several codes were listed under the themes of “communication problems”, “disciplinary problems”, “adaptation problems”, “academic problems”, and “other problems”. The problems considered likely by the teachers who did not have any Syrian students were grouped under four themes, including “communication problems”, “disciplinary problems”, “adaptation problems”, and “academic problems”, and some codes were presented relevantly. Likewise, four themes were created to represent the solutions proposed by the teachers in both groups for the aforementioned problems, and several codes were listed under the themes of “academic measures”, “language education”, “harmonisation activities” and “other measures”. With these research findings, the problems and solution proposals expressed by the teachers were compared based on the presence of Syrian students in the classroom. Then the similarities and differences were listed. Consequently, it was revealed that the teachers in both groups mainly highlighted language issues as part of the communication problems faced in the education of Syrian students. It was also identified that the teachers in both groups expressed that the problems arising from the presence of Syrian students in the classroom would have highly adverse effects on other students. In addition, it was concluded that the teachers who had Syrian students mostly proposed solutions within the scope of academic measures and language education, whereas the other group of teachers generally offered solutions regarding language education and harmonisation activities.