Education International Research
Legal frameworks
Legally, refugees are primarily protected under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. These grant each individual the right to apply for asylum in another country if he/she has a well-grounded fear of persecution, or if the authorities in the native country are unable to stop or are behind the persecution, based on political opinions, race, ethnicity, religion, and similar circumstances. In addition, over the past decades, legal documents have been adopted at international level to both strengthen and clarify the rights of refugees. National legislation can further develop these conventions by imposing other grounds for asylum such as humanitarian grounds, persecution based on sexual orientation, various reasons for temporary residence, and quota and resettlement systems. In addition, refugee children are also protected by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. One of its strongest commitments is the right to a primary education, as stated in Article 28 (rights to education), but also that “Children’s education should develop each child’s personality, talents and abilities to the fullest” (as per Article 29, Goals of education). In the US, “Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974, public schools must ensure that ELL students [English language learners] can participate meaningfully and equally in educational programs” (Morland & Birman, 2016, p. 366). Thus, asylum-seeking and undocumented children have been legally granted the right to meaningful and equal education on the same terms as children born in the US. This is significant, as it outlines that education must be “meaningful and equal” for refugee children. Based on information in the four national contributions in this volume, it could be claimed that national legislation in Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden are in congruence with international conventions. Currently, all children, irrespective of their migration status, previous schooling, or mental and physical abilities, have the right to participate in education in these four countries. Children are also, within a reasonable time framework – two to three months – granted access to schools. However, as the contributions also clearly show, there is a significant gap between policy and practice, in particular when the equity and quality of schooling presented to refugee children is considered. Although different in the grade of centralisation of their educational systems, from “there is no such thing as a German school system per se” (Vogel & Stock, p. 2