TY  - UNPB
PB  - Institute of Education, University of London
Y1  - 2009///
A1  - Burcham, Catherine Elizabeth
M1  - Doctoral
N2  - Making a successful transfer to secondary school in the UK has been linked
to a range of positive outcomes for refugee children. Yet research
investigating this experience from the perspective of refugee children
themselves is scarce. This study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of
how male adolescent refugees experienced their transfer and adaptation to a
secondary school in the UK. The research used a qualitative design, it was
idiographic and the approach adopted was Interpretative Phenomenological
Analysis (IPA). Semi-structured interviews were completed with six male
adolescent refugees. The data generated three superordinate themes which
reflected the participants' sense of being in need of help during the early
stages of their transfer, their process of adapting to school and developing a
sense of belonging in this context, and their overriding need to feel safe.
Participants identified a wide range of factors as supporting and hindering
their transfer and adaptation to secondary school. These are explored in
relation to existing research and psychological theories. Implications for the
practice of Educational Psychologists and schools are offered. In particular,
results showed that older siblings were often the primary educators of
participants at home. Schools that adopt a family engagement framework,
rather than parental engagement, may more successfully support the learning
of refugee children. All participants experienced a strong motivation to learn
English and believed that speaking their first language in school would hinder
this process. Further research is needed to investigate perceptions of first
language use in school. Finally there is a reflection upon the applicability of
using IPA with children learning English as an additional language. The
author suggests that IPA can be successfully applied in research with this
population.
EP  - 173
AV  - public
ID  - discovery10019926
N1  - Thesis: (D.Ed.Psy) University of London Institute of Education, 2009.
TI  - The experience of male adolescent refugees during their transfer and adaptation to a UK secondary school
UR  - http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.551172
ER  -