"Global Search for Education" Publishes Q&A With Refugee Study Authors | Teachers College Columbia University

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“Global Search for Education” Publishes Q&A With Refugee Study Authors

Mary Mendenhall, Assistant Professor of Practice, International and Comparative Education
Mary Mendenhall, Assistant Professor of Practice, International and Comparative Education
The Global Search for Education blog on The Huffington Post published a Q&A with TC's Mary Mendenhall, S. Garnett Russell and Elizabeth Buckner, the authors of “Urban Refugee Education: Strengthening Policies and Practices for Access, Quality, and Inclusion,” the first-ever global study of urban refugee education, published in February.

TC's Mendenhall, an assistant professor of practice; Russell, an assistant professor; and Buckner, a visiting assistant professor; all in international and comparative education; surveyed personnel working for UN agencies, international and national NGOs; and educators in 16 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. They also conducted an in-depth study of refugees in Beirut, Nairobi, and Quito. The surveys were designed to understand why only about half of elementary-school-age urban refugees, and only about 22 percent of middle-school-age urban refugees attend schools -- even though international conventions entitle them to educational services in their host communities.

The Q&A quotes Russell:  “Even in countries with strong national policies and laws, several factors result in an implementation gap including lack of capacity in government schools, low levels of capacity among civil servants, autonomy of local and school administrators, and discrimination and xenophobia by the host communities.”

Read the full Q&A on the Huffington Post here. The Q&A was republished on the Education News website here.

Published Thursday, Apr 13, 2017