PEER SUPPORT AND ACADEMIC MOTIVATION AMONG REFUGEE UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

The novel contribution of this study will be its understanding of refugee secondary students’ strengths with a focus on peers and academic motivation (e.g., persistence) in the face of systems-level barriers. Refugees in transit countries often face numerous challenges to receiving education; in Malaysia, refugees are prohibited from entering Malaysian schools, barring them from educational access and rights. Despite this, some refugees often act in resistance to these systems-level barriers by continuing to pursue education and maintaining motivation. This study aims to understand the role of refugee peers and academic motivation of upper secondary school students using a strengths-based perspective grounded in an ecological resilience model. This study also seeks to explore the potentially protective nature of peers within schools. The method involves two rounds of semi-structured qualitative interviews of 19 refugee secondary students at learning centers in Malaysia who are en route to taking the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) examinations. The first wave of interviews was conducted in spring of 2024. The second wave of interviews was conducted in June 2024 and provided greater detail into refugee experiences with peers and motivation toward completing school. Interviews included an arts-based drawing task on motivation, alongside member checking and reflexive journaling. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed using independent coding by three research members to generate themes from the interviews. Three main themes were found: (a) peer relationships are foundational for students’ emotional well-being, sense of belonging, and academic motivation; (b) peers help create visions of the future; and (c) students experience a feeling of aloneness and overcome the feeling through friendship. Limitations are discussed. The application of the findings across ecological levels as well as limitations are discussed. This study has implications for refugee adolescent peer research, for refugee schools to embrace peer-related connections or interventions to promote students’ motivation, and for inclusive education policy change in Malaysia.