INCLUSIVE REFUGEE EDUCATION PRAXIS: EXPLORING REFUGEE-LED EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

Abstract

In the context of forced displacement, inclusive education (IE) remains a critical yet elusive concept, particularly when refugeehood intersects with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Despite global frameworks recognizing and advocating for inclusive refugee education, implementation continues to fall short, most acutely for refugees with SEND. Key challenges include ambiguous definitions of inclusion (El Ahmad, 2022), insufficient funding (Crea et al., 2022), inadequate teacher training (Hadidi & Al Khateeb, 2015), and a lack of inclusive curricula responsive to refugees’ needs (Shuayb et al., 2016). Refugee children with SEND face compounded marginalization, as social narratives often depict refugees as burdens on social and economic systems (Kiwan, 2019) and portray children with SEND through a deficit lens that denies their capacity to benefit from education (IASC, 2019).Global frameworks have increasingly emphasized the integration of refugees into national education systems, particularly UNHCR 2012 and 2019. However, in practice, inclusion is often reduced to structural access, overlooking the relational and contextual dimensions that shape meaningful inclusion of refugees. These limitations are particularly evident in non-formal education (NFE) settings, especially those led by refugee communities, that frequently serve as primary access points when formal systems fail to include refugee learners. Refugee-led educational NFE initiatives play a vital role in addressing these gaps, drawing on community knowledge and social proximity to respond to learners’ needs. Yet, despite growing advocacy for shifting powers toward refugee communities through their direct engagement, these initiatives often lack financial support and recognition from the international humanitarian actors (Aden, 2025). At the same time, empirical research on how inclusion is conceptualized and enacted for refugees, particularly those with special educational needs and disabilities, remains limited, especially in the Global South, where most refugees reside. Using a critical ethnographic design grounded in decolonial feminist epistemologies, critical pedagogy, and critical refugee studies, the research positions refugee educators as knowledge producers rather than passive beneficiaries. Fieldwork was conducted between 2023 and 2025 across two schools within the organization, referred to here as the Hope Center. Data sources included immersive in-person and virtual observations, as well as ethnographic interviews in multiple formats with teachers, special educators, school leaders, and social workers. The study captures inclusive practices not only during routine schooling but also during periods of disruption, including the shift to remote learning amid Israeli strikes and school closure in Fall 2024. Findings reveal that inclusion, as defined and practiced by refugee educators in this context, is a systemic and evolving process, not a static goal. Rather than focusing solely on student access or barrier removal, inclusion is conceptualized as relational, holistic, and responsive to both learners’ and teachers’ needs. Through strong interpersonal trust, adaptive communication, and collaborative leadership, teachers exercise situated agency in ways that humanize education for children with and without SEND. This is while educators are also being supported, held accountable, and recognized as professionals with their own lived realities. By adopting a bottom-up lens, this study reframes inclusion as a dynamic, humanizing process shaped by educators’ knowledge, values, and relationships. It challenges dominant models that position inclusion as a policy mandate handed down from above and instead highlights inclusive practices already working on the ground. This study contributes to emerging alternative discourses on inclusive refugee education by offering a reimagined understanding of inclusion by centering refugee educators’ knowledge, lived realities, and shared values in shaping inclusive pedagogies.