Nineteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Refugee studies have lately emerged as a focused area of research yet there is a gap vis-à-vis the integration experiences of diversified refugees in educational settings. The available literature predominantly focuses on the integration of refugees into the host society without substantially considering the diversity factor; thus viewing the refugee community as a homogeneous entity. This study seeks to examine the nature and complexity of refugees’ experiences and their relevance to the integration processes. It aims to understand ways that may facilitate integration amongst refugees within mainstream school classrooms. It investigates the possibility of refugee children’s stories as a way to explore and deal with different issues of integration in the Algerian secondary school context with both Arab and African refugees. Accordingly, stories are used to develop positive values that could be affected by war and conflict experiences. These stories can potentially boost their understanding of key social concepts that can facilitate acceptance and integration among refugee communities. This study invokes the theoretical framework provided by Jerome Bruner’s construction of the narrative through real life experiences. The idea is to voice children’ sense making of their own world and integrate it with good values to help them construct a positive narrative. The study incorporates a theoretical perspective that gives account to the LVE (Living Values Educational) model that enables integrating good values within education. Qualitative methods are integrated to investigate the readiness and acceptance of Arab and African refugee children to each other in a classroom in Algiers.