Refugee Education Coordinators in the Greek Educational System: their role as mediators in refugee camps

Abstract

In Greece, the program for the integration of school-aged refugee children in public education has been implemented since 2016. An innovation established by the Greek Ministry of Education to facilitate refugee children’s access to public school was the institution of the Refugee Education Coordinator (REC). The research explores the role of RECs regarding involvement of refugee parents. Therefore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen RECs positioned in refugee camps in order to acquire the qualitative data required to answer the research questions. The research participants considered that RECs had a determining role in raising refugee parents’ awareness on the necessity of their children’s schooling, as well as connecting them with their children’s school.