Refugee Students’ Psychosocial Well-Being: The Case of a Refugee Hospitality Centre in Greece

Abstract

Education can be important for assisting the psychosocial well-being of marginalized communities such as refugees and contributes to the effective processing of feelings and isolation prevention by mitigating the long-term effects of trauma and developing strategies to manage life changes. A small-scale study was conducted on 21 students from a Refugee Hospitality Center in Greece to investigate their psychosocial well-being through questions about their life, daily activities, former and current school life, family relations, feelings about their past and present, and expectations from their new country of residence. The research was conducted through semi-constructed interviews by a specialist research team and certain sociological factors, such as gender, country of origin, and prior school experience, were examined. The results highlight the presence of severe traumatic histories in the lives of many refugee children, the need to escape from their countries of origin, missed school years, the impact of current schooling on their psychological well-being, and the limitations of camp life. Most children reported school experiences to be among their happiest moments, affirming the importance of schooling in helping children build mental health resilience.