Developing a holistic, rights-based model for the educational inclusion of migrant and refugee students

Abstract

Grounded on the universal right to education, this article considers the results and suggestions from a selection of projects conducted primarily by researchers of SIRIUS network to argue for a holistic approach to educational inclusion of Newly Arrived and Migrant students (NAMRS). The right to education requires access of all, including NAMRS, to quality education which responds to their individual learning needs and supports them in developing their own personal pathway to learning. Moreover, a rights-based educational model should empower NAMRS to resist to prescribed roles and identities, to develop their own definition of their past, to liberate their imagination about their future from any constrains associated with their migration and to take ownership of their future selves as citizens of local, national and global communities. Associating inclusive education with the removal of all barriers for the attainment of such educational aim, the article details a holistic framework for educational policy and practice which considers and alleviates the impact of a diverse range of factors on NAMRS’ right to quality education. The discussion explores some implications of the adoption of such holistic model for the educational practice, research and policy making in the education of NAMRS.