Equity and exclusion in refugee education: perspectives of Syrian refugee youth and educators in Quebec

Canada resettled over 74,000 Syrian refugees between 2015–2019. Thousands of refugee-learners were consequently introduced into the provincial education systems. This paper explores a particular subset of this population by focusing on the experiences of Syrian refugee young adults, aged between 16–24 in Montreal, who were aged out of the traditional education system, having to access adult education as their only option to complete highschool. These students struggled to navigate the foreignness of the Quebec education system, with years of missed schooling and financial worries. Ironically, while equity is offered, exclusion is created. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that while educational opportunities offer a semblance of equity, the lived experiences of these Syrian youth reveal exclusion, unintentionally marginalized by educational policymakers. Semi-structured, one-hour interviews with 29 Syrian refugee-learners and 12 educators provide rich data, analyzed thematically. Critical race theory frames this research exposing systemic issues that hinder inclusion.