The Relational Refugee Child: Trauma-Informed and Culturally Responsive Approaches to Educational Inclusion

This article explores the concept of the Relational Refugee Child (RRC), emphasising the importance of trauma-informed and culturally responsive approaches in fostering refugee students’ educational and social integration. Refugee children often navigate multifaceted layers of disconnection resulting from cultural, linguistic, and spatial barriers, which challenge their sense of belonging and participation in educational systems. Drawing on a qualitative study with sub-Saharan refugee students and their teachers in Algerian national schools, this article critically explores the relational dimensions of refugee education. It highlights how systemic factors such as language policies and perceptions around integration shape refugee students’ experiences. The study contends that trauma-informed practices, which centre the refugee child, are crucial in addressing the psychological and social burdens of displacement. Simultaneously, culturally and linguistically inclusive pedagogies that actively challenge the marginalisation of “low-prestige” cultures and languages may offer transformative potential by validating refugee students’ identities, fostering meaningful connections, and enhancing their sense of agency. These approaches counter the dominance of monolingual ideologies and recognise the profound cultural and motivational significance of minority languages and cultures. By situating refugee education within the broader framework of relational inclusion, this article advocates for an integrative approach that merges trauma-informed strategies with inclusive methodologies.