School Loneliness Among Syrian Refugee Children in Turkey: A Phenomenological Study

ABSTRACT This phenomenological study investigated Syrian refugee children's experiences of loneliness in Turkish primary schools through Max van Manen's existential framework—lived space, body, time and others. Data were collected via semi‐structured interviews with 14 children aged 9–12 and 6 weeks of classroom observation in a public school in Ankara. Thematic analysis, using Saldana's coding techniques, revealed that loneliness was not merely emotional but experienced spatially through marginalisation, bodily via self‐critique, temporally as disrupted continuity and relationally through limited peer and teacher connections. Language barriers, peer exclusion and lack of teacher support were key contributors to emotional isolation. The study calls for culturally responsive pedagogy, inclusive peer practices and affective support systems to foster belonging. Theoretically, it extends van Manen's existential lens into the domain of forced displacement, offering a novel interpretation of refugee childhood loneliness as a multidimensional, lived phenomenon. This approach makes an original contribution to both migration studies and existential phenomenology.