Compulsory guests of Türkiye: A meta-synthesis study on teachers’ experiences with refugee students

In recent years, the number of refugees in Türkiye has increased significantly due to the wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. This situation has brought about social, political, economic and educational problems. The issue of refugee education is 1 of the most important of these problems. With the research reported on here we aimed to draw new conclusions by combining qualitative studies on the experiences of teachers in public schools where refugee children are educated and to reveal similar and different aspects of teachers’ experiences. We also aimed to provide theoretical assistance to teachers who teach or will teach refugee students. In this research, which is based on the meta-synthesis method, we examined 51 studies (19 postgraduate theses, 32 scientific articles) that met the inclusion criteria. The findings show that teachers found the education they had received on refugee education quite inadequate. It was revealed that teachers experienced burnout due to this inadequacy and did not want refugee students in their classes because it resulted in difficulty in classroom management. We also determined that refugee children were constantly stigmatised by Turkish students and their parents, and that this situation triggered an environment of conflict. As a result, anti-refugee political discourse has increased in Türkiye. Teachers are demanding that policymakers amend policies to improve economic conditions and solve problems related to refugees.