Consultation with secondary school refugee teachers in Malaysia: Problem identification, interventions, and outcomes

There is an overwhelming wave of refugee youth in need of secondary education and support in countries which restrict access to education. Refugee primary education, however, has largely been the focus within the literature which limits our understanding of the unique problems refugee secondary school students face and potential interventions needed to ameliorate these issues. This study elucidates the concerns of and ways that refugee teachers at informal secondary schools promote change during school consultation in a country that prohibits refugee education. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the problems, interventions, and outcomes discussed during consultation with refugee teachers in secondary informal learning centers in Malaysia. Eleven teachers participated as consultees (9 refugees; 2 Malaysian citizens; 6 female-identifying; average age of 33). Problems raised during consultation sessions included refugee student engagement and learning, behavior, refugee student and teacher mental health, teacher self-efficacy, and systemic challenges unique to the refugee context. Interventions discussed included academic engagement, behavior management, and emotion regulation. Teachers cited improvement in student academic engagement, behavior, motivation, and emotions. The discussion section underscores the importance of identifying culture-specific problems and interventions in a global school consultation context, with implications for school psychology practitioners.