Family, Childhood, and Primary Schooling Under Double Displacement: An Educational Ethnography of Syrian Families in Hatay, Türkiye

Forced migration and disasters are often examined as separate crises, although many refugee populations experience successive and overlapping displacement. This separation limits understanding of how repeated displacement reshapes family organization, childhood, educational participation, and wellbeing. Building on the literature on double displacement, this study examines how forced migration resulting from war, followed by secondary displacement triggered by the 6 February 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes, reconfigured the everyday lives and educational experiences of Syrian families in Hatay, Türkiye. Drawing on an educational ethnography involving six Syrian mothers and their primary-school-aged children, the study employed prolonged participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive field notes. Data were analysed through inductive qualitative content analysis, involving iterative open coding, comparison across cases and settings, and the development of broader analytical themes. While existing research often examines forced migration and disaster recovery separately, this study investigates how these successive crises intersect in everyday family life and shape family relationships, childhood responsibilities, educational experiences, and wellbeing. The analysis was informed by perspectives on double displacement, relational resilience, and doing gender. Four interrelated themes were identified: Changing Family Structure, Early Responsibility, Transformation of Educational Space, and Loss of Security & Belonging. Together, these themes illustrate how successive crises reshape family roles, increase children’s responsibilities, transform the role of educational spaces in everyday life, and undermine families’ sense of security and belonging. Educational adaptation emerged as a relational and contextually situated process shaped by interactions among children, families, schools, peers, and communities. The study extends understandings of double displacement by highlighting its interconnected family-level, childhood, and educational implications and the importance of family-centred, trauma-informed, and socially inclusive responses that support children’s wellbeing and relational resilience.