| Summary: | According to (International Rescue Committee, 2018), International Rescue Committee (IRC)
is offering emergency services for about 1.5 Syrian refugees in Lebanon who fled their
homelands since 2011. A large number of the refugee population are categorized as children
under the age of 18. The small country Lebanon has been called to respond to this humanitarian
crisis, and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) responded to offer educational
services for those children. Taking into account the increasing need for refugee education
support and especially during the last few years, this study attempts to understand the integration
process for refugee students into the Lebanese curriculum, through early childhood education,
based on teachers’ perspectives.
In this qualitative research, interviews were conducted with teachers who are directly
contacting refugee students, within an early childhood education care (ECEC) program in
January 2020 at three different schools in Northern of Lebanon. One of the NGOs in Lebanon
provided the ECEC centres, and all the services were free of charge for refugees.
The findings that were extracted from the interviews through content analysis, made it
possible to explore the barriers that affect the learning process of refugee students. However,
content analysis is a common methodology that is used to study cases in qualitative research. It
helps to find out the meaning of text within the quantification of the meaning of spoken or
written language (Renz et al, 2018).
New methodologies will be mentioned in the study such as, the play-based environment that
was used by teachers, to mitigate challenges in the classroom, and support children’s integration
process in the Lebanese curriculum, and the motivation chains to which participants had access
for academic and attitude cases within the ECEC classes.
In addition, the findings denote the various issues and system interconnections that shape
the reality facing refugees at local communities. There are techniques such as creativity, open
discussions and dialogues that outline the integration process of refugee students, which
challenges their learning, development processes, and overall academic experience. ECEC,
however, could have a positive impact the children through the support that teachers received
through training as well as the academic support by the NGO.
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