Abstract:
With the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon, the attention of research has
focused on the marginalization and vulnerability of these children including their access
to school. A lot of the discussion in this field has focused on the inability of Syrian
refugee children to enroll in mainstream public Lebanese schools due to the language
challenge, in particular learning mathematics and sciences in English and French. This
has resulted in segregating Syrian children in afternoon school shifts. However, this
discourse overlooks the effect of the colonial practices on the Lebanese educational
system and how it has marginalized a large sector of the vulnerable Lebanese children
attending public schools since Lebanon’s independence in 1943. The study investigates
the interplay between the colonial history of Lebanon, today’s educational policies and
practices, and school outcomes of children from disadvantaged socioeconomic
backgrounds. It shifts the debate from the discourse of refugees being the problem to the
inherited structural inequalities of the Lebanese educational system. The study follows a
mixed method design with qualitative and quantitative components. It comprises a
survey with students in addition to interviews with Lebanese and Syrian children, school principals, teachers, and parents. Classroom observations were also conducted. Mentors
and trainers from the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education were also
interviewed. Research findings revealed that foreign language was experienced as a
barrier to learning and a source of marginalization by both Syrian and Lebanese
students. The thesis raises questions concerning the language policy in Lebanon. It also
questions the call to segregate and “dumb” down the curriculum for Syrian refugees in
afternoon shift. Finally, it highlights the quality of teaching foreign languages in public schools and its effect on the attainment of children from disadvantaged socio-economic
background.
