"We are pleased that after more than two years, personal visits to the participants are finally possible again," says Dr. Jutta von Maurice, head of project. "And a lot has happened on the part of the children and young people in the meantime - milestones such as starting school or, in some cases, already the transition from school to the world of work. We now want to take a closer look at that." And project manager Dr. Gisela Will adds, "We would be very happy if the participants support us again as actively as before."
Long-term focus on educational developments
In terms of content, the study follows on from the previous project "Refugees in the German Educational System" (ReGES), in which children, adolescents and their parents were surveyed between 2018 and 2020, particularly in the federal states of Bavaria, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony. The refugee families are now being further accompanied in the project "Educational Trajectories of Refugee Children and Adolescents." By focusing on two relatively age-homogeneous groups and accompanying them over a longer period of time, their educational trajectories can be examined particularly well.
The children (cohort RC1) are now between 8 and 14 years old and the adolescents (cohort RC2) are at least 17 years old. Since the first face-to-face interviews in 2018, the participants have made a progress on their individual educational paths. More than 95% of the children were already enrolled in school when they were last interviewed two years ago, and some young people had already left school and started preparing for a job or an apprenticeship. Currently, cohort RC1 includes about 2,100 children, and cohort RC2 about 2,000 adolescents.
Media Use and Trust in Institutions as New Survey Items
The upcoming survey will take place over a period of around three months and should be completed by the summer holidays. For this purpose, the participants will be visited again personally and in compliance with hygiene measures in their households. During the previous survey two years ago, household visits had to be stopped due to the pandemic and the surveys had to be continued by telephone.
The parents of the children as well as the adolescents are interviewed in Arabic, German or English and answer questions, for example, about their acquisition of the German language or their living situation, their educational situation or the educational situation of their children, and also how they have experienced the Covid-19 pandemic so far. New items include, in particular, questions on media and Internet use, on social trust and trust in institutions, and on health. Another new feature is that children will also receive their own short questionnaire fort he first time. A further survey will take place together with a language and competence test in winter/spring 2024.
"Educational Trajectories of Refugee Children and Adolescents" is a cross-departmental project of LIfBi and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Link to detailed information about the project