This paper conveys part of the essence of our book Schooling for Refugee Children (UCL Press, May 2024), co-written by researchers from UK, Syria, Lebanon and USA, which examines social justice of and through schooling for Syrian children seeking refuge in Lebanon or UK. It explores the experiences of refugee children in temporary settlements in Lebanon, drawing on Nancy Fraser’s (2008) conceptualisation of social justice as parity-of-participation, which distinguishes three interconnected aspects of social justice: Redistribution, Recognition and Representation. It further draws on Kohli’s (2011) view of refugee children needing to establish feelings of safety, belonging and success.

Research was designed which offered a platform for Syrian refugee children to share their stories and represent their educational experiences. This paper explores these aspects of social justice and belonging in interpreting the verbatim words of 45 Syrian refugee children aged 8-14 years. Over three days of workshops, the children conveyed the following key points: their sense of participating in and belonging within a community where equity was both implicit and explicitly demonstrated; their admiration and appreciation for teachers who created learning environments of safety and care, and recognised them as agentic individuals; the challenges they faced in obtaining fair access to a wider curriculum and more schooling; their longing to return to ordinary life in Syria where they were recognised as fully valued individuals; and their strong will to succeed and make their voices heard, and despite significant setbacks, lead transformations in their future lives.

The findings of this study show that the children in our sample were, to some extent, learning how to articulate their own perspectives within their schooling, engage in critical dialogue and present themselves in a confident and self-determined way. These attributes are likely to support their future struggles to be heard and have their perspectives acted-on.