Blog: Caught in the middle
how two systems are failing refugee children in their early years
Friday 23rd June 2023
By David Bradley, Senior Policy Advisor (Education) and Amy Ashlee, Research Manager, Refugee Education UK
The inaccessibility of high-quality, affordable early childhood education and care (ECEC) for many families in the UK is well documented. As UNICEF UK outlined in our Early Moment’s Matter report, ECEC provision is geographically patchy, with multiple barriers to access. This is affecting many families, locking children out of vital early childhood development support that can have positive life long impacts.
What is less scrutinised, is the impact that weaknesses in the system are having on access for some of the most marginalised in our society, such as refugee children. To understand and uncover the ECEC experiences of these families and children, UNICEF UK is working in partnership with Refugee Education UK (REUK) on a piece of exploratory research. In this blog we share some of our initial findings (due to launch in July) in which have identified a myriad of barriers across two complex systems, locking refugee children out of early education and childcare settings.
Researching the ECEC experiences of refugee children
UNICEF UK and REUK spoke to a range of parents from different countries of origin and a variety of statuses. Some of these parents were asylum seekers, others came to the UK through Government schemes from Ukraine and Afghanistan, or had been in the UK as refugees for a longer time. We also interviewed experts in the field of early years for refugee children to help build a picture of ECEC experiences for this group of children.
These research conversations demonstrate the clear benefit that attending a high-quality ECEC setting can have for refugee children. Experts and parents pointed to significant support with language development, recovery from traumatic experiences, and integration into a new community. They also identified its value in helping access to vital additional services through signposting, as well as supporting children’s readiness for primary school.
However, the conversations also highlighted a challenging and complex reality. They revealed multiple intersecting barriers that combine to effectively lock refugee children out of ECEC settings, including: restrictive and complex entitlements for asylum seekers; poor information flows between national and local government, and local government and families; the location instability that displaced people experience, particularly when waiting on an outcome on their asylum claim; and the depletion of early years funding, resources and capacity.
Although the initial findings paint a disheartening picture for this largely hidden group of children, there are examples of excellent practice at a local level. Many local authorities have risen to the challenge, often working in partnership with third sector organisations, to meet the varied and complex needs of their children. And many ECEC settings have created an intentional environment of welcome, providing the space for children to thrive and their families to feel like they belong.
A child-centred approach to policy making
What is striking about the experiences of this cohort of parents and children is the extent to which they are at the mercy of two systems, neither of which have the best interests of children at the heart of their policies. These children find themselves stuck in the middle of a venn diagram of an ECEC system that prioritises getting parents back into work – a right denied to most asylum-seeking parents, and complex for refugees – and an asylum system which has created barriers to service access. Ultimately, this is isolating and excluding children from the support services that are vital for their early development. A significantly more child-centred approach to policy making is required for children to realise their rights in their earliest years.
The next stage of our research will see us share our full findings more widely in July, before working closely with partners, experts, and rights holders to establish the appropriate policy and practice recommendations to transform these two systems for families and children. If you are interested in hearing more about the research, you can get in contact with the research leads on [email protected] and [email protected]. You can find out about UNICEF UK’s Early Moments matter campaign here.