Journal article : Review
A critical review of the research evidence on early childhood education and care in refugee contexts in low- and middle-income countries
- Abstract:
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Refugee children are some of the most vulnerable populations in the world. Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) for refugee children can have positive impacts on child outcomes, however most of the evidence stems from research from high income countries. This paper reports on a critical review, carried out to evaluate what we know about benefits and the quality of ECEC programmes for refugee children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). 15 studies were identified, located in refugee camps and resettlement contexts in seven different countries. Whilst acknowledging limitations due to the small number and low rigour of the studies included in this review, the findings indicate benefits of ECEC participation for children across developmental domains, showing particular the potential to support socio-emotional learning and emotional recovery. Findings confirm the challenge of resources for the provision of high-quality refugee ECEC in LMICs, including lack of materials, space, and training and support needs of staff. By bringing together what we learn from the existing research in the field, this review helps to identify successful strategies, that call for play-based approaches, interactions that focus on socio-emotional support and recovery, the engagement of communities and families, and the provision of culturally responsive environments. These findings strengthen the wider knowledge base about the characteristics of ECEC provision which are important for supporting refugee children and families in lower-resource contexts.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.2MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1186/s40723-023-00109-4
Authors
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Journal:
- International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy More from this journal
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 1
- Article number:
- 7
- Publication date:
- 2023-02-13
- Acceptance date:
- 2023-01-17
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2288-6729
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Subtype:
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Review
- Pubs id:
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1333947
- Local pid:
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pubs:1333947
- Deposit date:
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2023-04-24
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Stevens et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2023
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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