By Seun Adebayo, UNHCR Pedagogical & Digital Inclusion Officer, and Cirenia Chávez Villegas, UNHCR Education Officer
This year, UNHCR embarked on a collective effort to gather the latest research on refugee education, producing the Refugee Education Research Digest. This Digest distills key findings and offers actionable recommendations for shaping policies, practices, and future research that improve educational outcomes for forcibly displaced persons.
In this reflection, we highlight some of the most essential recommendations to advance equitable, quality education for forcibly displaced learners worldwide.
Refugee-led schools: a path to better outcomes?
Recent research challenges the long-held assumption that International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) are the best vehicles for delivering quality education for forcibly displaced populations. A key finding suggests that direct support to state systems and refugee-led schools – rather than relying on intermediary organizations –can lead to significantly better education outcomes (Aden, 2024). This is evident in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps, where students in refugee-led schools have outperformed those in INGO-supported schools in national exams).[1] These schools, driven by strong governance, community involvement, and accountability to parents, debunk the notion that refugee-led initiatives lack capacity or legitimacy. Instead, the research highlights the potential of refugee communities to deliver high-quality education when empowered with the right resources. Further studies have shown similar findings (Gemma, 2024; Maire, 2024; Nilsen et al., 2023).
This raises important questions: should the role of INGOs be reconsidered in favour of empowering local actors who understand their communities’ unique needs? At the very least, these actors should be involved from the start of any education response (see Fast and Bennett, 2020). Could this shift be a path to sustainability and more effective refugee education? Future research in this area could help answer these questions.
The role of technology: a double-edged sword
In the push to integrate digital solutions in education, particularly for refugees, research cautions on the need for careful reflection (Akello et al., 2024; Awad and Tossell, 2019). While technology can expand access to learning resources and connect students to global educational opportunities, its unchecked promotion risks unintended harm, especially for marginalized populations (Pérez-Escolar and Canet, 2023; Pierce and Cleary, 2024).
Many forcibly displaced learners face significant barriers such as limited digital infrastructure, unreliable power, and lack of digital literacy, making a tech-first approach unsustainable in many contexts (Nicolle, 2022). Moreover, much of the technology used by and for refugees is not designed by refugees themselves, which means it does not meet their specific digital needs (Barnes et al., 2023). Research from Uganda supports a judicious, context-driven approach, advocating “minimal computing” – using only the essential technology adapted to local constraints and needs, ensuring sustainability in resource-limited settings (Akello et al., 2024).
As stakeholders, we must critically assess how and where technology is deployed in refugee education, ensuring it empowers rather than marginalizes vulnerable learners.
Teachers: crucial to belonging and integration
Teachers play a vital role in creating a sense of belonging and aiding the integration of refugee students, both in and outside the classroom. Research by Anderson, Ortiz-Ayala and Mostolizadeh (2023) highlights that teachers act as “brokers of belonging,” helping refugee students navigate not only academic challenges but also the social and cultural complexities of resettlement. Teachers’ role and efforts in this regard need to be recognized and supported with resources and professional development tailored to the needs of refugee students.
Becker et al. (2023) further show that teachers’ professional experience shapes their attitudes toward cultural diversity, with a deeper understanding of diversity reducing perceived teaching challenges. Crucially, our review has identified a significant gap in research on the role of teachers in refugee education – an area that that urgently needs more attention. Evidence-based strategies to strengthening teachers’ capacity to support refugee students will be essential for long-term educational success.
A roadmap for refugee education: amplifying refugee leadership in education
Our review of the latest literature on refugee education clearly indicates that the sustainable way forward for refugee education lies in empowering refugee communities to take the lead, using technology thoughtfully, and conducting comparative research to understand what works best in different contexts. By embracing a more inclusive, localized approach, we can ensure that refugee students are given the best possible chance to not only thrive academically but are better integrated into their host societies.
This reflective shift asks us all—educators, policymakers, and humanitarian actors—to rethink how we approach refugee education. The answer may lie not in more external interventions but in amplifying the voices and capacities of refugees themselves, and balancing innovation with access and inclusion.
[1] Specifically, in the 2021 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, only 3% of 993 candidates from six INGO funded schools obtained the minimum grade of C+; while in 10 out 11 refugee-led schools 78% of 1195 candidates achieved similar results.