ElmCore Journal of Educational Psychology October, 2014 | Page 8

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based on the study’s findings, as well as implications for
government policy in education.
An alternative policy solution is briefly addressed in the
policy recommendations section: the Minimum Standards
for education in emergencies, chronic crises and early
reconstruction contexts (Minimum standards) (INEE,
2004). While the Minimum Standards were not included as
a policy recommendation in the YASP findings and report,
they represent a viable international option for considering
education for youth affected by conflict. Kirk & Cassity
(2007) explore the possibilities for educators who work
with refugee young people “over there” in refugee camps to
share experiences, tools or educational approaches with
those who work with refugee young people “over here” in a
resettlement context. This article concludes by reflecting on
the fundamental links and rifts between global and local
contexts.
Background
The Africa region is currently the focus of United States
humanitarian program and is likely to remain so for some
time. The majority enter the United States under Special
Humanitarian Programs and smaller numbers in the
Refugee category. Since 2002, Sudan has ranked number
one with 47 per cent of entrants in 2003-04 (USCIS, 2004).
By 2004-05, that number had more than doubled. Other
countries of birth are also featuring, although in smaller
numbers, including Ethiopia, Congo, Somalia, Sierra
Leone, Liberia, Burundi and Rwanda. In New Jersey the
growing numbers of arrivals are settling in Jersey City and
Newark.
In terms of the American immigration history, the
emerging African communities represent a distinct pattern.
They are refugees who bring with them enormous trauma
from civil conflicts such as torture, rape, family separation
and loss, and community breakdown. Moreover, they are
difficult to classify in terms of identity, language,
community and settlement needs. Communities such as the
diverse Southern Sudanese are minorities in their own
country and remain small and splintered in the United
States. Research suggests that one of the major challenges
for recently arrived young people is to identify with a
community to which they can safely belong (Burnett &
Peel, 2001; Cassity & Gow, 2005). For many young
people, schools provide a primary place of belonging.

Making Up for Lost Time

ElmCore® Journal of Educational Psychology

Young African Refugees in American High Schools
(Cassity & Gow, 2006) is the culmination of findings of a
study conducted from August 2004 through to March 2005.
The project investigated the schooling experiences of 65
recently arrived African young people across three high
schools in Australia which has similar trends with the
United States. It contributes significantly to the few studies
on Africans in the United States. Gow’s study of the
Oromo refugees from Ethiopia in Melbourne (2001a,
2002), and Robinson’s work with the Somali people (1999)
are two major studies dealing with African refugees. Aside
from this, various communities are usually addressed in
small generative studies: for example, works by Batrouney
(1991), Ssali (1998) and Beattie and Ward (1997).
Young people from refugee backgrounds face enormous
challenges in the settlement process. Apart from the
difficulties of new schooling, they must locate themselves
within a new social, cultural, geographic and adult space,
yet also try to find security within the spaces of their own
families and communities. Given the breadth of issues, the
literature relating to the settlement experiences of refugee
young people is remarkably weighted toward mental health
considerations—which tend to individualize and
pathologise complex processes (cf. Bevan, 2000).
Wyn and White (1997) contend the experience of young
people is best understood in a relational way, which enables
researchers to “take into account the diverse ways in which
young people are constructed through social institutions,
and the ways in which they negotia є