School Counselors’ Roles and Responsibilities in Cultural Adaptation Process of Syrian Refugee Children

Abstract

Turkey is the most welcoming country to Syrian refugees and currently it is believed that most of the Syrian refugees will permanently stay in Turkey. This condense migration experience should be considered comprehensively regarding health, accommodation, nourishment, work and education rights. Syrian refugee children and adolescents constitute the largest Syrian refugee population. Currently formal education is provided to some of these children through Temporary Education Centers, state schools and private schools owned by Syrians. In order to provide a healthy education first the language problem then the other problems should be carefully taken into consideration. Especially school counselors have critical roles and responsibilities in refugee children’s school adaptation process. Therefore, school counselors need to have various competencies including knowledge of acculturation process and trauma, multicultural counseling and advocacy competencies. For this purpose in the present study it is aimed to provide a point of view regarding acculturation process of refugees, education conditions of Syrian refugee children and roles and responsibilities of school counselors in their adaptation process to school.