W3 participants also discussed the difficulties faced by asylum seekers and refugees who arrive in Northern Ireland in their mid teens. Whilst entitled to a school place, these children often do not have a realistic chance of passing their GCSEs given the short timeframe and language barriers, resulting in many leaving school without any qualifications. This is less of an issue for younger children who have more time to learn English and settle into the education system. Some schools in Northern Ireland will have a concentration of children who cannot speak English and may be able to provide the group with a dedicated English teacher or send them to ESOL [English for Speakers of Other Languages] courses in the community. It is up to schools to decide how best to assist children who cannot speak English. CSO4 commented that this resulted in “hit and miss” provision: “[there is a] lack of English language support, there’s no standard approach to additional support for children, so it’s kind of hit and miss I think what school you go to” (CSO4). CSO2 noted that no solution had been found for children who arrived at ages 15 and 16 and that this had very serious long term consequences for them: “… that’s a real problem and I don’t think it has really ever properly been... I don’t think it’s got the attention it needs… failure to take action here will have, kind of, this growing cohort of young people who just feel completely marginalised, you know, never got into the school system which means they can never progress with their education. And they’re just been set up to fail” (CSO 2). CSO5 noted that the Department for Economy was responsible for employment and skills training for over 16s but that there was currently insufficient provision for asylum seekers and refugees for asylum seeker and refugee children post compulsory school age with limited language skills. W1 participants agreed that there was a lack of education pathways for these young people leading to the risk of feeling that they had no potential and no future. Many further education courses required basic essential skills to attend or a level of English proficiency. W3 participants pointed out that the Department for the Economy did fund a ‘Skills for Life and Work’ which was available to asylum seekers and refugees. PB6 also referred to an essentials skills pilot course which included intensive ESOL: “… they’ve [the Department for Economy] brought in a new course which is the essential skills that they already had but with intensive ESOL bolted onto it, specifically targeting those children who are arriving as teenagers, who are leaving school at 16, who haven’t reached a proficient level in the English language… it’s in place as a pilot project”.
Educational provision and pathways for 14 to 16 year olds A commonly discussed issue among participants was the difficulties which asylum seekers and refugees who arrived in Northern Ireland aged 14 to 16 had in getting access to school places and subsequently accessing post-compulsory school age education. W1 and W2 participants said that children in this age group were particularly vulnerable. It was difficult to find suitable school places for them because schools could be unwilling to take them on and lower their GSCE league table scores. CSO4 said: “… if somebody is aged 15 when they arrive, you’re not going to get them a school place, and yet there are no other pathways for children to access education and a 15 year old is probably too young to access an adult ESOL class at college and travel to that college” (CSO4). CSO5 said: “So many kids just come at 14 or 15 don’t get into school and then 16, sorry, we don’t have a duty to you anymore” (CSO5). PB6 noted that a key issue was the length of time it would take a young person to become proficient in English: “We’ve heard it can take a child with no English language three to five years to come up to a reasonable standard... So, a child who arrives in Northern Ireland at the age of 14, 15, you know, that’s a real challenge, how are they ever going to attain a GCSE level? And then that impacts on, I suppose, everything that comes after that in the pathways under employment and training” (PB6). W1 and W2 participants said that the Education Authority had no support in place for this age group and that children could be left in limbo with nothing to do all day long and little employment prospects when they turned 16. CSO9 said: “… so if I’m 15, I’m still within the compulsory school age and nobody will take me. What does anybody provide for me? I don’t know the answer to that, I don’t know the answer. And I suppose there’s a space between what anybody would offer… and the uptake of that given that there is no relationship of trust” (CSO 9). PB6 said that for those refused a school place there was a right of appeal: “If they’re denied admission for a child, they have a right to appeal to the Education Authority… on top of that, the Department has an article within its legislation where it can instruct a school to admit a child. But it’s very, very, very rarely used… because we usually resolve the issue before we get to that point” (PB6). PB8 commented in similar terms: “… we will apply for mainstream school, and where a school says, ‘oh listen, we can’t do that. You know, they haven’t got the English, or we need, you know, we need a classroom assistant, we’re just not set up for it’, the Education Authority is very good at supporting the appeals of such decisions. And I think, more often than not, I think, usually those appeals are successful” (PB8). PB6 also noted that the Department for Education had written to schools to remind them of the need to welcome newcomers: “Our Permanent Secretary did write twice to schools, once at the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis and then once again a slightly broader letter to say that schools should be welcoming for all and that would include all children arriving here seeking sanctuary, irrespective of how they got here or where they’ve come from” (PB6).
34 | Access to Public Services and Access to Justice for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Northern Ireland
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