Becoming Somebody - Learning Identities and Trajectories for Students in a Protracted Refugee Situation

Abstract

Research on education for students with refugee backgrounds has extended understanding of learning experiences for students in resettlement countries but is still lacking in protracted refugee situations (PRS) such as Malaysia. Although structural barriers to access, particularly for higher education, are well understood in PRS, these do not account for the low uptake of places on higher education programmes despite high demand. Taking access to higher education as a starting point, this study used a theory of learner identity to look beyond structural barriers and explore access to higher education from a sociological perspective. The focus of the research developed throughout the analysis process to highlight a more key concern on forms of becoming for students in an education system that is annexed from the host nation. The interface between individual and society is interrogated in terms of agency and recognition that students experience as learners, and the corresponding impact this has on their learning trajectories. This study recruited 17 students in the highest level of secondary education across two informal learning centres in Kuala Lumpur were as active participants to better represent the students’ voices in the limited research conducted in this area. Rich data was gathered through loosely structured interviews, focus groups and observation, and analysed using a combination of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Narrative Analysis. Students experienced an expanded space for authoring identities in the unfamiliar educational PRS context. However, the metaphor of a “gap” was used to express the mismatch they feel between internal and external forms of recognition. Learner identities developed on a foundation of resilience and reflexivity, which the students demonstrated in challenging standard entry procedures in attempts to be viewed as valid candidates for higher education. However, developing identities came under threat as the students approached the prospect of conforming with enduring culturally defined notions of adulthood, leading to identity construction outside of education to ensure successfully “becoming somebody”. This work helps to make visible the experiences of youth in PRS and contributes to challenging linear migration narratives by considering the complex ways that different temporal frames shape identity construction and becoming “refugee learners”.