Refugee Children’s Career Aspirations at a Hospitality Center in Greece

Abstract

A child-centered approach to education paves the way to discover a child’s personal dreams, aspirations, experiences, abilities, and interests. In child-centered educational contexts, students are encouraged to express and discover themselves. This is particularly relevant for refugee children who have suffered trauma, change, and repeated schooling interruptions that may negatively affect the future-oriented thinking that forms their career ambitions. The purpose of this study is to identify the aspirations of refugee children through a small-scale study conducted at a Refugee Hospitality Centre in the outskirts of Athens, Greece. Twenty-one (N) refugee teenagers were interviewed and participated upon their parents and teachers’ consent, through a semi-structured interview about their career preferences as well as their academic aspirations and intentions, as well as their chosen destination countries. The motives behind their choices were discussed and differentiations with gender, country of origin, and school attendance were examined. Finally, suggestions are made to support refugee students to explore possibilities about their career orientations and values in order to be included effectively within society and fulfill their aspirations.