Inequalities in the home learning environment during the pandemic: a closer look at Syrian refugee children’s home learning environment in Türkiye prior to COVID-19

ABSTRACTThe home learning environment of children became critical during the COVID-19 school closures, and already-existing deprivations of children increased inequalities in access to education during the COVID crisis. This study documents the home learning environment for the Turkish host community and Syrian refugee children in the pre-pandemic year. In order to achieve this end, a composite home learning environment (HLEQI) is calculated using the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) in Türkiye, which includes a sample of Syrian children. This study reveals that Syrian children were already burdened with disadvantages regarding their home learning environment quality, with the average HLEQI calculated for Turkish children as 61.7% and Syrian children at 36.5%. Moreover, when examining the individual components of this composite index, our study reveals substantial gaps in the supportive home learning environment for both Turkish and Syrian children, with the latter facing even greater challenges. These gaps span across various dimensions of the composite index, encompassing aspects such as access to remote learning infrastructure, adequate study space at home, and quality interaction with adults. The study underscores the need for targeted interventions to address these disparities and ensure an equitable learning environment for all children, regardless of their background or circumstances.KEYWORDS: Home learning environmentmicro datasetsCOVID-19refugee studies AcknowledgmentsThe original research included in this article was presented in an earlier form in the report “Documentation of Education Response in Türkiye during the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Effect on Children’s Access to and Retention in Education” which was prepared for UNICEF Türkiye Country Office by Development Analytics. This study does not reflect the official views of UNICEF, and any errors in the text remain that of the authors.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. ESSN is the largest humanitarian programme in the history of the EU, ‘aiming to support the most vulnerable refugees in Türkiye through unrestricted cash transfers to meet basic needs’ (WFP, Citation2017). Through time, the number of recipients of the programme increased continuously. ESSN covered 1 million individuals in September 2017, 1.2 million in February 2018 and currently (before C-ESSN), it reached 1.8 million individuals in June 2021 (TRC, Citation2021).2. In DHS the question is ‘Does the household have internet connection?’ The question does not emphasize or distinguish between mobile connection or fixed connection.3. According to the EUROSTAT’s definition (Citation2021), a person is considered as living in an overcrowded household if the household does not have at its disposal a minimum number of rooms equal to: one room for the household; one room per couple in the household; one room for each single person aged 18 or more; one room per pair of single people of the same gender between 12 and 17 years of age; one room for each single person between 12 and 17 years of age and not included in the previous category; one room per pair of children under 12 years of age.4. These three questions are asked in the ‘Women’s status module’ in the Women Questionnaire, to gather information about who is doing the household chores in the women’s households and are not asked specifically for each child.5. Asset index and asset quintiles are constructed separately for the Turkish and Syrian samples, using the information on ownership of various assets. Hence bottom 20% of the Syrian sample is based on the asset index for the Syrian sample only. The asset index is constructed using the information on availability of the following items: LED/LCD TV, computer, deep freezer, gas/electric oven, microwave oven, dishwasher, garbage dispenser, washing machine, drying machine, iron, vacuum cleaner, home theatre, tea/coffee machine, kettle, generator, blender, paid TV services, satellite TV, internet, air conditioner, commercial vehicle, tractor, car/truck.Additional informationFundingPart of the analysis for this study was financed by UNICEF Türkiye Country Office under the project “Documentation of Education Response in Türkiye during the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Effect on Children’s Access to and Retention in Education”.Notes on contributorsHazal Colak OzHazal Colak Oz, is a data scientist and social policy researcher at Development Analytics. Her primary research areas center on analyzing poverty and inequality and the distributional impact of cash transfer programs. Within her 7 years of experience, her methodological expertise has primarily anchored in the application of quantitative data analysis and machine learning techniques in social policy. Hazal is currently pursuing a PhD in data science at Tilburg University and possesses two master's degrees: one in Comparative Social Policy from Oxford University and another in Data Science and Society from Tilburg University.Meltem AranNazli Aktakke, is the director of research at Development Analytics. She is a social policy researcher with more than 10 years of experience working on a wide array of subjects, spanning from poverty and cash transfer programs to assessing the health and education outcomes of children in various country contexts. She holds a master's Degree in Economic Analysis from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in Spain and another master's Degree in Economics from Bogazici University in Türkiye.Nazli AktakkeMeltem Aran, PhD, is a human development economist and the director of Development Analytics. Her research focuses on poverty, inequality and the distributional impact of social policies on women and children in low opportunity settings. She has 20 years of experience, studying the distributional impact of policies and costing scenarios for improving access to basic services and social protection in countries as varied as Turkey, Indonesia, South Africa, Madagascar, Albania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, St Lucia, Egypt and Myanmar. Meltem holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Oxford.Emre ÜçkardeşlerEmre Üçkardeşler, is the Chief of Social Policy at UNICEF Türkiye. He leads a team working on poverty mitigation, cash transfers, public finance, child rights and business principles, and local governance. Emre conducted research and authored articles and reports on social protection, precarious employment, welfare regimes, social spending, student absenteeism, and gender equality. He has near 20 years of experience at the nexus of social policy and education policy through various analytical, advisory and management roles in development and emergency contexts.Yali HajhassanYali Hajhassan, is a qualitative researcher with a track record in the field of cash transfer programs and evaluation projects related to refugees in Turkey and the surrounding region. Drawing from her four-year career as a qualitative researcher, her areas of specialization encompass the qualitative data collection, coding and analysis of qualitative data. Yali earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Cumhuriyet University and is presently doing an MSc in Psychology at the University of Essex.