Finnish schools are welcoming increasing numbers of refugee background students. Despite their fragmented educational histories and challenging backgrounds, many settle quickly and start to succeed. These more positive stories of refugee education are not told, because they get overridden by well-meaning but counterproductive stories of victimhood. In this research, recently arrived refugee children use microcameras to document the ebb and flow of their everyday school lives. Then, they identify moments when they felt successful, considering ‘success' open-endedly as consisting of academic and social achievements as well as more invisible factors that make them feel positive in school. These moments are analysed through a practice lens, focusing on what people are doing and saying, how they are relating to one another, and what site-specific arrangements enable or constrain their practices. The insights will contribute to new, strengths-based theory and practice in refugee education.

2020

2023