ABSTRACT
As indicated in Chapter 1, our goal in developing a model for the education of refugee children is to facilitate understanding of the wide range of factors which may have an impact on their adjustment to school and to outline approaches to assessment and intervention for this diverse group. The theoretical and empirical material reviewed in previous chapters contributes to this model by underscoring the significant role played by families, schools and other helping services in the adaptation of refugee children to their new host country as well as to their educational progress. The developmental model can help us conceptualize the array of individual and environmental factors that may hinder or facilitate the process of adaptation (the task faced by refugees). In addition, we can employ the model to track and describe change over time. Significant intra-and interpersonal and systemic diagnostic indicators have been identified which can signal successful and less successful adaptation and integration. Thus the model enables the critical examination of programmes and structures which may be put in place to support the processes of adaptation and integration.
