Refugee Education, Prejudice & Shared Humanity: Learning From Displaced Young People

In this episode of the BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, Kelly and Ashley sit down with Catherine Gladwell, founder and CEO of Refugee Education UK, to explore what education really looks like when your whole life has been uprooted.

Catherine shares powerful stories from her work with refugee children and teenagers in the UK – many of whom have been out of school for years, arrived alone as unaccompanied minors, or are trying to learn in a new language while carrying trauma, grief and separation from family.

Together they unpack:

Why over half of the world’s refugee children are currently out of school

The hidden barriers refugee learners face in the UK (language, trauma, missing records, complex systems)

How academic potential is misjudged when language and PTSD get mistaken for “low ability”

Incredible resilience and self‑motivation – from teens fighting to sit GCSEs to those dreaming of rebuilding their home countries

The emotional impact of prejudice, othering and hostile narratives about refugees

How schools can better recognise prior learning (mother‑tongue GCSEs, accelerated learning, subject‑specific language support)

What home‑educating families can do to talk about refugees, challenge stereotypes and raise more compassionate kids

Kelly and Ashley also reflect on parallels with home education: worries about “translating” a non‑standard educational path into exams, further education and future opportunities – and how our current systems often measure the wrong things while missing character, resilience and lived experience.

Resources mentioned:

The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf - Get it here.

Refugee Education UK - https://www.reuk.org/donate

Take it further:

Use this episode as a springboard to talk with your children about refugees, displacement and shared humanity. Small acts of welcome – a smile, a hello, an invitation to play – can make a huge difference to a young person starting again in a new country.

Keywords: refugee education UK, refugee children in school, asylum seekers and education, prejudice and refugees, inclusive education, trauma‑informed teaching, accelerated learning, home education UK, changing perspectives, empathy for refugees