Conference Agenda

This research explores the lived experiences of refugee children growing up amid continuous change and overlapping crises, focusing particularly on forced migration and the COVID‑19 pandemic. We asked children to tell and draw about their experiences before, during, and after the pandemic, examining how they describe their lives and relationships with teachers, peers, friends, family, and what we should do differently in supporting children in future crises.

The pandemic showed clearly that COVID‑19 education policy measures did not affect all children equally. Crisis responses, school closures, digital tools, family circumstances, and migration‑related challenges shaped how children experienced the period. While some positive aspects of remote teaching have been noted (Orell, 2021), disadvantaged backgrounds are found to be a major factor in learning losses during remote schooling (Engzell, Frey & Verhagen, 2021), and children in vulnerable positions faced the most negative impacts on learning (Goman, 2021; Metsämuuronen & Lehikko, 2023). Increased inequalities were linked to the heightened need for home support and self‑regulation (Goman, 2021), typically scaffolded by physical classrooms and teacher guidance. During remote learning, pupils with strong social backgrounds and supportive families had better capacity for self‑regulation and motivation (Metsämuuronen & Seppälä, 2022), whereas those in disadvantaged or vulnerable situations often lacked this crucial support (Fazel et al., 2012).

The study draws on narrative analysis (Riessman, 1993; Polkinghorn, 1995) and realistic dialogic analysis (Francis Auton et al., 2022) within a critical realist framework (Bhaskar, 1975/2008). This combination addresses both personal experiences and the broader social structures shaping them. Critical realism helps to illuminate skewed or limiting ways of thinking and acting around policies and practices (cf. Fairclough, 2012), as it recognises that established knowledge is always fallible (Bhaskar, 1975/2008), but it can be strengthened through multiple viewpoints and multidisciplinary analyses. Through this framework, the study offers insights on how young people faced uncertainty, restrictions, remote schooling, social isolation, and sudden shifts in daily routines, and how the crisis became part of everyday life.

Individual narratives connect to broader issues of migration, inequality, access to education, and the effects of policy on children’s daily lives. For example, school closures, remote learning, and unequal access to digital tools affected children differently across borders. Understanding how these children experienced the crisis contributes to international discussions on equal educational opportunities, crisis‑resilient schooling, children’s rights, and preparedness for future disruptions. By examining how children narrate and make sense of their experiences, the study strengthens debates on children’s rights, vulnerability, migration, and the challenges of growing up in an increasingly complex world.

This research is part of the Nordic collaboration ERAPAN (Education of Refugees and Asylum Seekers under and post the Pandemic in the Nordic Countries), strengthening the study’s European dimension. In Nordic and European contexts, children with refugee backgrounds often move across countries, languages, and education systems. The pandemic exposed differences in how countries supported vulnerable children, especially those with migration backgrounds.

Academic achievement for indigenous school leavers is an important indicator of success at school and is likely to provide future opportunities in life and support resilience in an uncertain world. This study builds on previous research which established the top performing schools for Māori students in achieving University Entrance in the New Zealand education system (Highfield et al., 2025). To understand the achievement rates of indigenous Māori students in their final year of secondary school, we conducted a further in-depth analysis of academic results of New Zealand school leavers to understand students patterns of achievement and subject choices. An analysis of the academic achievement of Māori students in STEM subjects in New Zealand secondary schools probed the pattern of curriculum subject enrolment and achievement for this group compared to their peers.

In order for society to become more equitable, it is essential that students from underrepresented groups have equal access to a university level education, should that be the pathway they wish to pursue. A university education also plays a critical role in promoting both social and economic mobility (OECD, 2025). The ongoing impact of colonisation in New Zealand means there has historically been considerable disparity in student achievement between Māori students and their peers as they more likely to have higher representation in lower socio economic areas and schools. Research continues to reveal this group are subjected to low teacher expectations and systemic discrimination within the secondary school context (Turner-Adams et al., 2023). Therefore, understanding patterns of achievement and subject choice among Māori students is important for advancing equity, particularly as a growing proportion of New Zealanders will identify as Māori by 2030 (Fowler, 2018). Previous studies have shown that approximately half of the Māori students who remain in school until age 18 gain University Entrance (UE), compared to 81 percent for non-Māori (Fowler, 2018; NZQA, 2024) and yet high achievement at school for all student groups is important because it enables young people to learn the skills needed to succeed in a knowledge-based society (World Economic Forum, 2023).

Despite rising university participation across OECD countries, access remains uneven (OECD, 2025). Students with higher socio-economic status (SES) are more likely to attend university than their peers from lower socioeconomic groups (OECD, 2025) and indigenous and minority groups continue to be underrepresented (Theodore et al., 2016). Socio-economic status has been shown to influence both student success (Helme, 2010; Woods-McConney et al., 2013) and decisions to pursue STEM pathways (Fullarton & Ainley, 2000) although in an Australian study Jefferies et al, (2020) found that SES was only an indirect predictor of student’s subject choices, mediated by enjoyment in subject material and achievement in the subject.

The research questions that have guided the investigation examine how Māori students’ enrolment and achievement in mathematics and science compare between the academically top performing schools for Māori and other schools in New Zealand as well as investigating the curriculum subjects are Māori students enrolling and achieving in. To answer these questions we examined the extent to which Māori students’ enrolment and achievement in mathematics and science subjects in their final year of secondary school compared to the average enrolment and achievement of all students in the same school .

Media socialisation functions as a crucial site of education in which knowledge, norms, and hierarchies are produced and reproduced. Stereotypes within media shape the media experiences of children and young people and reinforce hegemonic knowledge in public discourse, with enormous consequences for Roma individuals, among others. Empirical studies demonstrate that members of Roma communities face widespread discrimination in social institutions, including education and media-related contexts (Boatcă 2025; Cudak/Rostas 2023; Pasquali 2023; Reuter 2023; UKA 2021;; Randjelović et al. 2020;Scherr/Sachs 2018). As a result, people affected by discrimination often develop fears and mistrust toward the media. Parents and educational professionals are confronted with the challenge of addressing misrepresentation, for example, in children’s literature as well as in cinematic, streaming or social media content (Randjelović et al. 2020). These patterns of misrepresentation are not new: stereotypes and strategies such as exoticisation, demonisation, and criminalisation have been reproduced across media for centuries. Historical documentation can be found in literature (Bogdal 2011; Brittnacher 2012), film (Mladenova 2019; Josting et al. 2017), photography (Bell/Suckow 2008; Reuter 2016), and public reporting (End 2014; Tremlett/Messing/Kóczé 2017; UKA 2021; Haus/Uslu 2025, Voina/Sabău 2025). As a result, such media representations have become widespread, constituting a transnationally circulated media knowledge and a European phenomenon. Such a “regime of representation” (Hall 2024) shows how contemporary media socialisation continues to be shaped by racist patterns as discussed in the discourse on antigypsyism. At the same time, media are not only sites of reproduction but can also open spaces in which harsh representations are made visible, stereotypes are questioned, and alternative images become possible (End 2014).

In this paper, we present findings from a qualitative reception study that investigates how Roma individuals interpret media content. The study focuses on the role of media in socialisation and the ways in which hegemonic and epistemic powerful representations framing Roma as criminalised, precarious, or portrayed as outsiders, shape perceptions and everyday experiences. We examine how these portrayals are received, negotiated, and resisted, including the strategies participants apply to cope with forms of discrimination or stereotypical media knowledge. The analysis considers media with both national and international reach, highlighting how reception contribute to understanding the impact of such representations on Roma individuals or communities.