Primary School Teachers’ Perceptions About Refugee Children Inclusion in Greek Schools: Are Teachers Prepared?

This research is mainly exploring primary school teachers’ perceptions about refugee children inclusion in Greek schools. More specifically it focuses on how teachers construct their discourse while talking about refugee students and their intercultural competencies as agents of inclusion and social justice in the context of Inclusive Pedagogy. This paper focuses on two research aspects: teachers’ discursive construction about refugee children, their inclusion in Greek educational system and the intercultural communicative competencies that teachers have acquired through their professional development. Teachers blame the government for not being prepared and for its incapacity to educate and train teachers. Therefore, they feel insecure to deal with the new educational multicultural environment and include refugee children in their classrooms, while they discuss the need to give refugee children equal educational opportunities. Twenty-five interviews were conducted and have been interpreted using Critical Discourse Analysis as used by Νorman Fairclough, Robert Hodge, and Gunther Kress.