THE REFUGEE CRISIS OF 2015 SWEPT THROUGH EUROPE LEAVING OVER 1 MILLION DISPLACED PEOPLES IN GERMANY -
The numbers of incoming refugees had been on a steady increase during 2013 and 2014 leading many European countries to conversations on what European Union member states were responsible for in regard to these refugees and whether or not countries should have the right to tighten immigration laws and asylum quotas - simply put Europe was deciding whether or not in was in their best interest to self-isolate. One country that chose not to tighten restrictions but rather amend their immigration laws to allow more refugees asylum was Germany. In 2015 Germany let in over 1 million new refugees - a move that was both celebrated and condemned within the country. Once granted asylum and refugee status in Germany the new journey begins for migrants - integration and settlement into their host country - and often this leg of the journey is one of the hardest. There are many parts of integration that are important but for this project my research focuses on the history of migration in post-WWII Germany and how that has affected current integration of migrants through education in Germany. It is a complex theme to explore but it poses many political, social and economic questions about migration that effect more than just Germany. Unbeknownst to me my “research” on this topic began in 2017 when I was working in the German school system during my gap-year. During this time, I worked with both migrant and German students of all ages in large cities (Stuttgart and Hamburg) and various small towns for two months. This paper is an opportunity for me to expand on my own observations and experiences by reading books, scholarly articles and government reports to research themes such as: how education plays an important role in the integration of migrants within their host country, why previous German integration policy does not match the influx of new migrants, the differences that exist between integration in large cities and small towns and how Germany can better integrate students with a migration background into the school system.
Germany is a country that has strong state programs and funding, which from an outsiders perspective makes it the perfect country to integrate migrant students as they have the resources but in reality there are many obstacles refugees have to face before they are fully integrated into the classroom. First and foremost, there are several levels in the integration of migrants into the German school system - it is not easy, especially when migrant students speak little or no German, are dealing with traumatic experiences from the past and are faced both at school and in the media with stereotypes and xenophobic attitudes. Another added level of difficulty to integration in Germany is the division of East and West from 1945-91 which means that the governments and more specifically the immigration policies of both countries were vastly different. There were different thoughts about the migrants in both East and West Germany. In West Germany, most migrants came from Italy, the former Yugoslavia and Turkey, but the migrants in East Germany only came from other countries of the socialist brotherhood. The difference of origin countries between East and West have proved to be an issue of contention since unification as attitudes and histories between migrants and their communities differ – integration tends to be much smoother in the West than it is in the East to this day. Nevertheless, because Germany has a long history of migration, and unification there was a loose integration system for migrant students drafted in the early 2000’s. But in 2015, “2.14 million migrants flowed through Germany and of these refugees around 40 percent were children” (Welt, 1). This means that 534,000 future students came to Germany in just one year. In 2019 it was reported by the newspaper Tagesschau that “[a]ccording to estimates, the German school system has taken in around 130,000 children and adolescents with refugee experience since 2015” (Stalinski, 1). This number is expected to grow as younger children become school age making the need to provide adequate education a priority.
In Germany’s immigration law that was put into legislation in 2005 stated that “migrants accepted into the country would be sent to states that could financially support them” (Klusmeyer), but during the 2015 Refugee Crisis and in the aftermath that stipulation became difficult to abide by. Statistically the federal states that received the most refugees in total were North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, which are all financially in a place to support migrants, however, with 64.5 immigrants per square kilometer, Berlin recorded the most immigrants in terms of land area. Large cities like Berlin have greater problems coping with the mass influx of migrants because there are not enough resources available to care for so many people – they already struggle with lack of housing, crowded schools and poverty without the added refugee population. Smaller cities and towns tend to be able to integrate better because they have the money for educational resources and the time to spend one on one with students. I personally saw this problem of city versus smaller town when I was working in the German school system. In Stuttgart there were separate classes with German students and other classes for migrant students and there was an obvious difference between the two groups which I often found led to tension between them. The integration experience was much different in a smaller town such as Donaueschingen (in Southern Germany) were for some classes the students were separated due to different language skills, but for other classes like English, fitness and music they were mixed together. The lower population of students in these towns made it easier for refugee students to integrate because both the student and the school had the time and money to effectively become a part of the community.
The integration plan after the refugee crisis in 2015 was also in crisis - there was no nationwide plan on what to do and how best to promote student education. There are several reasons as to why Germany had and continues to have an issue with enforcing a uniform integration plan. First, the problem lies within how German immigration law is enforced within the country. In Hariri’s report he discusses that German immigration law takes a 3-tier approach that uses international law, federal law and individual state law – the federal government passes legislation based off international law and the individual federal states are in charge of implementing the national law. This structure for immigration legislation and integration framework within each individual state is a large reason as to why the quality of migrant integration is so different in the school system. This legislation technically provides refugees with the right to 500 hours of language classes and 100 hours of civic training – but the leeway states get in implementing and the dearth of instructors makes this part of the law hard to effectively provide. Second, as just mentioned there are not enough teachers in Germany to meet the needs of incoming students. According to the Ministry of Education and Research, “up to 20,000 additional teachers are needed to fill the existing educational gap and to cope with the expected arrivals” (Stalinski). In response to this Germany recruited 8,500 language teachers because most of the new refugees came from Syria meaning that Germany has to employ language teachers who can not only teach German but also communicate in Arabic. Thirdly it cannot be forgotten that, although integration through culture and language is important, most of these students have had massive trauma to deal with before they can fully participate or integrate. School can become a community of support and understanding for these refugee students which promotes both educational learning but also healing through a sense of community and belonging. Many cities know that mental health is an issue that plagues these communities, so they have open “Intercultural Centers” (Lange) that provide language support for families, community involvement opportunities and support groups to deal with past trauma.
Now that we have covered the history of migration in Germany as well as the current successes and failures of the system, the question remains: how can Germany best integrate refugee students? If we attempt to answer this question, then on a broader scale we can attempt to ask how Europe can best accept and integrate refugee students following the lead set by Germany. There are many ways in which Germany can work to better integrate refugee children into the school system. First, it is important that the parents of refugee students have resources to learn the German language. According to the German integration report from 2016, “the main reason why refugee children have difficulties learning German and integrating into regular classrooms is that the language is not strengthened at home” (Blossfeld). The availability of resources for parents will therefore help to integrate refugee families in Germany and open up opportunities both in education and the workforce later. There has been statistical improvement in the effectiveness of integration in cities like Bremen (Lange) due to Intercultural Centers that promote family language learning. Second, Germany needs more teachers. Fortunately, with all the recent migration, there are more and more teachers who have an immigration biography themselves. This fact is a key factor as to why Germany should be investing in these refugee students now – mass migration will continue for years to come and if they have a workforce that is multilingual with experiences and skills to help integrate new waves of refugees they will be more prepared than most nations. Third, there needs to be a change in the way immigration law is enforced in Germany. Regional differences in attitude, history and finance all make the enforcement and rection to immigration law different. If Germany makes the choice to federally enforce immigration law rather than leave it up to the states to enforce then they could see which states need more support to be more successful with student integration. In reality the refugee crisis is not a burden that Germany alone has to bear. It is not an easy solution, but if Europe and Germany can work together to create a constitution for migrants' rights in Europe, there will be better funding and support for integration. Refugee students are best supported when the world supports their right to life.
Cited Sources:
Hariri, Rafik. Boon, Not Burden. Rep. Washington D.C.: Atlantic Council, 2017. JSTOR. Web. 2020.
Lange, Valerie. "Ergebnis Und Best Practice Beispiele." Integration Durch Bildung Im Fokus: Schule Und Ausbildung. Proc. of Integration Durch Bildung in Bremen. Bremen: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2018. 1-2. Print.
Blossfeld, Hans-Peter, Wilfried Bos, Hans-Dieter Daniel, Bettina Hannover, Olaf Köller, Dieter Lenzen, Hans-Günther Roßbach, Tina Seidel, Rudoplf Tipplet, and Ludger Wößmann. Integration Durch Bildung: Migranten Und Flüchtlinge in Deutschland. Publication. Münster: Waxmann, 2016. Print.
Klusmeyer, Douglas B., and Demetrios G. Papademetriou. "From Policy Vision to Legislative Reality: The Making of the 2005 Migration Law." Immigration Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany: Negotiating Membership and Remaking the Nation. New York: Berghahn, 2009. 251-60. Print.
Siegert, Manuel. Schulische Bildung Von Migranten in Deutschland. Rep. Berlin: Bundesamt Für Migration Und Flüchtlinge, 2008. Print.
Stalinski, Sandra. "Integration an Schulen: Auf Dem Rücken Der Lehrer." Tagesschau.de. N.p., 24 Jan. 2019. Web. 21 Nov. 2019. Theuerkauff, Annika. "Flüchtlinge: Integration Im Klassenzimmer." Zeit Für Die Schule. N.p., 2015. Web. 2019.