These are two case studies from the Refugees In Towns project that examine the impact of education of refugee youths' ability to integrate in their new environment. One case study discusses Afghan refugees in Islamabad, Pakistan, while the other focuses on refugees in Cape Town, South Africa. Both case studies demonstrate the role that legal status, class and language play in the education refugees receive in their host countries. They also offer recommendations for how use education as a tool to promote integration.
From the Islamabad study:
"Urban settlements in Islamabad are loosely organized according to ethnicity, as people from similar backgrounds tend to cluster together. Within the open-air schools, Afghan, Pakistani, Pashtun, and Punjabi children are sometimes divided along linguistic lines, with students speaking the same language preferring to sit together. Education can be a powerful force for integration. It provides the opportunity for host and refugee children to interact as peers and share the experience of learning and growing. Play-based interactions and learning within the school space can additionally aid integration by blurring the lines drawn by ethnicity and class."
https://www.refugeesintowns.org/islamabad
From the Cape Town study:
"Foreign students face a range of challenges, from switching to a new curriculum, to differing language of instruction, to xenophobia, to the need to work to help their parents in low-paying jobs. It is easy for them to lose interest in school or even lose hope in life. They need extra motivation to concentrate and do well. The schools in Cape Town provide a platform for them to learn, albeit with challenges. What I encountered in this study left me satisfied that the schools are doing a lot to help the students integrate."