School-to-Work Transitions for Children and Youth with Refugee Experience
When transitioning from school to work, newcomer youth face a variety of challenges, including actual and perceived lack of Canadian work experience, lack of language fluency and basic educational qualifications, limited social networks, cultural differences, poor job search strategies, transportation difficulties, and negative stereotypes rooted in racism or cultural ignorance. Many youth feel they are forced into low-paying, low-skilled and demanding jobs, which negatively affects their mental and physical wellbeing.
“[W]hen I came here the system was different, totally different. … [T]o see that I have struggled for 2 years in a medical college and now when I was about to finish here is like I am back to square one … It was like, there was no point. … [L]ike everything’s coming to an end to me, because I value my academics a lot. And I’d like to study and I wanted to finish my career in medicine. But now it’s totally gone and I have to start from nowhere again. – Anyieth Maduk Manyuon, The Refuge: Starting Over – Refugee Youth and Interrupted Schooling
Recommendations:
- Collaboration among educators/educational institutions, employers, and community organizations is needed to address barriers faced by newcomer youth.
- Mentors who are culturally competent and can relate to youth’s background and career aspirations are a vital support for newcomer youth. Mentors from youth’s ethnocultural background, mentors who can orient youth to the workplace, and mentors to support youth’s education are all equally important.
- A holistic approach is needed to address the multiple, interconnected barriers that newcomer youth experience. Efforts targeting only one barrier will not be as effective.
- More targeted funding for newcomer-serving organizations who support youth’s transition to employment is required to ameliorate the unique challenges faced by youth.
- Offer workshops on Canadian workplace norms and culture to newcomer youth and families.
- Provide more volunteer and paid employment training programs that provide youth with Canadian workplace experience, soft skills, English language training, and the opportunity to build their social networks.
- Infographics
Goble and colleagues “School to Work Transitions Among Newcomer Youth in Alberta” (2022)
Click to view infographic
Mbakogu and colleagues “Youth with Refugee Experience in Nova Scotia” (2022)
Click to view infographic