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Refugees and numeracy: what can we learn from international large-scale assessments, especially from TIMSS?

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Abstract

At least 66 million people globally are experiencing forced displacement and had to flee their homes in order to escape war, persecution, and natural disasters. Countries that have accepted larger refugee populations must address the task of enabling their participation in society. Besides other aspects, numeracy skills are important for all individuals, including refugees, in coping with mathematical demands within private and public life and participating in society as informed and reflective citizens. Research shows that little is known about refugees’ educational backgrounds, especially concerning numeracy and mathematics, despite such knowledge being of great relevance for policymakers in receiving societies. To alleviate this gap, our aim in this paper is to study the numeracy skills of refugees and to discuss how far these findings can be of help in nourishing a successful educational pathway for refugees and facilitating their participation in their receiving society. By exploring large-scale studies, in particular the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), we found that respondents in the selected Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries perform significantly below those in Italy and Sweden in the area of mathematics achievement, but those in MENA countries have more positive attitudes. However, the fact that refugees are a very heterogeneous group makes it difficult to make general statements about them based on international large-scale studies. Overall, our paper points to a considerable need for an expanded research agenda that can inform policymakers and decision makers regarding refugees and numeracy, in order to create or redesign adequate educational programs.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

(source: Based on IEA TIMSS)

Fig. 3

(source: Based on IEA TIMSS 2011)

Fig. 4

(source: Based on IEA TIMSS 2011)

Fig. 5

(source: Based on IEA TIMSS 2011)

Fig. 6

(source: Based on IEA TIMSS 2011)

Fig. 7

(source: Based on IEA TIMSS 2011)

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Notes

  1. By integration, we refer to the promotion of equal participation in the central areas of social life for all members of a society.

  2. The next section gives a detailed explanation of why we have selected the here mentioned countries.

  3. The term MENA is not a fixed definition but refers in general to the region from Morocco to Iran. In our analysis, we refer to Syria, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey as MENA countries.

  4. As Germany did not participate in TIMSS for eighth grade students, Germany could not be included in the analysis.

  5. By welfare state, we refer to a system in which the government provides the population with free social services such as education and health systems.

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Acknowledgements

The project “Mathematics and Refugees” is a sub-project of the research network “Numeracy as Part of Adult Education” funded from 2016 to 2020 from the Hamburg Ministry of Science, Research and Equity.

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  1. University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Maike Lüssenhop & Gabriele Kaiser

  2. Australian Catholic University, Brisbane, Australia

    Gabriele Kaiser

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Lüssenhop, M., Kaiser, G. Refugees and numeracy: what can we learn from international large-scale assessments, especially from TIMSS?. ZDM Mathematics Education 52, 541–555 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-019-01111-2

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