What’s your specific role and what does a typical day involve?
My title is home school liaison worker and trainer and my role has two parts. The first involves giving advice to refugee parents in the community about issues relating to both the education of their children and their social needs. Home-school liaison means that I provide a vital link between the school and refugee parents who might be very unfamiliar with the British education system and how they can help their child’s learning.

At the same time we recognise that parents will not be able to support their child effectively if they are also facing a mountain of social problems too. So we also give advice and support on issues such as housing, health, training and employment, the benefits system etc. Our hope it that parents will be more able to engage in their child’s learning and development if their social needs are addressed.

As well as providing advice and advocacy, we also regularly refer people on to other agencies or services who can help. For example, if someone comes to us because they want to apply for family reunion we will help find them a solicitor to apply to the Home Office on their behalf.

The other part of my role involves training teachers on how to successfully integrate refugee children into school. I help teachers develop practical policies and classroom strategies that encourage a welcoming environment and greater understanding between refugee and non-refugee pupils and staff. This involves running teacher training sessions and workshops and talks at conferences.

What’s the difference between refugees and asylum seekers?
There’s a very important distinction between the two. Refugees have "status", which means the government has recognised that they have suffered persecution in their own country and as a result are granted refuge. Asylum seekers are people who have not yet had their case assessed and they are waiting to find out whether they will be granted refuge.

How did you first become involved in this kind of work?
Like many students and graduates, I had a vague idea that I wanted to “get into the charity or development sector” when I left university, but didn’t really know what was out there or what skills and experience I needed.

I spent two years in teaching, but was very unhappy and I didn’t know what to do next. I applied for jobs in development, but didn’t get any interviews. Lots of people advised me to do some volunteering, so I took the brave step of leaving my job to volunteer for the Oxfam UK office in Oxford. Leaving my job voluntarily meant I couldn’t claim Job Seekers Allowance, so I supported myself by doing private tuition.

I was with Oxfam for 10 months and during that time spent a day a week volunteering for Save The Children, who had just started a project working with unaccompanied children seeking asylum. They wanted volunteers to help run a social club. My experience volunteering for Oxfam helped me secure a paid job with People & Planet and I stayed there for over a year whilst continuing to volunteer for Save The Children a couple of evenings a week and some weekends.

By now I had two years experience in the field and when a job came up with Asylum Welcome as a youth worker, I applied. I got the job and realised that I had found the career I really wanted, that suited my skills and strengths.

My role was very varied. I gave lots of support to the children I was working with (helping them settle in Oxford, being a listening ear andworking with them to access different services), ran three youth clubs and worked hard with statutory bodies to improve provision for asylum seekers. Statutory provision in this area was very new and slow moving and I had to do lots of high level lobbying and talking to service providers. I loved the mixture of hands-on and policy work.

The next natural step for me was the move to my current work at the Salusbury World Refugee Centre. This is a unique project, being the first refugee support centre to be set up within a school — Salusbury Primary School in Brent, where there are always around 15% refugee children on the school roll.

How do you ensure that the refugees and asylum seekers you work with feel empowered?
This is a key issue. Many of the people who come to us are at their lowest ebb. They have suffered horrendous atrocities. They arrive in a strange country, are often made to feel unwelcome, and are branded as "scroungers". Many don’t speak English and their first experience is dealing with statutory bodies, who can be dismissive and lack understanding. This is a very disempowering and frustrating experience.
The main thing we do is listen to them. They’ve had to deal with bureaucracy from the word go and they are not told what basic services they are entitled to. We recently had a Somali woman come to us who had been in the country for five years, she had suffered horrendous abuse and torture and had no fingers on her left hand. She had just been made homeless and did not speak English. In all her dealings with government agencies she had not even been provided with an interpreter. After speaking to us the woman burst into tears because she said it was the first time she had been treated like a human being in five years.

What is the most satisfying part of your job?
I really enjoy dealing with people on a one to one level and simply knowing that I have helped someone feel better or achieve something they felt powerless to do before gives me immense job satisfaction. I can’t take away what these people have been through, but I can make sure that at least when they arrive here they are given a fair deal and treated with respect. I also really enjoy learning about other people’s cultures and experiences and I meet a lot of fascinating people with amazing stories of bravery.

What problems do you come up against in your job?
The people that I work with have such an intense need, you can never do enough work. It’s hard going home thinking that someone might not have a home that night. It’s hard to switch off when you’re dealing with people’s lives. You need an outlet or it can get overwhelming. Organisations should have strategies in place to help staff deal with this aspect of the job, but it’s not always possible when you work for a small organisation.

Dealing with the government agencies that are supposed to be providing support for refugees and asylum seekers can also be frustrating. There are so many myths about the numbers of asylum seekers and their motives. The media have played a big part in fostering negative images and stirring up the publics attitudes surrounding asylum seekers. There are hundreds of families with young children that have suffered years of torture and abuse under oppressive regimes, but these are not the images the media focus on.

Did you undertake any professional or vocational training?
I didn’t do any formal training but I already had a teaching qualification and that went a long way to securing my current job, and probably helped in my last job with Asylum Welcome as a youth worker. I don’t have any formal youth qualifications, but if you want to work as a youth worker for a statutory organisation then you do need a recognised qualification in youth and community work.

In all my previous jobs, experience has been more valuable than vocational training. My two years volunteering was invaluable and I would definitely not have got to the stage I’m at now without that — I can’t stress enough the importance of volunteering.

In this area of work you have to be really focussed about what kind of volunteering you undertake and really make sure that what you are volunteering in matches what you want to do. For example, volunteering to do some general admin would not have helped me get a "foot in the door" — it was direct contact with refugees and asylum seekers that helped me with my career.

Is there a conventional route that most people follow to get a job in this field?
As with most ethical jobs, there’s not one route that everyone follows, but there are certain backgrounds that help. Lots of people I know working with young refugees and asylum seekers have some form of teacher training (although it’s not a prerequisite) and another good qualification or grounding is social work. I’ve been involved with staff recruitment so I know that it’s absolutely crucial to have experience in the field and that’s why volunteering is essential.

You also need to have "life experience" — this doesn’t mean you need to have lived through a civil war or been tortured so that you can understand the issues you’re working on. But you will need to demonstrate that you have a variety of experiences.

My experience with refugees and asylum seekers alone would not have been enough to get me where I am. Working with Oxfam and People & Planet showed my future employers that I was adaptable and could manage different projects, deal with problems, juggle different tasks and cope with stressful situations.

My job is not the kind you can go straight into as soon as you finish university. It takes time to build up the kind of experience you need, but don’t be put off by that, it’s time well spent and all jobs require some form of training period.

Would you say there are any personal qualities that are essential for working in this field?
Above all you have to be resilient because it can be a very stressful environment. It’s like any caring profession, you have to be prepared to listen to difficult things and be there to help. You have to enjoy people and be interested in them. Definitely don’t go into this area if you’re not a people person. I also think you have to be prepared to stick your next out and stand up for an issue that is unfortunately very unpopular at the moment.


Salusbury World
www.salusburyworld.org.uk

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