Abstract

Millions of Syrians live under temporary protection in Turkey. However, there are some problems in their integration into the education system. For the integration of Syrian students into Turkish education system, the Ministry of National Education in Turkey (MoET) initiated a Project called “Promoting Integration of Syrian Children into Turkish Education System” (PICSTES) and “Awareness Raising Training for Administrative Staff” (ARTAS), which are supported by the European Union. The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of the administrators who have participated in ARTAS that was held within the scope of PISCTES through metaphors. Content analysis method was used in the research. The participant group of this study consists of 297 administrators (281 males and 16 females). They work in 21 different provinces. The average working year of the participants is 10.23 and the average age is 43.99. As a result of the research, 62 metaphors were obtained after the analysis of the valid metaphors developed by the administrators regarding the “PISCTES Project: ARTAS Training”. These metaphors were classified under 7 different conceptual categories. The results indicate that refugee students should not study in separate classes or schools but instead the supportive teaching courses for the students and their families should be fostered and the in-service training for administrators and teachers should be given more importance.

Key words: Syrian children, Promoting Integration of Syrian Children into Turkish Education System (PICSTES), Awareness Raising Training for Administrative Staff (ARTAS), metaphor analysis.