What have we learned from a decade of arts-based refugee education?

Blog post Part of special issue: Refugee education: Challenging stereotypes and deficiency approaches

What have we learned from a decade of arts-based refugee education?

Lucy Hunt, Research Fellow at Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Joanna McIntyre, Professor in Education at University of Nottingham 15 Jun 2026

Can art change refugees’ lives? The research suggests that with the right approach, creative practices such as drama, music and design can break down language barriers, help people express who they are, and offer a path to healing after displacement.

Educational projects often mix creativity with dialogue, mindfulness or community action, creating spaces to share stories and rebuild a sense of community. In this post, we dive into insights from the Hub for Education for Refugees in Europe () to explore what works, why it matters and what researchers and practitioners can learn from recent practice.

‘Art is healing – not only for me but for the viewer, creating bridges of empathy and understanding.’ (Camilo Arias, artist with experience of forced displacement, cited in )

A community mural painted onto pavement depicts an open book inscribed with the phrases “See the bigger picture. Make a better world” and “Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”

Why arts?

Arts education is often framed as a social justice tool: a way to reduce marginalisation, promote intercultural understanding and foster empathy (; ). For refugees, the arts can bypass linguistic barriers and enable identity expression (). They can also support psychosocial wellbeing, helping individuals to cope with trauma and displacement (). Interventions range from drama and music to participatory design, often combining creative processes with dialogue, mindfulness or civic action (; ). Underlying these approaches is a belief that art can create spaces for critical thinking and social commentary, while offering non-stigmatising routes to healing and inclusion (; ).

‘Arts-based education can foster empathy, reduce prejudice and encourage friendships between refugees and more established communities.’

The benefits of such initiatives are well documented. Arts-based education can foster empathy, reduce prejudice and encourage friendships between refugees and more established communities (; ). It can also support language learning and meaningful communication (; ), while enhancing self-esteem, identity formation and classroom engagement (). Arts-based initiatives can also help educators and local students to develop intercultural awareness and challenge normative assumptions about migration (; ).

‘While making art, children naturally explore their identities, decide how they will present themselves to others, find meaning in a healing narrative and safely process bad memories.’ ()

What are the challenges?

Despite the many positive potential outcomes described above, challenges persist. Sustainability is a major concern, as many projects rely on short-term grants, limiting continuity and long-term impact (; ). Representation and voice also remain problematic. While cocreation is frequently a guiding principle, some interventions risk tokenism if refugees’ perspectives are not genuinely integrated (). Teachers report feeling unsupported when addressing sensitive topics such as race and gender, highlighting gaps in professional development and policy alignment (; ). Most interventions also remain small-scale and localised, raising questions about scalability and how to embed arts-based approaches into mainstream education systems (). Evaluation gaps compound these issues, as few studies track long-term outcomes, making it difficult to assess sustained impact on inclusion, wellbeing or academic achievement (). Finally, political climates and restrictive migration policies can undermine programme goals, limiting reach and effectiveness (; ).

Children gathered around a table engage in drawing and craft activities, using coloured pencils and paper.

What are the key lessons going forward?

Overall, while Europe continues to grapple with displacement and inequality, the forthcoming systematic review on which this post is based suggests that creative pedagogies can help us to imagine more inclusive futures. By exploring the principles, practices and outcomes of various socially engaged arts education interventions for refugees across Europe, we were able to identify several priorities.

Namely: policy frameworks need to move beyond rhetoric to embed arts-based strategies into national curricula, to institutionalise inclusive practices () – while also ensuring long-term funding (). Practice must focus on partnerships with schools and local arts organisations (, along with mechanisms for refugee leadership (). Teacher education programmes should provide structured professional development to equip educators with creative, intercultural pedagogies (), while arts should be integrated across mainstream subjects to foster creativity and critical thinking (). In future, researchers could examine long-term impacts, explore digital innovations and continue to interrogate how exactly ‘social justice’ is (or is not) enacted in social justice art education (), while developing comparative studies to understand how local policy environments shape outcomes ().

Conclusion

By reframing arts education as a pathway to belonging, we can move beyond the individual or therapeutic benefits of arts initiatives to instead highlight their potential for societal transformation. This conceptual shift has profound implications for inclusion and social justice, as it positions arts education not merely as a support for individuals but as a structural lever for reshaping relationships and challenging exclusionary systems within host societies.

Lucy Hunt, Dr

Research Fellow at Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Lucy Hunt is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and an Affiliated Research Fellow of the Hub for Education for Refugees in Europe at the University of Nottingham. Her DPhil at the University of Oxford ethnographically explored young refugees’ engagement in post-15 education in Greece. Lucy works on topics connected to youth, migration and inclusion, and particularly educational challenges facing forced migrant communities. Beyond these thematic interests, she is also interested in the use of creative and visual methods in both research and teaching.

Joanna McIntyre, Professor

Professor in Education at University of Nottingham

Joanna McIntyre is Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham. Jo is interested in how we can understand and improve the lives of those who are educationally marginalised or disadvantaged by society. Jo’s book, Refugee Education, and her work in the field of refugee education explores the barriers and opportunities schools face when working to support refugee children. Jo’s recent research projects include an exploration of the role of arts in fostering a sense of belonging for newly arrived young people in cities in Europe, a project with Swedish educators looking at implementation of an inclusive model of education for refugee pupils and a series of research collaborations with Refugee Education UK (REUK). Jo established and leads the international Hub for Education for Refugees in Europe.