March 2021 marked the fifth anniversary of the EU-Turkey Statement.1 Since its adoption, the statement has been discussed from diverse perspectives and positions. While the primary focus has been on the statement’s asylum and security policy program2 as well as its role in strengthening the European Border Regime, 3 so far little attention has focused on the statement’s relevance for education policies and processes dealing with the effects of forced migration on the Turkish education system. A closer look at the consequences of the so-called EU-Turkey Deal for the education of young people experiencing forced migration seems especially pressing as numerous programs, projects, and collaborations within the agreement are aimed at increasing the participation of “refugee children and youth”4 in the Turkish education system. One-third of the approximately 4.1 billion euro earmarked by the European Union (EU) under the Facility for Refugees in Turkey to date has been transferred to education-related projects.5 A huge part of this education expenditure was allocated to inter- and supranational organizations such as the World Bank, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). These organizations are pursuing various education projects in cooperation with the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MoNE), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local initiatives. All have played a significant role in restructuring the educational landscape in Turkey in recent years.
In this policy brief, I consider the actors in the education field and projects funded and supported under the EU-Turkey Statement within the current global dynamics of migration, globalization, and transnationalization. Against this backdrop, educational tasks and responsibilities are transferred more and more from nation-state educational institutions to inter- and supranational organizations.6 This development accompanies the emergence of what has been called a Global Education Industry7 that uses (market) criteria of efficiency, efficacy, and accountability to govern and assess educational processes, thus reflecting a broader neoliberal transformation of previously non-economic spheres such as education.8 I will argue here that these developments also affect the design of educational spaces and projects designated for students experiencing forced migration. As I will show, non-governmental organizations in Turkey funded under the EU-Turkey Statement have become entangled in the logics of the Global Education Industry. As a result of this entanglement, these organizations find themselves supporting a homogenous notion of refugee children and youth that tends to ignore the special needs of those who are non-Syrian or LGBTI+ while perpetuating power asymmetries in the global education system. But first, I will briefly outline some current dynamics in the global educational sphere to elaborate upon the context in which educational justice is currently being discussed and negotiated.