Improving peer interactions of Turkish and Syrian students in a high school within the scope of integration

The main purpose of this research is describing the social adaptation problems experienced in the classes in an religious vocational high school preferred by Syrian and Turkish families and young pupils and also to improve the class climate and relations between peers. The research was carried out in Gaziantep Şahinbey, Ömer Özmimar Boys' Vocational High School, which has a multicultural education environment in the 2019-2020 academic year. More than 45% of the school students are from Syrian and other nationalities. The study conducted with action research, one of the qualitative research methods, progressed cyclically in collaboration with participating teachers and students. Data diversity was provided by including observation, researcher diary, inventory, focus group interview, online questionnaire and online interview techniques in the study. In the analyzed data, it was understood that one of the primary problems of students in a multicultural school was the difficulties in peer pupils interactions. Together with the participating teachers, an activity implementation booklet was created to improve peer interactions. In line with the teachers' views, the researcher carried out the action practice in the 10-H class, which has a mainstreaming student, 14 Syrian and 12 Turkish students, who have difficulties in peer interaction within the school. After the action practice, the opinions of the participant teachers and students were obtained through online tools. It is thought that the study will contribute to the multicultural school environments in our country in line with its reflections on the classroom and school climate. Keywords: Multicultural School, Peer Interaction, Social Adaptation, Action Research