Examining social assistance and problems experienced by Syrian children under temporary protection in Turkey: The example of Altindağ

This study aimed to investigate the problems and social support of Syrian children in public schools. For this purpose, 299 children in secondary and high school levels in Altındağ district were studied by using quantitative research design. The data of the research were collected prepared by the researcher Demographic and Migration Process Information Form, Problem Determination Survey Form, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS). Participants 182 percent of them (60.87%) were female students, 192 percent of them (64.43%) were studied at the high school level, almost half (% 48.04) have attended school for 5-6 years in Syria before, over half of (63.64%) them has been attending school for at least 3 years in Turkey. It was found that the Syrian students participating in the research were more supportive of the positive statements about their teachers. Syrian friends helped them most when they had a problem. Only one-third of the students ate meals with students from Turkey. It was found that more than half of the participating students felt insufficient while speaking Turkish, fell asleep while listening to lessons; nearly half of the majority cried many times at school and felt lonely. A significant majority of the students rejected behaviors such as hitting and tattooing, mockery and nicknames are experienced. It was concluded that the perceived social support of the students was moderate level. It was observed that variables such as educational level and gender characteristics did not differ in terms of perceived social support total score (p> 0, 05). In the 'significant other' sub-dimension support score, male students received more support than female students; In the subscale of 'family', secondary school students received more support than high school students; It was concluded that female students perceived more social support than male students in the 'friend' sub-dimension. Keywords Syrian children, educational problems, social support