Integration is a word that many people use in various ways to describe lots of different things.
Everyone has some understanding of what integration might mean. However, integration involves many aspects of not just the lives of newcomers, but also the lives of existing communities. And it’s not as simple as it sometime seems.
Looking at the lives of refugees in Scotland
This is one of the reasons we have been conducting a study of refugee integration. To put it simply, this is a study of the lives of refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland. It looks at many different aspects of refugees’ lives here and we are doing it over a period of about three years so we can see integration at various stages.
We have just released our latest research briefings as part of this study; they look at the issues of housing, health, education, employment and neighbourhoods and communities. They combine some of the data from the full statistical report with the first release of data from 30 interviews with asylum seekers and refugees.
Doing these interviews was a fascinating experience. Think about how seldom you’re asked how you are by someone who really wants to know how you are. People often start a little slowly but relax into interviews and express themselves in often beautiful, poetic ways. As someone who only speaks English (and some would say I even do that badly) I’m always amazed by the way people can paint vivid pictures of their lives and feelings in their second language.
What’s changed?
We’re now sending the questionnaire out again to try and find out what’s changed for people since they first answered questions for us last year. We’ll then conduct more one-to-one interviews and do focus groups before writing up an overall report of the findings to be launched later in 2012.
I’m looking forward to the next stage and I hope you find these latest briefings interesting.
