Problems of Locus and Focus: Continuing Tensions in Refugee Policy

This article, using the constructs of locus, focus and process, examines contemporary North American and European policy development.It offers a comparative perspective of refugeee development within a global context. A new and dynamic framework for understanding refugee policy is developed. It is argued that such a policy model can be both a ‘touchstone’ for teachers and school administrators, who work with refugee children, as well as an analytic tool for stakeholders who wish to reform refugee policy. The article critically reviews changes in refugee policy and suggests ways of overcoming both procedural and substantive barriers that have been erected to keep refugee children out.