This paper explores supranational, national, and local layers of language policy
and planning (LPP) that affect education for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. By
applying Hornberger and Johnson’s (2007) concept of approaching multilingual
LPP as a multi-layered onion, disconnects among supranational, national, and local
layers of LPP are critically examined using Tollefson’s (1991) historical-structural
approach and Dryden-Peterson’s (2017, 2019) framework of possible futures. In
this case study, I conclude that multilingual language-in-education policies in
Lebanon often create structural barriers for refugee learners to access and persist
in the national education system. The potential benefits of multilingualism
often are not realized in implementation and multilingual policies exacerbate
educational inequalities and fail to prepare refugees for a variety of possible futures