The challenges of integration for Arab Syrian refugees into the Turkish state education system since 2016 have been well documented in the literature, often from a rights-based or policy analysis perspective. This qualitative study seeks to articulate more fully the particular issues facing Dom and Abdal refugee communities from Syria who are minorities within the bigger minority group in Turkey, the Roma. Very few empirical studies examining the reasons for early drop-out rates, underachievement and lack of parental engagement in schools for the Roma community in Turkey, whether settled or refugee, have been found. The main research question is to explore the way educational challenges for Dom and Abdal children are framed in Turkish media and by non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers in the field. The study brings together factors facing Roma groups generally and Arab Syrian refugees, suggesting that Dom and Abdals face double discrimination due to their status as Roma and migrant. The study synthesises a thematic analysis of Turkish news articles from the last two years, with semi-structured interviews with Roma and refugee NGO workers in the field. The data are interpreted through the lens of Bourdieu’s notions of habitus and social reproduction in order to shed new light on the exclusionary processes that continue to affect refugee and settled Dom and Abdal groups in Turkey. It is suggested that the mono-cultural nature of the Turkish education system operates as an exclusionary habitus which prevents Roma minority groups from accessing and achieving in school. Generational discrimination and entrenched poverty are also found to be key factors in educational exclusion. The role of tradition, narrative and reclaiming the term ‘gypsy’ within Roma minority cultures is discussed as a way of retaining dignity and avoiding victimhood.