Education as a Site of Negotiations: Refugee Learners and Social Cohesion

INEE, IOE - UCL’s Institute of Education, and the ERICC consortium run a virtual Seminar as part of a Seminar series which aims to promote dialogue and synergy between emerging findings from the Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) programme and the work of scholars and practitioners in the field. The Seminar series features methodologies and emerging knowledge and offer space for inclusive cross-dialogue between academics, students, researchers and other experts in the field of education in conflict and protracted crises. 

The world is currently experiencing the highest number of conflicts since the WWII, with 117.3 million people displaced, including 36.4 million refugees. Providing education to refugee learners is essential to prevent a “lost generation” and to offer a sense of normality amid instability. Yet, delivering education in refugee contexts is profoundly complex. Refugees often live “in-between” situations, caught in limbo amidst political uncertainties.  

Refugee Education 2030’s vision states that the inclusion of refugee learners in national education systems is the best policy option for ensuring equity and sustainability of their education (UNHCR, 2019). However, in many refugee-hosting countries, educational integration and the curricular provision for refugees are politically contested.  

This seminar brought together research into educational provisions in diverse refugee contexts: Rohingya communities in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh and Syrian refugees in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon and separately in a London school in the UK. While Rohingya refugee learners follow the national curriculum of their native Myanmar, Syrian learners access that of the host community. By centering refugee voices, the presentations highlight challenges around negotiating sense of belonging in these contrasting settlement contexts. In doing so, the researchers present the words and drawings of refugee children to highlight education as a politically charged process through which refugee learners’ worldviews and identities are shaped. The panel then reflected on intersections between identity formation and broader questions of equity and peace as well as on the implications of these for refugee education across the globe. 

CHAIR/DISCUSSANT

Professor Tejendra Pherali, UCL Institute of Education

SPEAKERS

Dr Vanessa Ozawa, Education Researcher, International Rescue Committee; Honorary Research Fellow, UCL Institute of Education

Vanessa Ozawa is an Education Researcher at the International Rescue Committee and Honorary Research Fellow at UCL IOE, working on the ERICC programme with a focus on gender, inclusivity, social justice, and peacebuilding. She previously worked with the UKRI/GCRF-funded research network on the Political Economy of Education (PEER Network) in Central Asia and has several years’ experience as a development practitioner, primarily on JICA-funded ODA education projects. She holds a PhD from Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan, where her research examined the role of education in shaping youth national identities in post-Soviet Uzbekistan through the intersection of gender, ethnicity, and religion. She also holds an MA in EID from UCL IOE and an MA in pedagogy from Université Bordeaux III.

Professor Eleanore Hargreaves, UCL Institute of Education

Eleanore Hargreaves is Professor of Learning and Pedagogy at UCL Institute of Education, London.  Her work focuses on social justice and how/whether children globally in primary schools experience social justice in schooling.  With special emphasis on the representation aspect of social justice, her work seeks to highlight children’s own voices and narratives about schooling.  She has carried out research in many countries including Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine and UK. Her latest co-edited book was Reimagining Professional Development In Schools (2021); and her two latest co-authored books include Schooling For Refugee Children (2024) and Children’s Life-histories In Primary Schools (2024).

Dr Brian Lally, Education Consultant; Senior Advisor, Altenburg Foundation

Brian Lally is an educator and researcher with extensive experience in teaching, education leadership and safeguarding/child protection, as well as training for teachers and school leaders. He has particular expertise within conflict-affected, fragile and economically deprived contexts, working at local, regional and national levels in a range of countries. His most recent focus has been with community-led NGOs and initiatives supporting displaced and refugee children and young adults in Syria, Lebanon, Uganda and Malawi through non-formal education provision, schools, vocational training and in facilitating access to higher education. He holds Masters degrees from Oxford University and UCL Institute of Education (specialising in conflict/fragile contexts), and his Doctorate with Kingston University built on his experience in education in emergencies. He is currently an education consultant to community/refugee led organisations, as well as Senior Advisor to the Altenburg Foundation, a UK based NGO supporting refugees through projects in education and skills/livelihoods training in a range of countries.

Dr Jumana Al-Waeli, Associate Fellow, Higher Education Academy

Jumana Al-Waeli is a researcher, educator, and trainer whose work focuses on education, the sociology of education, and the political economy of education in conflict affected and resettlement contexts. She is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a co-founder of the SWANA Forum for Social Justice at University College London (UCL), and a former British Academy Research Fellow. Her research focuses on refugee education and the educational experiences of women and girls in fragile, conflict affected, and resettlement settings, with particular attention to social justice, belonging, transformative education, and education for peace and reconciliation. Her work draws on research conducted in multiple contexts, including the UK, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Lebanon, and Syria. Jumana pursued her doctoral studies at UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) in London. She also holds an MA in Effective Learning and Teaching from UCL and an MSc in Environment and Sustainability from Damascus University and the University of Poitiers. She has over 18 years of teaching experience in higher education and international schools in the UK, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and Syria.