Promoting Quality Education in Refugee Contexts: Supporting Teacher Development in Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

The right to education of refugee and internally displaced children is enshrined in human rights laws and conventions; it is recognized that for children whose lives are affected by war, violence, displacement and the general disruption of normal life, education plays an important role in pro viding protection. This protection may be in the form of physical protection in a safe learning space away from dangers of the surrounding areas; it may be psychosocial protection in the form of interaction with peers and trusted adults with opportunities to be creative and to share concerns and ideas in different ways (Nicolai and Triplehorn 2003). However, the reality is that many refugee and displaced children are unable to attend school and for those who do, the quality is very low and there are few opportunities for much more than rote learning. In some circumstances going to school may even put children and especially girls at risk. This brief article uses the example of the education program in a refugee camp in northern Ethiopia and the Healing Classrooms Initiative (HCI) intervention to highlight some teacher-related challenges in the pursuit of quality education in such con texts, and to provide examples of how these may be addressed. As suggested above, in refugee camps and other such emergency contexts, quality education has particular dimensions; the psychosocial support dimen sion is of particular importance but relevant, locally determined learning content may also be critical. Children and youth may need very specific les sons in order to ensure their own survival and well-being and that of their families, especially younger siblings, for example on land-mines, on health and hygiene, and on avoiding or resisting recruitment into fighting forces. Life skills education, including reproductive health and HIV/AIDS may also provide vital protection to students, and especially girls whose vulnerability to early pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS is often high. Teachers have a critical role to play in the provision of such quality edu cation; they are working directly with children and their families, are at the forefront of community efforts to achieve normalcy, and attend to children's physical, cognitive and psychosocial needs (Winthrop and Kirk 2005). Yet the challenge for organizations supporting education in emergencies is that