‘Why do they make us feel like we’re nothing? They are supposed to be teaching us to be something, to even surpass them!’: Student (dis)engagement and public schooling in conflict-affected Lebanon

Abstract

In conflict-affected societies, education is seen as a vital vehicle in promoting students’ well-being and social cohesion. Little is known about students’ learning experiences in conflict-affected countries in the Arab world where young people are facing violence, fragmentation and poverty. This paper draws on the perspectives of public school students in Lebanon in order to explore their experiences of student engagement. The findings yielded a disconnection between education policy initiatives for an active and democratic citizenry, and the actual schooling experiences of students who desire to make schooling a more meaningful endeavour. In particular, students’ descriptions reflect the contradictions of the ideals of educational reforms that ostensibly aimed to promote social cohesion and democracy in Lebanon and yet have failed to address inequities in schooling. This disconnection necessitates developing a contextualised and critical understanding of how students experience schooling in Lebanon in order to better inform policy-making and practice.