The SLE Qualitative Assessment Toolkit piloted among Syrian refugees in Lebanon

• In Event: Piloting a Safer Learning Environment Qualitative Assessment Toolkit in Four Countries

Proposal

Background and Context

Five years after the outbreak of the Syrian crisis, Lebanon has more than 1,500,000 Syrian refugees. Over 480,000 of the Syrian refugees are school-age children, who need to be enrolled and retained in some kind of learning space, if not formal schooling. To date, around 40% of these children are enrolled in the formal education system (of which 75% are in public schools), and less than 10% are registered in non-formal education; hence more than 50% of the children are reported to be out of school.
There are a number of reports that show that the dropout rate of the refugee children is quite high, with rates reaching about 70% in some areas. Moreover children of families who live in informal settlements appear especially prone not to send their children to school or participate in formal education. Syrian refugee children are facing particular and complex challenges related to schooling, in particular in terms of access. These circumstances accentuate the need to understand the specific risks Syrian refugee children face in, to and from school/learning environment, as well as the ways they have tried to or successfully overcome those risks.
In order to have a better understanding of student drop-out and non-enrolment, World Learning (WL) piloted the ECCN SLE tool in the context of non-formal education. The objective of the exercise is to better understand the main risks facing children within and around school and how best the findings can inform WL future planning in order to help communities and schools to overcome those risks.
SLE Piloting Process
WL piloted the instruments in the NFE context in two sites within the Bekaa region. WL used the NFE mapping desk review to identify the local grassroots partner. The site selection focused on the following criteria: refugees living in Informal settlements in the Bekaa, and children in NFE with the objective to target most vulnerable groups.
Young volunteers, working as frontliners with refugee families and having a strong understanding of the local context and refugee culture, were selected to conduct data collection. An expert with an education background translated the SLE qualitative toolkit instruments into Arabic using simple and appropriate language adapted to the target groups.

Implementation of the instruments took place in two different communities: North Bekaa (Baalbek and Iaat) and South Bekaa (Jeb Jennine). The WL local partner, with good knowledge of the settlements’ community, facilitated FDG organization. While organizing the groups and selecting the participants, the team paid particular attention to conflict, gender and age in order to avoid discomfort or silencing of certain participants.

In each of the selected communities, data was collected from six groups: children aged 8-13 and 14 -18 years (separated into boys and girls), and male and female parents. In parallel, key informant interviews were held with teachers and CBO managers and staff. A debriefing session concluded data collection each day, identified adjustments to the overall approach, plan for the next day, and allowed for the organization of notes and information collected. While volunteers handled data entry, the WL team focused on data cleaning, verification, and qualitative analysis.
Findings

Preliminary analysis of data reveals the following findings:

• The majority of participants (76%) felt very positive about school and reported a sufficient availability of resources and materials (including access to toilets and water).

• Participants identified that the most important challenges to education and school are SRGBV and/or gang violence (58%) in school followed by conflict and/or gang violence (40%) outside of school. The most common types of SRGBV reported at school is bullying between students and teachers’ emotional abuse toward students.

• When going to and from schools or within the school, 66% of the participants reported violence around them/between community members and violent crime directed at them, as the most common risks of incidental violence faced.

• In order for students and teachers to have a safe way to and from school, over half of participants reported requesting escorts due to continuous or unclear pattern of risks. Nearly one-fifth of respondents, however, identified skipping school or drop-out as an option.

• Although 74 % of girl students reported experiencing trauma in the schools in 40% of the cases nothing is being done at the school level.

Author

• Rania Khalil, World Learning