Educating towards what future?: Examining how teachers in Lebanon connect educational priorities to future possibilities for their Syrian refugee students.

• In Event: Navigating an unknowable future: language of instruction, teacher obligations, and aspirations of refugee youth pursuing education within national education settings

Proposal

Teachers are central to the possibility of education being productive and protective, particularly in settings where war and violence have interrupted daily life (Betancourt & Khan, 2008; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Glewwe, Hanushek, Humpage, & Ravina, 2011; INEE, 2010; Sinclair, 2002; Winthrop & Kirk, 2008). Prominent global frameworks for refugee education outline an extensive list of obligations for teachers working in crisis: teachers are expected to support the academic development of their students, aid in their social-emotional recovery and wellbeing, and restore a sense of stability to the present and foster hope for the future (INEE, 2010a, 2010b; UNESCO, 2006; UNHCR, 2012). However, research has rarely considered how teachers in these settings understand their roles and accomplish their obligations.

In this presentation, I examine how teachers working in the context of conflict understand their educational obligations towards their refugee students and how these understandings relate to teachers’ conceptions of their students’ futures. This is a comparative case study, exploring the experiences of Lebanese host-country teachers and Syrian refugee teachers working in Lebanon to educate Syrian refugee learners. I find differences in how Lebanese and Syrian teachers prioritize learning development in their classrooms and that these differences mirrored how teachers conceived of the future for their students. Lebanese teachers had difficulty imagining a long-term future for their students given the tenuous circumstances teachers believed their students faced in Lebanon and the instability continuing in Syria. In comparison, Syrian teachers tried to develop a clearer vision of the future for their students, one that most often entailed a return to Syria and the rebuilding of their country. Teachers’ expectations for the future also influenced how they regarded their role in shaping and supporting students’ futures and the messages they communicated to students regarding what might lie ahead. Data is drawn from a one-year study conducted during the 2015-2016 school year and includes classroom observations and in-depth interviews with teachers and school leaders.

Author

• Elizabeth Adelman, Harvard Graduate School of Education