children’s experiences and perspectives of Accelerated Education Programmes and post-primary opportunities in protracted refugee/host community contexts, Uganda.

• In Event: Building the evidence base for accelerated education

Proposal

Uganda adheres to the guidelines of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1951 Refugee Convention and affords the same education rights to refugee children as Ugandan nationals. While this is something to be hailed, there are numerous barriers that keep children from accessing quality education. There has been little research that has asked children their thoughts and experiences of Alternative Education programming and even less around capturing their thoughts on transition, whether to post- AEP opportunities or between different levels. This is critical as globally, adolescents are amongst the most marginalised and the least likely to complete education in displacement (UNHCR:2016).

I shall present the findings from Save the Children’s AEP research study (to be published in December 2018) that explores children, families, teachers and wider educational stakeholders perspectives on what supports or hinders education transition along their displacement journey. As numerous host community children also attend AEP centres, this study will also capture their thoughts and perspectives.

Research Methodology:

I shall also present in detail the research methodology, tools and training that were used in this report. The research study used a mixed methods approach, with a strong emphasis on child participatory research methods that included role play, drawing, storytelling and puppetry. I argue that participatory methods and techniques should be used when engaging adolescents, as these methods are familiar, less threatening and build trust and relationships quickly. Ensuring that findings are shared back to the group is also important part of the research design.

Education in displacement is experienced differently by men and women, boys and girls and the distinct roles, skills, activities, positions, and status of men and women in their families, communities, and institutions create gender-differentiated risks, vulnerabilities, and capacities in a humanitarian context. This was taken into consideration throughout the research design and data analysis process e.g selecting participants, facilitators for the Child Participatory research workshop, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. During the secondary data collection, we examined examine existing programmatic data (Registration, attendance and attainment) to understand (where possible) trends by gender/minority groups and children with special education needs.

This enables the development of a holistic and contextual portrayal of the diversified experiences of education in displacement, embedding participatory methods to avoid heavily adult-framed research (Denzin & Lincoln:1994, Doná: 2007) through: (1) Secondary data review including existing programmatic data, (ii) conduct 12 participatory workshops with children, engaging a total of 144 children (iiii) Focus group discussions with parents and (iiii) undertake Key Informant Interviews with 72 teachers , 4 education practitioners and over 10 INGO/NGO agencies that are implementing AEP.
This study not only produces an original contribution to knowledge around the lived experience of education of displaced children, but also aims to have a direct and focused impact in the field. It will provide guidance and insight to key stakeholders to improve delivery of AEP programming in Uganda and contribute to SCUK EiE research Strategy as well as external groups such as AEP WG, EIEWG and wider bodies.

Author

• Jessica Oddy, Save the Children UK