Assessing Effective Teacher Policies in Conflict Affected Settings: Case Studies from Nigeria, Jordan and Bangladesh

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to achieve “inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels” by 2030 (UNESCO, 2016, p. 29). Meeting this goal requires guaranteeing universal access to quality education and eliminating education inequities for all learners around the world. But achieving this goal is very challenging in emergency contexts where conflict and crisis have created various barriers to quality education. In June 2023, ECW estimated that there are 224 million children affected by conflict and crisis in the world, 72 million of whom are out-of-school (OOS), and 127 million of whom are in school but unable to achieve minimum proficiency levels in reading and math competencies. Not surprisingly, at the root of these concerning indicators on access and learning in conflict-affected settings are existing teacher shortage issues and issues with the low-quality of teachers in the workforce. In fact, in conflict-affected settings, teachers have been adversely affected by conflict, with many of them killed or forcibly displaced, and with the great majority exercising their job with few qualifications, working under extremely difficult and unsafe working conditions, with little to no access to teacher professional development opportunities, and with little incentives and recognition. For this reason, to improve access and learning outcomes of children in conflict-affected settings, it is critical to understand the challenges of identifying, recruiting, hiring, deploying, training and retaining teachers in conflict-affected settings. It is also critical to build evidence about the feasibility, cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of existing teacher policies in these settings, and to understand how to adapt successful teacher policies to conflict-affected settings.
In this panel, we present efforts conducted by the International Rescue Committee in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, Queen Rania Foundation in Jordan, and Common Heritage Foundation in Northeast Nigeria, to build evidence about existing teacher needs in different types of conflict-affected settings, identify the degree to which existing teacher policies are cost-effective and are having a positive effect in the quality and wellbeing of teachers, and on children’s access and learning outcomes of children. Specifically, Dr. Ashraf Haque from the International Rescue Committee will discuss the challenges of rolling out the recently approved Myanmar curriculum for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, and efforts to assess teacher capacity issues in the region, to inform programs and policies to strengthen the workforce in the refugee camps of Cox´s Bazar. Dr. Joy Oballum and Femi Adekoke from Oxford Policy Management in Nigeria, will discuss findings and lessons learned from an implementation research and cost-effectiveness evaluation of an existing teacher policy developed in 2017 by academics and policymakers to identify, recruit and deploy teachers in Kaduna state, which will inform a bill that is currently being developed in Adamawa State in Northeast Nigeria to increase the teacher workforce and improve its quality. Finally, Dr. Emilee Rauschenberger from Queen Rania Foundation, will discuss a study that aims to document the impact of existing hiring, evaluation and management policies of temporary contract teachers in Jordan, who work in refugee camps and second-shift schools attending Syrian refugees in host communities. Finally, Dr. Mary Mendenhall, Associate Professor of International and Comparative Education at Teachers College - Columbia University, will discuss all presentations, drawing on her extensive research work with teachers affected by conflict and crises in diverse settings.
All studies are being conducted as part of the Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) programme, a large-scale multi-country research programme funded by FCDO, which aims to address the overwhelming lack of evidence in conflict-affected settings, and generate a rigorous and comprehensive body of research for update about what works, how, for whom, at what cost, and under what conditions, to improve access, quality and continuity of education to support learning and development for children in conflict affected settings. All presentations are relevant to CIES 2024 through their consideration of what power bases need to be harnessed to effectively protest against the lack of access to quality education for marginalized children and promote cost-effective policies to improve educational opportunities in conflict and crisis settings in the world.

Sub Unit

• Education in Conflict and Emergencies SIG

Organizer

• Silvia Diazgranados, International Rescue Committee

Chair

• Marie-France Guimond, International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Individual Presentations

• Assessing and adapting a teacher recruitment policy for improved teacher quality in Kaduna and Adamawa States in Nigeria. - Joy Oballum, Oxford Policy Management OPM; Gloria Olisenekwu, Oxford Policy Management; Saviour Kolo, Oxford Policy Management; Oladele Akogun, International Rescue Committee

• Exploring the Effects of Precarious Employment on Teacher Morale and Management in Refugee Settings in Jordan - Taline Sabella, Queen Rania Foundation; Emilee Rauschenberger, Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development

• Assessing Teacher Quality to Support the Implementation of the Myanmar Curriculum for Refugee Children in Cox´s Bazar - Ashraful Haque, International Rescue Committee; Proma Saha, International Rescue Committee (IRC); Md Galib Hasan, International Rescue Committee (IRC); Ahsan Mahmud, International Rescue Committee; Htet Thiha Zaw, International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Discussant

• Mary Mendenhall, Teachers College, Columbia University