Strengthening (not circumventing) government systems to bring refugee teachers closer to the center of EiE advocacy, policy, and practice.

• In Event: Highlighted Session: From afterthought to action: Putting teachers at the heart of the global refugee response

Proposal

It is well documented that teachers are not always the first priority in refugee education responses, despite their critical role in improving holistic outcomes for children (Henderson, 2023). Countries in East Africa continue to experience forced displacement and flows of refugees within and across borders, amidst a history of protracted refugee hosting. PlayMatters (2020 – 2026) is an education project that seeks to strengthen education systems’ capacity to deliver active teaching and learning methods (learning through play) in refugee-hosting regions in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda. In this presentation, we share evidence to improve our collective understanding of why refugee and refugee-serving teachers are still an afterthought, and what actions may be needed to bring teachers more to the forefront.

PlayMatters’ evidence and experience points to the many pressures that education stakeholders face in ensuring physical, psychosocial, and educational needs are met. In Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, extreme resource scarcity to address both physical needs and educational needs is a common theme in refugee settings, particularly around food rations and WASH facilities. Additionally, teaching quality and classroom pedagogy require comprehensive and quality teacher professional development related to the specific psychosocial, curricular, and, at times, multilingual and multiethnic realities of teaching refugee children. Thus, a critical tension emerges – with such limited resources, it is paramount to balance the needs and priorities of myriad education stakeholders to identify pathways to ensure that teachers are well and effective and also that children are well and learning. In a hierarchy of response priorities, teachers serving refugee communities need to be supported holistically to address gaps in refugee education access and quality, but finding this balance remains a persistent challenge.

Based on both evidence and experience, in this paper the case will be made for working with and through existing government education systems as the most practical way forward. There is a real need for clarity on key gaps, shared prioritization tools, and stronger donor and government coordination to meet the holistic needs of teachers across the humanitarian-development nexus. Over time, PlayMatters has worked with governments and the LEGO Foundation to identify a balanced approach. For example, PlayMatters teams collaborate with local government education officials to deploy a Minimum Quality Standards tool to assess schools for safety hazards and materials gaps, and address them prior to jointly delivering interventions focused on skilling and supporting teachers (and in some cases, paying stipends for ECD caregivers). Meeting teachers where they are, through the system charged with their management, support, and professional development and via relevant and simple teacher professional development, enables teachers to do their job and feel well supported. Additionally, a focus on strengthening school-based teacher continuous professional development and building from existing government-led structures, strengthens the role of head teachers and other lead teachers in school-based peer learning and supportive supervision. In other words, PlayMatters strives to bring refugee teachers and teachers of refugees closer to the heart of EiE advocacy, policy and practice by working with and through education systems, not working around them.

Authors

• Martin Omukuba

• Anne C Smiley, IRC