Teacher resilience and well-being in the face of violence: Reflections from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger

• In Event: Prioritizing Teachers in Fragile and Crisis Contexts: Contextually-Grounded Approaches to Understanding Teacher Well-being in a Digital Age - Part 1

Proposal

Violence against teachers is a pressing concern across the world’s conflict-affected regions as it has devastating consequences on teacher’s lives, work, and well-being; yet, there is limited empirical research on its drivers and consequences. In this paper, we reflect on the causes and consequences of violence against teachers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Niger. We highlight the key mechanisms that underpin violence against teachers in the DRC and Niger, and the impact of violence on teachers’ well-being and their teaching. We then focus on how teachers have addressed violence in their classrooms, and how practices deployed at the frontlines of these crises can be built upon to develop more context-relevant educational interventions and strengthen teacher resilience. Last, we reflect on an ongoing effort to scale up a teacher-training module on violence against teachers in the DRC and incorporate it into the national curriculum of teacher-training institutes in the DRC. Throughout the paper, we reflect on the relevance and limitations of the notions of teacher resilience and teacher wellbeing in relation to violence against teachers.

Author

• Gauthier Marchais, Institute of Development Studies