Building education for peace through safeguarding, teacher coaching and parental engagement in Kenya’s informal settlements

• In Event: Strengthening Foundational Learning for Peace in Kenya: Teacher Empowerment, Playful Learning, and Collaboration

Proposal

The CIES 2026 theme, “Re-examining Education and Peace in a Divided World”, emphasizes education’s dual role as a catalyst for peace or a reinforcer of division. This paper presents applied research from 11 public primary schools in Nairobi’s Kibra and Mathare informal settlements—two of Kenya’s most densely populated and socioeconomically divided communities. Learners here face persistent barriers linked to poverty, insecurity, overcrowded classrooms of up to 120 learners, and chronic absenteeism driven by economic hardship, household care duties and poor health. These conditions expose children to cycles of exclusion, neglect and mistrust, highlighting how education can perpetuate division if not reimagined as a force for equity and cohesion.

Our intervention was designed to disrupt these cycles by tackling both the structural and relational barriers that shape schooling. Four interlinked strategies were implemented (1)provision of scholastic materials and dignity kits. These directly addressed economic barriers, enabling more than 21,000 boys and girls to remain in school and reducing chronic absenteeism linked to poverty (2) development and operationalization of school-level safeguarding protocols. Whereas most schools lacked safeguarding protocols, by midline over 90% of classrooms had co-created discipline plans with learners and written contextualized safeguarding polices. These measures helped create safer environments and reduced reliance on punitive discipline as teachers began adopting alternative and more positive ways to managing behaviour. (3) teacher training and coaching in learner-centered pedagogy and (4) structured parental engagement activities increased parental participation and amplified parental voice in school-based decision-making countering long-standing patterns of exclusion.

Together, these approaches show how education can become a pathway to peace. Peace is not just about preventing fights or silencing conflict, it is about the everyday practices that make learners feel secure and valued – fair discipline, safer learning spaces and shared responsibility for children’s wellbeing. It is demonstrated when learners stay in school because they have uniforms, when schools have measures to safeguard learners and when parents have a real say in decisions even in contexts marked by division.

At the same time, the study highlighted how intersecting conditions continue to act as dividers. Learners unable to afford uniforms or scholastic materials risk exclusion. Weak safeguarding exposes children to neglect, abuse and exploitation, eroding trust in schools. Parents often feel sidelined, limiting accountability, while teachers—overburdened and under-resourced—resort to punitive practices that cultivate fear rather than belonging. Instead of cohesive environments, schools risk becoming sites of fragmentation, further entrenching the very inequalities they are meant to overcome.

Recognizing this tension, the intervention sought to reposition schools as inclusive and protective spaces. It turned this around by working with teachers, system actors, parents and learners to make schools places where learners felt both safe and able to belong. Its holistic approach went beyond classroom instruction to include material support for vulnerable learners, school-level safeguarding protocols, ongoing teacher coaching, and parental training with support from system actors. These combined actions confronted barriers that fuel division and transformed them into opportunities for equity, inclusionk
and cohesion.

Teacher training and coaching produced measurable improvements in pedagogy. Learner engagement rose from 50% at baseline to over 70% at midline, as teachers increasingly used group work and participatory methods. School leaders began convening Communities of Practice where teachers collaboratively addressed absenteeism, safety and learner performance—signaling a shift toward distributed leadership and shared accountability.

Parental engagement also showed marked improvement. In Kibra, parental involvement increased from 57% to 71%, and in Mathare from 50% to 74%. Training of parent representatives strengthened their ability to interpret data and positioned them as informed advocates for their children and as active partners that contribute meaningfully to school governance. This not only improved parent–teacher collaboration but also helped rebuild trust between schools and communities countering historical patterns of exclusion and marginalization.

The intervention was guided by three key frameworks: distributed leadership, transformational leadership and child protection. Distributed leadership was demonstrated through Communities of Practice, where responsibility for problem-solving was shared among school leaders and teachers. Transformational leadership emerged as classroom teachers shifted from corporal punishment to co-created discipline and participatory learning. The child protection framework was operationalized through safeguarding policies, reporting mechanisms and accountability systems co-owned by teachers, parents and learners. Together, these frameworks established schools not only as places of academic learning but also as institutions of protection and community cohesion. Importantly, this approach can be adapted by other schools facing similar challenges.

A mixed-methods design was employed. Baseline and midline assessments measured teacher capacity in learner-centered pedagogy, classroom practice and whole school-level safety. Parental engagement was tracked through surveys, focus group discussions and review of meeting records. Coaching data per each trained teacher included classroom observations and reflective feedback sessions with curriculum support officers across domains such as lesson planning, behaviour management and safeguarding implementation practices. Structured Communities of Practice were tracked for their role in addressing specific learner and school issues. The distribution of scholastic materials and dignity kits was coordinated through schools with verification via attendance and distribution records, while learner interviews and focus groups with learners, teachers and parents examined how materials supported participation and retention. To assess impact, follow-up surveys, one-on-one interviews and focus groups with qualitative feedback from coaching and parental training sessions highlighted cultural shifts in practice.

Findings revealed that scholastic support reduced exclusion, safeguarding protocols enhanced protection, teacher coaching improved pedagogy and learner engagement and parental training strengthened accountability. Lessons point to the need for embedding safeguarding in teacher preparation, equipping parents to use school-level data and leveraging support from education officers such as curriculum support officers to sustain gains.

In conclusion, the experiences of Kibra and Mathare demonstrate that peace in education is not abstract—it is built daily when schools protect children, teach inclusively, involve parents, and make equity part of routine practice. Even in contexts of profound division, education can be reimagined as a force for peace. This case contributes practical insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers seeking to strengthen education systems in fragile contexts worldwide.

Authors

• Faith Ndunge Mwikya-Muisyo, SHINING HOPE FOR COMMUNITIES

• Daniel Omaya