Access to Education Amidst Displacement, Conflict, and Climate Emergencies: A Qualitative Lens

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This panel consists of four papers that use qualitative methods to study access to education amidst crises resulting from conflict, structural inequality, and climate disasters. Drawing from four different case studies in Honduras, Greece, Jordan, and Uganda, the panel discusses short-, mid-, and long-term impacts of displacement on access to education. As the nature of displacement and conflict shifts, with increased vulnerabilities to natural disasters and greater and longer protracted conflicts, this panel asks: How do qualitative approaches help us re-examine access to equitable and peaceful education in a divided world? And, how might they offer deeper insights into how global agendas and local policies intersect to shape the lived experiences of students?

The first paper, “Climate Disasters, Internal Displacement, and Adolescent Girls’ Education in the Hoduran Sula Valley,” examines how the aftermath of disasters and climate-induced internal displacement impacts education and contributes to school abandonment among adolescent girls ages 12 to 17. Climate disasters have historically driven displacement in Honduras. For example, Tropical Storm Eta and Hurricane Iota wreaked havoc amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. These disasters affected people’s housing, access to water, sanitation, food, healthcare, transportation, security, jobs, and education. It is unclear, however, how the compounding effects of Eta and Iota have influenced long-term access to schooling among children. This paper applies a feminist theoretical lens, building upon research on environmental catastrophes, gender, and Philosopher Martha Nussbaum’s approach to Human Capabilities Theory. This theory focuses on what people are capable of doing and not only on the rights they hold. Analyzing 60 in-depth first-hand interviews, the author conducted between 2023 and 2025 in Honduras with adolescent girls ages 12 to 17 in and out of school, teachers and school principals, parents or legal guardians, as well as with local and national government officials and civil society representatives working on education, disaster response, and climate change risks. The paper foregrounds nuanced, localized, and intimate insights about adolescent girls’ education loss in the wake of climate disasters in Honduras. It found that exposure to climate disasters and the subsequent immediate displacement exacerbate existing barriers to access and remain in school, and create new challenges for the girls’ livelihoods, transportation to school, access to housing, as well as physical and mental health.

The second paper, “Learning amidst Liminality: Asylum-seeking Parents’ Navigation of Education Access on the Borderlands of Greece,” interrogates education access for children in the Greek asylum system from the perspective of their parents. Greece remains one of the primary countries where people arrive to seek asylum in the EU, with approximately 30% of those arriving being children. Through more than 60 semi-structured interviews and participant observation, this research explores how parents make decisions about their children’s education while awaiting asylum decisions in Closed Controlled Access Centers (CCACs), referred to as refugee camps, on the island of Lesvos, Greece. The findings demonstrate how factors of liminality and crimmigration at the borderlands influence parents’ experience in finding formal and/or informal education for their children.

The third paper, “Rise and Fall of Early Grade Education in the Global South,” examines the rise of early grade foundational learning between 2006 and 2024 as a reform package that diffused across 59 countries in the Global South. While research has examined the impact of EGFL programs on student learning outcomes, little research has examined the origin of the EGFL reform and how and why the reform package circumvented the Globe and persisted across two decades as the top education policy reform promoted by donors and education policy makers. This paper illustrates the diffusion of the EGFL reform, identifying early, peak, and saturation adoption periods. Bridging the macro-global analysis with the local, this paper presents a unique case study of a peak adoption country, highlighting how the reform was adopted and translated in Jordan.

The fourth paper, “Reconceptualizing Inclusion through the Lived Experiences of Disabled Students in Contexts of Forced Displacement: A Comparative Case Study,” seeks to develop a deeper understanding of inclusive education by examining the educational experiences of multiply-marginalized students with intersecting identities in crisis and conflict-affected contexts. Drawing on research conducted in refugee and host communities in Uganda, this study uses visual and qualitative methods to analyze how primary school students conceptualize and experience inclusion within the complexities of their geographical and socio-political contexts. This paper demonstrates how global models of inclusion diffused by international actors can overlook the nuanced, evolving, and situated experiences of inclusion that are interrelated with complex dynamics of identity, power, and belonging within education contexts.

Collectively, these four papers contribute to the field of international and comparative education through empirical qualitative research methods and novel insights into the role of education amidst displacement, conflict, and emergencies. As we re-examine peace and education in a divided world, the power of qualitative research to shed light on historical narratives and empower individual voices is critical. Through over 200 interviews, focus group discussions, and field visits with policy makers, educators, students, and education stakeholders, our research provides powerful insights–bridging the global discourse of education policy making with nuanced insights into the local context and lived experiences in complex regions affected by conflict and displacement.

Sub Unit

• Education in Conflict and Emergencies SIG

Organizer

• Kemigisha Richardson, Teachers College at Columbia University

Chair

• Sara M. Pan Algarra, Columbia University Teachers College

Individual Presentations

• Climate Disasters, Internal Displacement, and Adolescent Girls’ Education in the Honduran Sula Valley - Sara M. Pan Algarra, Columbia University Teachers College

• Learning amidst Liminality: Asylum-seeking Parents’ Navigation of Education Access on the Borderlands of Greece - Victoria H Jones, Columbia University Teachers College

• Rise and Fall of Early Grade Education in the Global South - Mia A Chin, Columbia University Teachers College

• Reconceptualizing Inclusion through the Lived Experiences of Disabled Students in Contexts of Forced Displacement: A Comparative Case Study - Kemigisha Richardson, Teachers College at Columbia University

Discussant

• Christopher Henderson, NORRAG, Geneva Graduate Institute