Teacher Professional Development in Crisis Contexts: Teachers' Reflections and Stories of Change in Kakuma Refugee Camp

• In Event: The Role of Education as a "Panacea" for Refugee Youth in Transition

Abstract

Teachers are essential to the learning process and are considered the “single most important school variable influencing student achievement” (Schwille, Dembeìleì, & Schubert, 2007); yet, there remains a paucity of quality professional development opportunities for teachers working in crisis contexts (Sesnan, Ndugga & Said; Commonwealth Secretariat, 2013; Mendenhall et al., 2015). In contexts of displacement, teachers are often unavailable, underprepared, and unsupported. Amid the immense challenges inherent to crisis contexts that refugees or internally displaced persons confront, teachers are expected to: facilitate the transition back to school for students with delayed or disrupted education; help students learn a new language of instruction (in some cases); provide psychosocial support and tend to students’ social-emotional needs given the effects of war and conflict on their development; ensure that students are achieving learning outcomes (Mendenhall, Gomez, & Varni, 2018); and help prepare students for an “unknowable future” that might entail returning home, remaining in their host country or community, resettling to a third country, or some other unpredictable outcome not yet identified (Dryden-Peterson, 2017). This study examines the experience of a professional development program in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya in order to understand the critical role of teachers, the value of meaningful and locally relevant teacher professional development approaches, and the challenges of getting and sustaining the right support. Our approach aims to centralize teachers’ experiences and voices to elevate what program participants identify as key challenges, priorities, and components of quality support.
Despite the high expectations and responsibilities placed on teachers in these settings, they are rarely consulted about their experiences and perspectives, inevitably leading international, national, and local actors to miss out on the wisdom teachers can bring to any decisions about improving educational policies and practices for both teachers and learners (Burns & Lawrie, 2015). As these actors collectively wrestle with the challenges of upholding the right to education for all children and aim to achieve quality education in the process (Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations General Assembly, 2015), it is incumbent on national governments and the Education in Emergencies community to focus on the critical role of the teacher. The case study presented on the Teachers for Teachers initiative designed and implemented in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya captures teachers’ reflections and “stories of change” (Baú, 2016) about the type of support they need and find effective in their own efforts to become better teachers. We prioritize teachers’ reflections in an effort to expand the discussion about what is needed to better support teachers working in crisis contexts and how teachers can have a stronger presence in collaborative efforts to provide quality education for children and youth whose lives have been uprooted by conflict and disaster. The insights gained from this study will inform practitioners and policymakers working in contexts of displacement to improve teacher well-being, knowledge, and skills through the development of locally adapted, culturally responsive approaches to teacher professional development.

Authors

• Mary Mendenhall, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Arianna Pacifico, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Shenshen Hu, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Jihae Cha, Arizona State University - Tempe