Towards greater inclusion of refugees in education systems and standardization of refugee education data

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, which aims to ensure safe, inclusive and equitable quality education through lifelong learning and Global Compact for Refugees, which calls in part for strengthened international response to educational exclusion of refugee populations, the panel presents evidence to inform policy advocacy and programmatic strategies for the inclusion of refugees in national education systems. Despite many countries having policies in places to grant refugees access to education systems, significant barriers remain in place for refugee children and adolescents to access education. For example, only 68 per cent of refugee children in 44 reporting countries are accessing primary education, while, at the secondary level, enrollment rates drop to 34 per cent (UNHCR 2021). Furthermore, the concept of ‘educational inclusion’ for forcibly displaced populations currently lacks a comprehensive or consistent definition. There is an urgent need to develop a shared global understanding of the inclusion of refugees in national education systems.
Further, for most of the world’s learners, progress towards the achievement of SDG4 is consistently being measured through international and national monitoring systems. This is not the case for refugee children and adolescents, who are often excluded from national education data systems which limits the extent to which refugee education data is included in education policy, planning and programming (UNHCR & UNESCO-UIS, 2022). In response to these needs, this panel will focus integrate and make refugees visible in data systems, across all levels of education, which enables SDG4 monitoring efforts to ensure all children have access to quality, inclusive, life-long learning at all levels of education.
In response to the need to address greater inclusion of refugees in education systems and education data, this panel brings together researchers across organizations and explores the concept on educational inclusion from both socioecological and data perspectives. It presents a taxonomy of refugee inclusion in education and explores the scope for standardization, inclusion, and disaggregation of refugee education data to integrate and make refugees visible, across all levels of education, to better contribute to SDG4 monitoring efforts.

Sub Unit

• Education in Conflict and Emergencies SIG

Chair

• Artur Borkowski, UNESCO

Individual Presentations

• Framework for Inclusion of Refugee Education in Data Systems - Artur Borkowski, UNESCO; Bindu Sunny, UNESCO

• Understanding and elaborating policy pathways to advocate for better inclusion of refugees in education programming, planning, and policy-making processes - Amina Khan, UNESCO-ODI-EDTech Hub (Consultant)

Discussant

• Susan Nicolai, ODI