Meaningful higher education in Kakuma Refugee Camp: A case study of why context and contextualization matter

• In Event: Educating in emergency contexts: Schooling, curriculum, and innovation

Proposal

In recent years, higher education in refugee contexts has begun to receive increasing attention within the humanitarian-development sector. Resource constraints, coupled with the technology and innovation zeitgeist in international development drives, have helped to create a higher education space where courses in refugee camps are typically delivered via online learning platforms directly from Western education providers. As the space develops, a shift in attention is beginning to occur, such that the legitimacy of online learning for refugees is now being questioned. At the heart of this question are the issue of contextualization and a call for greater emphasis to be placed on blended learning approaches that better reflect the realities of refugee learners. This case study compares and evaluates a contextualized medical studies course that was delivered via blended learning in the Kakuma refugee camp in 2019 with a non-contextualized version of the same course that was delivered in the Dadaab refugee camp in 2018.
The results of this comparative study support the idea that contextualization of content and pedagogy works well and provides better learning outcomes for students. On a practical level, the extra effort put into contextualizing this course added value to the course for the students who took part in it, and the associated research added to the growing evidence that higher education for refugees can and should be relevant and meaningful for refugee learners.

Author

• Paul O'Keeffe, Maynooth University