Adapting Global Research for Local Realities: A Tool to Measure Barriers to Education in Displacement

• In Event: Methods That Matter: Rethinking How We Study Education in Crisis

Proposal

Globally, education in displacement contexts remains one of the most underfunded areas of humanitarian response. According to UNHCR (2024), more than 43 million people are displaced, with children and youth making up over half. Education, although recognized as a human right, is consistently underprioritized in humanitarian funding, receiving less than 3% of global aid. The consequences are profound: disrupted learning, increased vulnerability to exploitation, and diminished opportunities for integration and self-reliance.Research has documented barriers to education in emergencies—ranging from economic precarity and linguistic exclusion to psychosocial trauma and gender-specific challenges—yet these insights remain fragmented. No standardized, field-tested tool currently exists that allows practitioners and policymakers to systematically measure and compare the barriers faced by displaced learners.

This proposal addresses this gap. Building on fieldwork in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where years of conflict and displacement have devastated educational systems, we introduce a questionnaire that consolidates global knowledge while integrating local realities through participatory consultation. By moving from literature to practice, and from global frameworks to contextual adaptation, this work contributes both methodologically and practically to the field of education in emergencies.

Theoretical Background
The study is anchored in the concept of academic persistence, defined as the ability of learners to sustain educational engagement despite facing significant obstacles (Holman et al., 2016; Reason, 2009). In stable contexts, persistence is shaped by individual motivation, socio-economic factors, and institutional support. In crisis contexts, however, these dynamics are compounded by displacement, insecurity, and systemic breakdowns.

To conceptualize the interaction of these forces, the research draws on Lewin’s (1951) force field analysis model, later adapted for education by Anderson (1985). This model views behavior as shaped by competing “driving forces” that encourage persistence and “restrictive forces” that hinder it. In displacement contexts, restrictive forces often dominate: destroyed infrastructure, financial constraints, language barriers, insecurity, or cultural norms restricting girls’ education.

At the same time, global frameworks such as the INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies emphasize that local participation and contextual relevance are critical to meaningful educational interventions. By combining a scoping review methodology with a consultation phase involving local NGOs, this study bridges the gap between global evidence and local lived realities, ensuring that the resulting tool is both comprehensive and usable.


Aims
The overarching goal of this research is to develop, adapt, and validate a questionnaire capable of systematically measuring the barriers to education among displaced children and youth. Specifically, the study seeks to answer three questions:

1. What are the most prevalent categories of barriers faced by displaced learners?
2. How can global research findings be adapted and contextualized through participatory methods?

Methods
Scoping Review
The foundation of the tool was established through a scoping review conducted according to Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) six-stage framework, refined by Levac et al. (2010) and Peters et al. (2020). The review synthesized over 150 studies on education in displacement and emergencies, identifying twelve recurring categories of barriers. These include linguistic exclusion, gendered challenges, economic precarity, infrastructure collapse, psychosocial distress, safety risks, and the occupation of schools by military actors.

Tool Development
Insights from the review were translated into an 80-item questionnaire across three sections:
- Section A: Sociodemographic and functioning data.
- Section B: Likert-scale items measuring twelve categories of barriers.
- Section C: Gender-specific challenges, addressing issues such as menstruation, early marriage, and FGM.

Consultation Phase
To ensure contextual validity, the tool was refined through an iterative consultation process with a local NGO operating in Tigray. Participatory workshops engaged education officers and community facilitators, who provided feedback on language, cultural appropriateness, and item clarity. This aligns with best practices in participatory research (Pouliot-Laforte et al., 2025), grounding the instrument in the realities of learners and their communities.

Ethical Safeguards
Special attention was given to ethics in fragile settings. Adapted assent and consent scripts were developed for minors and caregivers, ensuring comprehension and voluntary participation. Privacy and safety measures were embedded, including anonymous responses and non-sensitive phrasing for high-risk items. Gender-sensitive adaptations were made to address the needs of adolescent girls, particularly around menstruation and early marriage.


Participants
The tool is designed for displaced adolescents aged 8–18 in both camp and non-camp settings. In Tigray, community researchers trained by the UNESCO office in Addis Ababa were mobilized to pilot the questionnaire. The sampling strategy prioritized diversity in gender, age, and location.

Expected Results and Contributions
Preliminary findings suggest that the most pressing barriers include school infrastructure damage, security risks from military presence, financial instability, and gender-specific obstacles such as early marriage and menstruation management. The questionnaire, once validated, is expected to contribute on three levels:

- Academic: By demonstrating the methodological value of combining systematic scoping reviews with participatory consultation, the study offers a replicable model for other fields of humanitarian research.
- Practical: The tool provides NGOs, ministries of education, and humanitarian actors with a diagnostic instrument to identify priority barriers and design targeted interventions.
- Policy: By generating standardized, comparable data, the tool supports advocacy for increased funding and attention to education in displacement contexts, aligning with global commitments such as SDG 4.

Crucially, the questionnaire is adaptable across contexts. While piloted in Tigray, it holds potential for use in other refugee settings such as Malawi’s Dzaleka camp or Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar. Its gender-sensitive focus ensures that the specific challenges faced by girls are not overlooked, aligning with global priorities on gender equity in education.

Conclusion
Displacement remains one of the greatest threats to educational continuity worldwide. Yet, despite growing recognition of the importance of education in emergencies, there remains a lack of practical tools to systematically capture the barriers learners face. By synthesizing global research and grounding it in local realities through participatory consultation, this study introduces a tool that is both rigorous and usable.The proposed questionnaire offers a pathway toward more inclusive, data-driven education responses in humanitarian settings. It amplifies the voices of displaced learners, informs targeted interventions, and strengthens advocacy for education as a right even in crisis. Ultimately, this work aspires to contribute to a broader movement toward equity, resilience, and persistence in education for displaced populations.

Authors

• Mohamed Amine Mahhou, Université du Québec à Montréal, UQAM

• Jeanne Benoit, Université du Québec à Montréal, UQAM

• Olivier Arvisais, Université du Québec à Montréal