Equity on the Thai/Myanmar borders: civil societies' work with Myanmar refugees and migrants on education policy for democracy, peace and reconciliation

• In Event: From Access to Belonging: Education Policy and Practice for Refugees and Migrants

Proposal

We share from our work building a collaborative partnership in which we examine refugee and migrant organisations’ engagement in education policies and work at local, national and global levels. We present on our process of co-design, that incorporated multiple lines of contact, including in-person and virtual seminars and workshops between the educational NGO Inclusive Education Foundation (InEd), located in Mae Sot on the Thai - Myanmar border, the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney with University College London’s Institute of Education, and early and mid-year colleagues including at the University of Southern Queensland. Our international team, with members at varying positions and stages of careers, each learning and navigating a substantive process of co-design toward co-production of knowledge, has engaged with civil society organisations and development partners in Mae Sot to understand the dynamics of multi-level governance in education.

We present a critical analysis of national and international development and research structures that can steer effects of humanitarian work in education, including discriminatory experiences for Burmese colleagues based in Thailand during our work together over the past year. Our discussion includes how we have incorporated disruption to such embedded inequities, and within our ongoing plans of work, drawing on our comparative skills and strengths, based in critical globalisation and decolonising approaches, to systematise the knowledge about a range of restrictive and enabling factors concerned with educational struggles of displaced Myanmar communities in Thailand to develop a longer-term learning and research partnership. So far, we have engaged in a collaborative ethnographic reflection, grant design and submission and scoping activities with local organisations as part of this work.

We argue that refugee and migrant education ‘policyscapes’ are influenced by these restrictive national policies and global norms, and the temporality and unknowable future of migrant and refugees, including political tensions and il/legality in the host communities and precarity of educational resources to maintain educational provisions. Despite these challenges, we also share positive supports for early career colleagues and our team overall in building relationships. We aim to generate evidence and insights to foster expanded opportunities for those in displaced communities who view education as a pathway to sustainable livelihood as well as a vehicle for nurturing aspirations for peace, democracy and life with dignity.

Authors

• Alexandra McCormick, University of Sydney

• Greg Tyrosvoutis, The Inclusive Education Foundation

• Tejendra Pherali, UCL Institute of Education

• Daniel Couch