Responsibility for refugee education: education by the state but not for the state?

Monday 20 June is World Refugee Day. Sarah Dryden-Peterson draws from her recent book, Right Where We Belong: How Refugee Teachers and Students Are Changing the Future of Education (Harvard University Press), to argue for the need for collective responsibility in refugee education. Responsibility for refugee education: Education by the state but not for the state

The Politics of Higher Education for Refugees in a Global Movement for Primary Education

In the context of Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), global movements for expanded access to education have focused on primary education. In refugee situations, where one-quarter of refugees do not have access to primary school and two-thirds do not have access to secondary school, donors and agencies resist supporting higher education with arguments that, at great cost, it stands to benefit a small and elite group. At the same time, refugees are clear that progression to higher levels of education is integrally connected with their future livelihoods and future stability for their regions of origin. This paper examines where higher education fits within a broader framework of refugee education and the politics of its provision, with attention to the policies and priorities of UN agencies, NGOs, national governments, and refugees themselves.Dans le contexte des initiatives Éducation pour tous et Objectifs du millénaire pour le développement, les mouvements internationaux pour élargir l’accès à l’éducation sont axés sur l’enseignement primaire . Dans le cas des réfugiés, dont le quart n’a pas accès à l’ école primaire et les deux tiers, à l’école secondaire, les donateurs et les agences hésitent à soutenir l’éducation supérieure arguant que celle-ci, d’emblée plus coûteuse, ne profitera qu’ à un groupe restreint et privilégié . Parallèlement, les réfugiés croient fermement que la progression vers de plus hauts niveaux d’éducation fait partie intégrante d’un gagne-pain futur et d’une éventuelle stabilité dans leurs régions d’origine . Cet article examine où se situe l’éducation post-secondaire dans un cadre élargi de l’ éducation des réfugiés ainsi que les politiques pour sa prestation, et s’attarde sur les politiques et les priorités des agences des Nations Unies, des ONG, des gouvernements nationaux et des réfugiés eux-mêmes

A Remaining Hope for Durable Solutions: Local Integration of Refugees and Their Hosts in the Case of Uganda

The protracted nature of conflicts in countries of the global South means that return to home countries for many refugees is increasingly delayed. At the same time, global terrorism and concerns about security have slowed processes of resettlement in countries of the North. Local integration to host communities in countries of first asylum may be a remaining option. This paper explores possibilities for revival of local integration as a durable solution. The authors situate the study within the framework of protracted refugee situations globally and, specifically, within the existing local settlement structure and the Self Reliance Strategy (SRS) in Uganda. Benefits to refugee-hosting communities are analyzed through two case studies: local integration through commerce and through primary education. The paper concludes by exploring ways in which stakeholders, including refugees, UNHCR, and donor governments can work together to promote shared and simultaneous development in refugee and national communities, specifically in conceptualizing the durable solution of local integration within the context of a national framework for development.Le fait que les conflits dans l’hémisphère Sud se prolongent interminablement signifie que pour beaucoup de réfugiés le retour dans leur pays d’origine est de plus en plus retardé. En même temps, le terrorisme global et les craintes sécuritaires ont considérablement ralenti les procédures de réinstallation dans les pays de l’hémisphère Nord. Dans ces conditions, il semblerait que l’intégration des réfugiés dans les communautés hôtes dans les premiers pays d’asile pourrait être la seule solution possible. Cet article examine donc les possibilités de raviver l’intégration locale comme solution durable. Les auteurs placent leur étude dans le cadre des situations de réfugiés qui se prolongent, et, plus particulièrement en référence à la structure locale de réinstallation qui existe déjà en Ouganda, ainsi que leur ‘Self Reliance Strategy’ (SRS) (« stratégie autocentré »). Les avantages dont bénéficient les communautés accueillant les réfugiés sont analysés à travers deux études de cas : l’intégration locale à travers le commerce et l’intégration à travers l’éducation primaire. L’article conclut en examinant les manières par lesquelles les parties prenantes, y compris les réfugiés, l’UNHCR et les gouvernements donateurs, peuvent travailler de concert pour promouvoir le développement parallèle et simultané à la fois dans les communautés de réfugiés et dans les communautés nationales – plus spécifiquement, en conceptualisant la solution durable de l’intégration locale dans le contexte d’un plan national de développement

Higher Education for Refugees

Introductio

"Education of Refugees in Uganda: Relationships between Setting and Access"

J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Boar

Refugee education: Education for an unknowable future

Conflict and displacement are increasingly protracted, requiring rethinking of refugee education as a long-term endeavor, connected not only to the idea of return but to the on-going nature of exile. In this essay, I examine how refugees conceptualize education and its role in creating certainty and mending the disjunctures of their trajectories as refugees. Through a portrait of one refugee teacher, the essay explores technical, curricular, and relational dimensions of refugee education that assist refugee students in preparing for unknowable futures

Refugee education in countries of first asylum: Breaking open the black box of pre-resettlement experiences

The number of refugees who have fled across international borders due to conflict and persecution is at the highest level in recorded history. The vast majority of these refugees find exile in low-income countries neighboring their countries of origin. The refugee children who are resettled to North America, Europe, and Australia arrive with previous educational experiences in these countries of first asylum. This article examines these pre-resettlement educational experiences of refugee children, which to date have constituted a “black box” in their post-resettlement education. Analysis is of data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), key informant interviews in 14 countries of first asylum, and ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in four countries. The article argues that contemporary conditions of conflict usefully inform conceptual understanding of refugee education globally, including the types of schools that refugees access in countries of first asylum and their rates of access. It further identifies three empirical themes that are common to the educational experiences of refugees in countries of first asylum: language barriers; teacher-centered pedagogy; and discrimination in school settings. The paper examines the theoretical and practical relevance of these pre-resettlement educational experiences for post-resettlement education of refugee children

Refugee Education: The Crossroads of Globalization

In this article, I probe a question at the core of comparative education – how to realize the right to education for all and ensure opportunities to use that education for future participation in society. I do so thorough examination of refugee education from World War II to the present, including analysis of an original dataset of documents (n=214) and semi-structured interviews (n=208). The data illuminate how refugee children are caught between the global promise of universal human rights, the definition of citizenship rights within nation-states, and the realization of these sets of rights in everyday practices. Conceptually, I demonstrate the misalignment between normative aspirations, codes and doctrines, and mechanisms of enforcement within nation-states, which curtail refugees’ abilities to activate their rights to education, to work, and to participate in society

The Global Partnership for Education’s evolving support to fragile and conflict-affected states

In this study, we trace the history of policy development within the Global Partnership for Education to discern the drivers behind the uptake of its shifting policies relating to education in fragile and conflict-affected states. In order to elucidate how and why this international organization has altered its policy stance and funding modalities, we employ a process tracing analysis of document and interview data. Moreover, we provide three country case studies of Global Partnership for Education financing to Liberia, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo