Textbook content as a symptom of deeper struggles: A ‘4Rs’ Framework to analyze education in conflict-affected situations

Abstract

Education content matters but cannot be understood in isolation from its historical, socio-cultural, political and economic contexts. In this text, we discuss the ‘4Rs’ framework that we have designed as an analytical tool that allows researchers, policy-developers and practitioners to grasp the interconnected dimensions that shape and drive education systems, practices and outcomes. The framework’s central normative position is that inequalities and injustice (including within the education system) are important for understanding the reasons for the outbreak of violent conflict (the drivers of conflict) and that addressing inequalities (including in education) is necessary to bring about sustainable peace and overcome the legacies of conflict. Drawing on examples from the case of Myanmar, we illustrate how when applying the framework to look at the peacebuilding potential and pitfalls of education content, the four dimensions of the framework are closely interconnected, and can work in support or in tension with each other. We see the 4Rs as a small contribution to the collective endeavor of building theoretically informed, but practically accessible tools to support better education policy and practice in conflict-affected contexts