Educa&onal Policies and Schooling Prac&ces for Urban Refugees - Stakeholder Mee&ng - Emerging Findings from a Global Survey and Lebanon Case Study Elizabeth Buckner Teachers College, Columbia University Issam Fares Ins&tute, American University of Beirut June 28, 2016
Photo: UNHCR / Richard Wainwright
Ra&onale Two thirds of the world s refugee popula&on now live in urban areas (Kronick 2013; Morand Mahoney & Rabkin, 2012) The experience, approaches, tools and skill sets of humanitarian agencies are s&ll mostly grounded in rural or camp seyngs (IRC 2015, p.5). Camp and Rural Urban
What is urban?
Research Ques&on How do global educa&on policies, na&onal educa&on policies, and local schooling prac&ces intersect to shape urban refugees access to quality educa&on? Na2onal Educa2on Policy Global Educa2on Policy Local Schooling Prac2ces
Conceptual Framework Sub RQ1: How do global policies inform na&onal policies for urban refugee educa&on? Global Survey Na2onal Educa2on Policy Global Educa2on Policy Case Studies Local Schooling Prac2ces Sub RQ3: What can we learn from local schooling prac&ces and how can they inform global (and na&onal) policies? Sub RQ2: How do na&onal policies influence access to safe and quality educa&on for urban refugees?
Global Survey Survey Sample o 16 countries with high popula&ons of urban refugees o Organiza&ons Topics covered: o Global and na&onal polices o Different organiza&onal roles and rela&onships o Challenges and recommenda&ons Translated into local languages (7 languages) Cogni&ve interviews with select stakeholders Sampling Design: non-random, snowball (N=187) Data collec&on: February May 2016
Countries and Regions Pakistan Jordan Ecuador Turkey Kenya Lebanon Cameroon Uganda Malaysia Egypt Sudan Panama Iran South Africa Venezuela Costa Rica 6 6 6 6 5 4 8 9 12 13 13 15 17 19 20 26 [CATEG ORY NAME] [PERCE NTAGE] [CATEG ORY NAME] [PERCE NTAGE] [CATEG ORY NAME] [PERCE NTAGE] 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Profile of Respondents Educa2on Psychosocial Child Protec2on Livelihoods Health and nutri2on Legal services Food security Water and sanita2on Sports and recrea2on Housing/shelter Refugee resewlement Other (Please specify): Arts and culture 52% 51% 43% 40% 36% 31% 31% 28% 28% 24% 17% 15% 87%
Case Studies
Lebanon Case Study March 2016
Overview of Data Collec&on 22 interviews + 4 teacher interviews: 2 government- MEHE 4 UN agencies- UNHCR, UNICEF, UNRWA, UNESCO 5 INGOs 3 NGOs & CBOs 1 donor 1 legal advocacy org (via Skype) Field visits: Sha&la- Pales&nian urban neighborhood, now home to Syrians as well Bekka Valley- spectrum of urban/rural seyngs Public school in Beirut Non-formal school in Beirut
An NGO-Run School in Beirut
Emerging Findings
Urban Refugee Educa&on in Lebanon Roughly 80% of refugees in Lebanon are in urban areas; 15-20% in rural areas / ITS Refugees in urban areas have greater access to public services Refugees choice to sesle in rural or urban area oten reflects differences in SES URBAN Transporta2on available (cost ~$20/mo) Work (construc2on, shops, restaurants, street labor, domes2c labor) Language of instruc2on (French & English vs. Arabic) Integra2on with Lebanese (in schools and surrounding communi2es) Difficulty iden2fying and reaching refugees RURAL Transporta2on - both cost and distance Agricultural labor interrupts Raids and evic2ons of ITS = fear of leaving camps Low demand school among many in ITS Mismatch between loca2on of schools and loca2on of refugees
Educa&onal Rights of Refugees
Opportuni&es for Advocacy How Inclusive are Educa&onal Policies of Refugees? Scale of Inclusivity (1-4) 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 Survey results suggest that signing the 1951 Convention on Refugees and its 1967 Protocol is associated with having more inclusive educational policies for refugees cross-nationally 0.5 0 Not Signatory Signed with Some Reserva2ons Full Comm2ment Source: Teachers College Urban Refugee Global Survey
LEBANON: SYRIAN CRISIS POLICY TIMELINE March 2011 Beginning of Syrian Civil War October 2013 UNICEF and Partners Launch No Lost Generation July 2013 Creation of Education Sector Working Group (ESWG) September 2014 ESWG Disbanded 2015-2016 Government of Lebanon and Its Partners Launch LCRP to Reinforce Stability January 2015 Lebanese General Security Cancels Open Door Policy February 2016 Supporting Syria 2016 (London Conference) Commits $12B in Aid June 2016 Creation of NFE NGO Sub-committee 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Regional National Reaching All Children in Education RACE is a a three-year program organized under three main pillars: access, quality, and systems strengthening. The overall objective is to ensure equitable access to educational opportunities, improve the quality of teaching and learning, and strengthen national education systems, policies and monitoring. Early 2015 Creation of PMU May 2014 RACE Launched May 2015 UNHCR stops registering new refugees January 2016 NFE Framework Released September 2015 MEHE/PMU Open 238 Second Shift Schools to Syrians February 2016 MEHE Launches ALP In Progress MEHE Reviews RACE II for Release Source: Teachers College Urban Refugee Global Survey
Impact of RACE Es&mated out of school rate has fallen from 78% in 2013-2014 to 49% in 2015-2016.
Current Policy Issues 1. Policy Contradic&ons: Even though MEHE posi&on and RACE is inclusive, refugees lack of legal status and right to work undermine educa&onal goals 2. Sustainability: if RACE II meets its goals, it is likely that more Syrians to be enrolled in public schools than Lebanese what will happen if donor funding is not sustained? 3. Civil Society: Ensuring civil society voice in issues of policy design some progress on this with crea&on of NGO sub-commisee 4. Time Frame: RACE II is a 5-year program, but it must take into account various scenarios concerning Syrian civil war and various scenarios for changing numbers of refugees
Policy-Prac&ce Gap
Policy-Prac&ce Gap Globally Teacher recruitment of refugee teachers School registra2on Gradua2on, degree, or exit exams Curriculum Language of instruc2on Teacher training Grade placement and promo2on Tui2on and fees School schedule (one- or two-shiis) Inclusion (i.e., gender, disability, language) Teacher recruitment of na2onal teachers 36% 36% 35% 34% 56% 60% 55% 50% 64% 46% 55% 43% 59% 42% 50% 41% 62% 63% 48% 63% 50% 72% Implementa2on Policy Source: Teachers College Urban Refugee Global Survey
In Lebanon Policies are great. I mean we're way ahead of other countries in the region It's just the actual implementa&on is really lagging both because of capacity limita&ons but also because maybe the refugees are just not interested in the services that are being provided. ~INGO Employee, March 2016, Beirut
Policy-Prac&ce Gap in Lebanon RACE policies are officially very inclusive but implementa&on faces a number of barriers: Lack of mapping second-shit schools to where refugees actually are in part, due to lack of data on refugee communi&es Resistance from local communi&es and/or school administrators to implemen&ng RACE RACE policies and MEHE policies generally are undermined by feelings of insecurity due to restric&ve residency and employment regula&ons Mistrust on part of refugee communi&es Unclear policy framework has made it difficult for civil society to carry out their work
Major Barriers and Recommenda&ons
Major Barriers to Accessing School - Globally Overcrowding or lack of space (89.6%) Lack of awareness about educa&onal op&ons (87.5%) No transporta&on and distance to school (87.45%) Government schools not accep&ng students is the LEAST cited problem (29.9%) Source: Teachers College Urban Refugee Global Survey
Top Recommenda&ons Globally Integrate Refugees into Public Schools (48.3%) Provide Teacher Training (30.0%) Support Community Schools (29.2%)
Key Tension Top recommendation Least cited barrier Integrate refugees into na2onal schools Government schools do not accept refugee students Source: Teachers College Urban Refugee Global Survey
In Lebanon The Cer&fica&on Ques&on As with global survey, major finding from Lebanon interviews: all actors support integra&on into public schools Major jus&fica&on for full integra&on is official cer*fica*on But, in prac&ce, official policies (requirements for 7 th and 8 th grade transcripts) have prevented refugees from siyng for the Brevet and difficul&es in language and curriculum make it difficult to pass Given these contradic&ons if most refugee children do not actually end up siyng for or passing Brevet and have few op&ons for secondary - is official cer&fica&on the only / best jus&fica&on for integra&on into public schools?
Top Three Recommenda&ons in Lebanon Support Community Run Schools Provide Transporta2on Provide Teacher Training
What Should Role of Civil Society Be? We're pushing to put in place programs that actually address the needs of the children because obviously formal educa&on and ALP are not enough. ~INGO Representa&ve, March 2016, Beirut
Government and Civil Society Globally, among all survey respondents, an unclear policy framework is the biggest obstacle for organiza&ons working in refugee educa&on (54.24% sta&ng it as a significant barrier) In Lebanon, we know the rela&onship between government and civil society has been tense, with civil society feeling as it has very lisle voice in policy decisions / pushed out of opera&ng space There has been some progress on this with crea&on of the consulta&ve NFE NGO sub-commisee, announced on June 10, 2016 Moving forward, MEHE sees civil society providing: ECD, community outreach, homework support and transporta&on
Programma&c Findings
The Secondary Gap 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Out of School Rate Globally 75% 50% 17% 9% Primary Secondary All Children Refugees Source: UNHCR 2016
The Secondary Gap What are you doing to support urban refugee educa&on? Government schools NFE programs Accelerated learning NGO schools Schools in refugee camps Ref Community Schools Private schools (non-religious) Religious/Parochial schools Online or distance 28% 22% 37% 48% 43% 58% 56% 69% 77% Primary Secondary Source: Teachers College Urban Refugee Global Survey
In Lebanon Lebanon has <3,000 Syrian refugee students in public secondary schools Issues of language and curriculum compounded in secondary and specific policy barriers Very lisle funding for secondary educa&on SDG4 commits all countries to mee&ng full course of primary and secondary
The Transporta&on Gap - Globally 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 65% 67% 56% 18% Lack of Teacher Training Lack of Transporta2on View as Major Barrier Provide Solu2on Source: Teachers College Urban Refugee Global Survey
Program Ideas from Other Countries School feeding programs to asract students and address family demand Mentoring programs (for students and/or teachers) Developing student leadership opportuni&es for refugee students / such as student councils Providing direct grants to schools to promote integra&on Mobile / semi-permanent classrooms (used in Iraq) Prolonged community integra&on Arts, theater, sports clubs and ac&vi&es with both refugee and local communi&es In-school point person/resource to focus on refugee needs
Teacher Recruitment and Training Many issues with double-shits difficult working condi&ons What advances in policy are needed regarding teachers? Training in bilingual educa&on possibili&es for using Arabic as a LOI at least transi&onally? Serious issue for all displaced contexts Trainings for both teachers and school administrators Trainings on mixed-grade or mixed-age classrooms (ALPs) More thorough trainings on the psychosocial needs of refugees
What the future might hold From other protracted refugee contexts in Ecuador and Kenya, we know Donors asen&on tends to be short-term current funding levels are unlikely to be sustainable Organiza&ons staff will likely be na&onalized meaning capacity will increasingly lie in local NGO offices Refugees may become further integrated urban refugees may become invisible
Future Research Teacher Survey We need to understand beser teachers needs and experiences Refugee Mapping Opening second-shit schools where refugees actually are Psychosocial Needs Tools to beser assess psychosocial needs of refugees UNRWA Integra&on UNRWA has been more successful at integra&ng refugees into schools, even secondary and has produced and implemented human rights/peace educa&on curricula what lessons can MEHE learn from UNRWA experience?
Thank you! Any ques&ons, comments, sugges&ons, please feel free to contact: Elizabeth Buckner (esb2174@tc.columbia.edu) Mary Mendenhall, Co-PI (mendenhall@tc.edu) Garnes Russell, Co-PI (sgrussell@tc.columbia.edu)
Ques&ons for Discussion What data would be most useful for you? In what format? What are your sugges&ons for strengthening the programma&c guidance we might be able to offer? What are your concerns about the emerging recommenda&on that integra&on into na&onal schools is the best approach? What are the barriers/challenges to implementa&on of this recommenda&on? What does integra&on mean in different local contexts? What are the poten&al implica&ons of this study on the policy and prac&ce for the educa&on sector? What are we missing? What about linkages with other sectors?