Beyond the Two Faces of Education – Towards a Nomothetic Understanding of Education in Conflict and Emergencies

It has been 15 years since UNICEF published The Two Faces of Education – Towards a Peacebuilding Education for Children. Drawing on a large number of case studies, that monograph systematically enumerated and analyzed the positive and negative potential impacts of education in a range of conflict-prone cases. The Two Faces of Education has been called the ‘Bible for education programming in conflict settings,’ and has been the basis for countless articles, theses, policy papers, and conference panels. While the talk will touch on the origin, structure and content of Two Faces of Education, its primary concern will be on how (and why) we, as a community of applied researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, must take the next step beyond the initial analytical observations of that study towards research which is (still) empirically-grounded, ethnographically rich, and practice-focused, but which ultimately generates nomothetic, rather than idiographic, understanding. This argument is rooted in the observation that the myriad studies on education in conflict-prone and emergency settings have tended to generate case-specific insights and recommendations based on individual (or a small number of) projects, programmes, and countries. A comprehensive, global, assessment has yet to be developed or undertaken. The talk will conclude with a discussion with the audience on how we might nudge our work in this direction — inside and outside the academy.

For PDF Copies of Kenneth Bush and Diana Salterelli (2000). The Two Faces of Education – Towards a Peacebuilding Education for Children.  UNICEF Innocenti Centre: Florence: http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/insight4.pdf