X Close

Education in Conflict and Emergencies

Home

Menu

2020/21 Seminars

This seminar series is organised as part of scholarly activities within Centre for Education and International Development at UCL Institute of Education under the research theme Education, Conflict and Peacebuilding. The convenor of the seminar series is Dr Tejendra Pherali

These events are organised online on Zoom and free to attend.

_____________________________________________________________

20 Years of INEE: Achievements and Challenges in Education in Emergencies 

Dr Kate Moriarty
Senior Advisor, Strategic Engagement & Dialogue
INEE – Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies

Chair: Dr Tejendra Pherali
Centre for Education and International Development, UCL Institute of Education

Time: 5pm-6:30pm
Date: 22 Feb 2021

 

Please register here

Abstract: The seminar will consider key achievements in the field of education in emergencies over the past 20 years since the establishment of INEE.  It will explore recently published data on the number of children and young people out-of-school in crisis affected countries and trends in financing. It will look at these in light of the additional burdens placed on education systems globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and argue that without a sustained focus on education in crisis, SDG 4 cannot be achieved. 

Speaker Bio: Dr Kate Moriarty is Senior Advisor, Strategic Engagement and Dialogue for Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE). She has been working in the field of education, human rights and international development, for 20 + years, with a focus on both development and humanitarian contexts. Having trained as a teacher, she later worked as a human rights educator before focusing on education policy, advocacy and research for a range of organisations, including Theirworld, the Malala Fund, UNESCO, Save the Children, and Amnesty International. With consultancy work undertaken for the Global Campaign for Education, Norwegian Refugee Council, Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, UNESCO and other civil society and UN organisations. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Côte d’Ivoire’s Lingering Past: Implications for Peace Education 

Dr Line Kuppens
Postdoctoral Researcher
Centre for Research into the Education of Marginalised Children and Young Adults (CREMCYA), St Mary’s University, London

Time: 5pm-6:30pm
Date: 24 March 2021

Please register here.

Abstract: In 2011, Côte d’Ivoire emerged from nearly two decades of violent conflict. Whereas the country has remained relatively stable since, it is yet to come to terms with its violent and divisive past. In this seminar, Dr. Line Kuppens will discuss how opposing conflict narratives remain vibrant in today’s society, more particularly among teachers. Often assumed to be positive agents of change in post-conflict societies, she shows how secondary school teachers in Côte d’Ivoire’s economic capital remain sharply divided along ethno-political fault lines in terms of their reading and understanding of the past and current peace and reconciliation process. Her research also demonstrates that teachers in support of the government are more open to addressing the past in the classroom. These findings raise important questions regarding teachers’ ability and willingness to teach ‘peace’ after conflict. Still, complementary research among students is indicative of the relevance of coming to terms with the past through education. Indeed, essay research shows that conflict narratives and biases are apparent among at least one third of adolescents too, despite their young age at the time of conflict and notwithstanding the curricular silence on the topic. 

Speaker Bio: Line Kuppens is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Research into the Education of Marginalised Children and Young Adults (CREMCYA). Her research focuses on the role of education as a peace-building tool in post-conflict countries, specifically Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya. Prior to joining the Centre, Line gained extensive experience within the field of international education, working both as a scholar and a practitioner in varied settings in South-East Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia) and in Sub-Saharan Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia). 

Line holds a PhD in Development Studies and Social Sciences from the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium) and the University of Antwerp (Belgium), an MSc Comparative and International Politics, an MSc Quantitative Analyses in the Social Sciences and a BSc in Political Sciences from the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium). 

Suggested readings: 

Kuppens, L., & Langer, A. (2020). Reconciling before educating? Narratives of conflict and peace among teachers in Côte d’Ivoire. International Journal Of Intercultural Relations, 76, pp. 37 – 51. 

 Kuppens, L., & Langer, A. (2016). Divided we teach? An Analysis of Teachers’ Perceptions of Conflict and Peace in Côte d’Ivoire. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 22 (4), pp. 329 – 333. 

 Kuppens, L., & Langer, A. (2016). To address or not to address the violent past in the classroom? That is the question in Côte d’Ivoire. Journal of Peace Education, 13 (2), pp. 153 – 171. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

The provision of primary education for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon

Brian Lally
Doctoral Researcher, Kingston University London

Time: 5pm-6:30pm
Date: 21 April 2021
Please register  here.

Ten years after the start of the conflict in Syria, millions remain displaced both internally, within the region and beyond. Attempting to meet the needs of the children caught up in this ongoing crisis is a continuing challenge for governments, international organisations, civil society and communities. In Lebanon, a range of state and non-state actors have been seeking to provide education, including throughout the COVID pandemic. This seminar, Brian will draw upon his extensive experience of working with refugee teachers and children as well as agencies that support education for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon and his doctoral research to explore some of the challenges, barriers and models of provision in this context, including refugee-led initiatives growing solutions from within the community.

Speaker’s bio:

Brian Lally is an educator and researcher with broad experience in the sector including teaching, education leadership, safeguarding/child protection and programme management. He has worked extensively at local, regional and national levels both within schools in the UK (including as Headteacher of a secondary school) as well as in East Africa, Indonesia, Central America, West Africa and China.

For his MA at the UCL IOE, Brian specialised in education in emergency, conflict and fragile contexts, and education provision for refugees in particular. For several years, he has been working with a Syrian-led NGO delivering education provision for refugee children and young adults in Lebanon through 9 primary schools as well an extensive range of vocational training and initiatives facilitating access to higher education provision. He has also been working with Syrian NGOs operating in the education, health, nutrition and protection sectors in northern Syria and southern Turkey.