Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Books: Research
The conclusion presents the common themes and arguments that have emerged across the chapters, and draws out their implications for practice, policy, and research. The book emphasizes the crucial role that teachers, school staff, learners, and school communities play in the resilience of education systems during crisis, and the importance of supporting teachers and educators in their critical tasks of equipping the next generation. We contend that any effort to understand and support learners and teachers in crisis-affected contexts should centre their perspective, develop a deep contextual understanding of the setting, and pursue intersectoral approaches that expand beyond the education sector. Despite considerable challenges, the studies portrayed in this book also show that it is possible to carry out rigorous research in conflict-affected and displacement contexts and the importance of telling the stories of those most affected by crises.
This book provides an important lens for understanding how interlocking humanitarian crises caused by armed conflict, natural disasters, forced displacement and, more recently, a global health pandemic have adversely impacted teaching and learning.
It brings together evidence from multiple, diverse research-practice partnerships in seven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The authors provide a clear account of the key academic, policy and practice questions on education in crisis contexts and consider our capacity to develop just and resilient education systems.
Chapter 4 examines the work of teachers and the support they receive in conflict-affected regions, specifically Ethiopia and Somalia. This chapter draws upon empirical data from a longitudinal mixed-methods study of 162 Ethiopian refugee teachers in four schools and 55 Somali teachers across nine schools, along with semi-structured interviews to explore three aspects of inclusion in teaching in refugee and internally displaced persons contexts: teachers’ work conditions (salary, motivation, and satisfaction with work environment); teachers’ relationships with others and their sense of belonging; and teachers’ preparedness for inclusive pedagogy based on the professional development they access for promoting inclusion. The chapter underscores the importance of tailored continuous professional development, and teacher involvement and voice as key to equitable and quality teaching and learning in conflict and fragile contexts.
The introduction provides the theoretical framework for the book. It reflects on the prevalence and nature of the different crises that are affecting education systems around the world today, and how they intersect and impact education systems. Building on the literature on education in emergencies, it then presents the main modalities of education provision in crisis settings, and the key challenges these pose for educational practitioners and policy makers as well as non-governmental organizations and donors who support education in such contexts. The Introduction then presents the key concepts that are deployed in the book – resilience, well-being and inclusion – and reflects on their histories, usages, and limitations, with the objective of highlighting their relevance to the study of education in crisis contexts and the ways in which they are deployed in the book. The Introduction also reflects on the challenges of conducting research in high-risk contexts, which pertain to security and logistics but also ethics and epistemology.
This chapter provides findings on a group of war-affected children and youth who attempted to restart their schooling by enrolling in accelerated education programmes (AEPs) in insecure, rural communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and an internationally subsidized refugee camp in Tanzania. A total of 841 learners, ages 10–17, were randomly selected with the intention of following their education outcomes and academic progress over the course of four years. Due to high attrition rates, a second cohort of 633 learners was engaged to better track academic performance in the AEPs. The study therefore focused intently on academic persistence: why a minority of students remained in AEPs while the majority of students dropped out. Study findings suggest a focus on student motivation, parental support, and multisectoral approaches to address social-economic realities of war-affected children and youth are required to reduce attrition rates and enhance education outcomes for crisis-affected children and youth.
This chapter examines the relationship between resilience and well-being over time among teachers and learners living in Palabek settlement in northern Uganda and Juba, South Sudan. It draws on participants’ conceptualizations of their own well-being, and how teacher and learner well-being interact with one another. The chapter describes the central role of relationships, role fulfilment, and resources in helping or hindering well-being for learners and teachers. The analysis draws on the voices and experiences of research participants and identifies the interactions among these dimensions across home, school, and community spaces. Teaching and learning amidst crises makes the promise of education all the more important as teachers’ and learners’ current participation in education and future hope for education contribute to their well-being as schooling provides purpose, structure, and promise; however, the challenges of living amidst conflict and displacement often disrupt and complicate teachers’ and learners’ participation in education and hope for education, which impedes their well-being. This tension points to the importance of recognizing and learning about the broader context in which teachers and learners live, teach, and learn through research and the need to advocate for intersectoral programming that responds to the realities of living, learning, and teaching amidst crisis.
This chapter focuses on the causes and consequences of violence against teachers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Niger, building on research carried out by the Institute of Development Studies and the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu. It highlights the key mechanisms that underpin violence against teachers in the DRC and Niger, and the impact of violence on teachers’ well-being and their teaching. The chapter then focuses on the ways in which teachers have addressed violence in their classrooms, and how practices that are deployed at the frontlines of these crises can be built upon to develop more context-relevant educational interventions, and strengthen teacher resilience. The chapter also reflects on a teaching module on violence that is being incorporated into the national curriculum of teacher training institutes in the DRC. The chapter concludes by underscoring the importance of taking violence against teachers into account in educational policy and programming.
