Teacher management in refugee settings: Ethiopia
Stephanie Bengtsson
Rachael Fitzpatrick
Rachael has worked at Education Development Trust since 2016. With over six years’ experience that spans market and social research, she has successfully conducted large and small scale research and evaluation projects in a diverse range of countries (including Rwanda, Vietnam, Jordan and the UK). Rachael’s research interests and expertise are in system level reform at both national level and local level. She has an MA in Social Research Methods from Durham University, and is currently undertaking a part-time PhD in Education at the University of Bath.
Katja Hinz
Leonora MacEwen
Ruth Naylor
Ruth has worked in international education development since 1999 as a consultant, advisor, researcher and trainer, with a focus on how to improve the learning of the most marginalised, especially girls, in low-resource and conflict-affected settings. She has written evidence reviews on education for adolescent girls for DFID, Plan International and UNICEF. She has worked on the design and monitoring and evaluation of large girls' education programmes in a wide range of countries, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya and Rwanda. She was a founding member of the Girls’ Education working group of the Gender and Development network. Ruth holds a PhD on science teaching in Tanzania.
Anna Riggall
Dr Anna Riggall leads Education Development Trust's global programme of academic educational research and promotes evidence engagement across the organisation. She has over 20 years’ experience leading international educational research and holds an MA in Education & Development Studies and PhD in Education. She specialises in the areas of education system reform, education for marginalised groups including children with disabilities, girls and refugees, teacher development, leadership, accountability and education in emergencies.
Helen West
Helen has more than 10 years' experience in school middle management, teacher development, curriculum design, student assessment and education consultancy. Helen uses her expertise to carry out assignments on areas including school inspection and improvement, provide technical support to NGOs and to undertake research funded by international clients and donors. Helen is passionate about mother tongue-based and bilingual education, reflected in the focus of her Masters in education planning, economics and international development at UCL IOE and in her role in developing the staff and curriculum at CfBT School Trust’s German-English bilingual free school.
Globally, there are 70.8 million forcibly displaced persons. Among these are 25.9 million refugees, over half of whom are children. Effective teacher management is key to ensuring inclusive, equitable, quality education for these young people, and teachers constitute the most important factor affecting student learning. In crisis and displacement situations, the role of teachers is particularly significant: they are sometimes the only resource available to students.
This report investigates teacher management in refugee contexts in Ethiopia, and is the first in a series of country reports. It contributes to a burgeoning body of evidence about teachers in refugee contexts and aims to provide policy guidance to support ministries of education.
A programme of research
In 2018, IIEP-UNESCO and Education Development Trust jointly published a review of the literature relating to teacher management in refugee contexts. The review concludes that for displaced populations, realising their legal rights, where afforded, can be challenging when international frameworks have not been ratified or adapted into national legal frameworks. It can be equally difficult when legal frameworks are poorly integrated into social service policies, plans and strategies (for example, within national education sector plans).
The review also concludes that much of the literature indicates that teachers from the refugee community are best placed to teach refugee children, or should – at the very least – play a part in their education provision. Many host countries are aware of this, and are utilising refugees to support national teachers, as is the case to some extent in Ethiopia, Kenya and Turkey. Nevertheless, in most contexts, more and more national teachers are teaching refugees in host countries, with very limited support and preparation. Fragmented information on refugee teachers, coupled with a lack of information on the host teachers charged with refugee students’ education, points to a need for more research.
Following the review’s conclusions, IIEP-UNESCO and Education Development Trust embarked on a series of country studies. At the time of writing, there are four completed or underway. These include this report on Ethiopia, plus a further three country studies taking place in Kenya, Uganda and Jordan.
Ethiopia country study
Ethiopia was chosen as the first country to be studied for this research programme on effective teacher management in refugee contexts because it is home to one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. Moreover, it has made significant policy commitments to increasing protection and support for refugees through a range of ambitious policy pledges and legal frameworks.
The report contributes to a burgeoning body of research focused on teachers in refugee contexts. It aims to provide policy guidance to support ministries of education. The study identifies promising policies and implementation strategies that exist for the management of primary-level teachers in refugee hosting regions and reveals potential areas for further development of policies and successful implementation.