RESEARCHING TEACHERS AS

AGENTS OF PEACE

UNICEF Seminar

16 March 2015

New York

Yusuf Sayed

South African Research Chair in

Teacher Education, Centre for

International Teacher Education

(CITE), CPUT, SA and Reader in

International Education, CIE, Sussex

Two grants

• ESRC/DFID Teachers & Peacebuilding

• Research Consortium: Amsterdam, Sussex and

Ulster partnered with

• AKU, Pakistan

• CITE, CPUT, SA

• Makere and Gulu: Uganda

FUNDING

2

Three Research Areas, two cross-cutting

themes

3

4

Research Area 1

5

Research Area 3

6

Coordinator research methodologies, partnerships and

capacity building - Prof Mario Novelli, University of Sussex

Research Area 2

7

TEACHERS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE

RESEARCHThe core aim of the research area is to:

• examine how teachers and teaching are supporting education

for peacebuilding;

• enhance national and global policy dialogue and

understanding about teachers as agents of peacebuilding;

• create and communicate new knowledge to policy experts,

policy makers, civil society organisations at local, national,

regional and international level on the effects of education

peacebuilding interventions; and

• develop indicators and a metrics system for evaluating the

efficacy of educational interventions concerned with teachers

as agents of peacebuilding.

8

Research Area 2: Teachers and their role in

peacebuilding

TEACHERS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE

RESEARCH• Understanding the conditions under which

education interventions focused on teachers can promote peace, social cohesion and mitigate and reduce violencewith a view to identifying measures and processes that can increase the effectiveness of such programmes in conflict-affected situations.

• Focuses on the role of teachers who are both potential agents of peace and of enduring conflict.

9

Research Area 2: Teachers and their role in

peacebuilding

RESEARCH FOCI

• Teacher professional development

including Initial Preparation and

Continued Professional Development;

• Teacher governance and deployment;

• Curriculum and textbook analysis;

• Teachers’ classroom practices ; and

• Teacher trust and accountability.

10

Dimensions Focus

Policy analysis Integration of teachers as agents of peace in national

and education policies

Stakeholder Analysis Position(s) of key actors/agencies in relation to teachers

as agents of peace

Teacher governance Analysis of selected programmatic interventions to recruit

and deploy teacher in hard to reach areas in post conflict

contexts

Teacher professional development

Teacher practices

Analysis of selected initial and continuing teacher

education interventions in relation to enhancing teacher

knowledge, competences and disposition to educate for

peace building post conflict contexts

Curriculum training

Teacher accountability Analysis of selected programmatic interventions to

enhance teacher accountability to school and school

community in post conflict contexts

11

Gender and violence as transversal foci across all dimensions

TEACHERS AND THE POST-2015 AGENDA

• 2015 will be the start of a new phase in global

education policy development - with arguably an

ambitious global policy for 2030

• It will define the terrain for what countries and what

donors do – this will shape practice

• This agenda for the first time, has quality education at

its core unlike previous version.

• And teachers, teacher education, and teaching should

be at the heart of this agenda

12

PROPOSED OVERARCHING GOAL

HLP: Provide Quality

Education And Lifelong

Learning

Equitable, Quality Education and Lifelong

Learning for All

SDG: Ensure inclusive and

equitable quality education and

promote life-long learning

opportunities for all

UNESCO: Ensure

equitable quality

education and lifelong learning for all by 2030 13

79. We need to rebuild and reintegrate societies better after crises and conflicts. We must address state fragility, support internally displaced persons and contribute to resilience of people and communities. Reconciliation, peacebuilding and state-building are critical for countries to overcome fragility and develop cohesive societies, and strong institutions. These investments are essential to retaining the gains of development and avoiding reversals in the future.

(UNSG report to UNGA 2014)

14

THE ROAD TO DIGNITY BY 2030

15

• SDG: by 2030 increase by x% the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially LDCs and SIDS (1)

• UNESCO: By 2030, all governments ensure that all learners are taught by qualified, professionally-trained, motivatedand well-supported teachers. (1 # 2)

• Thematic: Equitable lifelong education requires attention to enabling conditions – conducive learning environments with the proper and necessary infrastructure; the presence of sufficient numbers of trained and motivated teachers; and participatory governance structures that empower parents and local communities to be effectively involved in school decision making (20 # 12)

HLP: The quality of education in all countries depends on having a sufficient number of motived teachers, well trained and possessing

strong subject-area knowledge. (2)

Engaging teachers in peacebuilding in postconflict contexts

16

South African Teachers' Strike Shuts Schools,

Compounds Educational Crisis (Bloomberg news:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-31/south-african-teachers-strike-shuts-schools-compounds-educational-crisis.html)

When teachers strike children suffer (Pretoria News:

http://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/opinion/when-teachers-strike-children-suffer-1.1511127

Haram: Nigeria teacher training college attacked (BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29244107)

State school teachers 'fail to push pupils towards

Oxbridge'(Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11022675/State-school-teachers-fail-to-push-pupils-towards-Oxbridge.html)

Teachers must help contain HIV/AIDS(Zambia Daily Mail: http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/01/zimbabwe-training-teachers-to-cope-with-hiv-positive-

students/)

Protestors in Mexico demand justice for missing

teachers(Vatican

Radio:http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/11/21/protestors_in_mexico_demand_justice_for_missing_teachers/1111848)

Why should teachers talk about mental health with

students and colleagues?(The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2014/dec/03/teachers-talk-mental-health-students-colleagues)

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/shots-fired-

near-cape-town-school-1.1651916

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29244107

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/10/mexicos-

missing-43/100838/

SOME HEADLINES

FRAMING TEACHERS

Public, Policy & Research Discourses –from derision

to super humans

Teachers as part of the problem (the blame

game) vs./& teachers as the solution

Teachers as victims vs./& teachers as perpetrators

vs./& Teachers as

agents

Teachers as technocrats

vs./& teachers as

reflexive professionals

17

WHAT INFLUENCES TEACHER QUALITY?

3 aspects:

i. National Policies (teacher governance and

management)

ii. Teacher professional development (pre and in-

service)

iii. School level factors ( school based management)

• Different entry points to effect changes

• Distinct challenges of e.g.: conflict or post-conflict

environments: small-island context of Pacific region;

weak government capacity, large federal states

18

19

20

The National Teacher Education Audit 1995

Solution

Transformative agent

Problem

THANK YOU

21