Teachers & School Leaders in Crisis and Displacement Contexts
Teacher Compensation in Emergency Contexts: Mapping of Donor Practices and Perspectives - Study 1
Global
January-May 2025
This study seeks to examine the approaches and perspectives of key bilateral and multilateral donors regarding the support of teacher compensation in crisis-affected contexts, with a focus on the challenges and disparities in teacher remuneration across different teacher profiles (e.g. national, refugee, etc.). Additionally, the study will assess the potential advantages and drawbacks of a proposed global fund aimed at ensuring timely, regular, and adequate salary payments for teachers working in vulnerable, crisis-affected settings, while also considering the increasing role of families and communities in addressing these gaps.
Teacher Compensation in Emergency Contexts
South Sudan
May-September 2024
This qualitative case study examined the adequacy, effectiveness, and sustainability of teacher compensation amidst the unique challenges posed by emergency situations and other context-specific challenges in South Sudan. The study included interviews with different profiles of teachers and key informants from donor agencies, government ministries, UN agencies, and NGOs operating in South Sudan.
Teachers in Refugee
and Displacement Settings
Multiple Countries
(16 different countries, including case studies in Chad, Malaysia, and Uganda)
August 2022-2024
This study conceptualizes different teacher profiles and how they intersect with teacher management and teacher professional development policies and practices, what challenges arise as a result, and what needs to change in our collective efforts to strengthen teacher quality and workforce sustainability. The mixed-methods study combined interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis in three case study countries (Chad, Malaysia, and Uganda), and an online survey (across education actors in 16 different countries) to capture information from a diverse range of education actors.
Learning from School Leaders in Crisis Contexts
Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya
(virtual due to COVID-19 pandemic)
2021-22
The Educational Leadership 2.0: Capturing Global Knowledge project assisted school leaders in under-resourced regions by providing unique case study training material via a virtual learning platform. The goals of the project were to: 1) create teaching case studies that focused on pressing topics facing leaders of underserved schools across four countries; and 2) test the teaching case studies with practicing school leaders in these countries in order to gauge effectiveness. Our case study focused on school leaders working in a refugee camp in Kenya.
Playful Learning in Crisis Settings: Teacher Professional Development
Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda
2020
This qualitative study examined the challenges and opportunities for integrating learning through play in teacher professional development in refugee and host communities in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda. By centering the professional development needs of teachers, our work contributed to a vital evidence base for The LEGO Foundation’s Playful Learning in Crisis Settings (PLiCs) initiative, which aims to enhance educational services that include learning through play for children and youth (ages 3 to 12+) living in protracted refugee settings in East Africa.
Teachers for Teachers
Kakuma Refugee Camp & Kalobeyei Settlement, Kenya
2015-2018
The Teachers for Teachers initiative in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya supported refugee and Kenyan teachers in their efforts to improve their own teaching practice and student learning in the camp. The Teachers for Teachers model was piloted in 2015 in partnership with UNHCR, Finn Church Aid and the Lutheran World Federation and then scaled up to reach the majority of primary school teachers in the camp (and later Kalobeyei settlement). The initiative drew on the best evidence for developing the expertise, knowledge, and motivation of teachers through training, coaching, and mentoring. It was a multi-layered and staged approach that unfolded over time, giving refugee and national teachers the opportunity to absorb what they have learned in the classroom and to test and adopt new strategies. Teachers for Teachers was one of the Amplify Refugee Education Challenge Award Winners selected by IDEO.org, OpenIDEO, and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development.
Click here for details about Education and Psychosocial Support in Forced Migration Contexts.
Please visit the Human Rights, Emergencies and Peacebuilding web page at Teachers College, Columbia University for full project details, collaborators, and publications.
