The violence of peace and the role of education: insights from Sierra Leone

Research on peacebuilding has mushroomed over the last decade and there is a growing interest in the role of education in supporting peacebuilding processes. This paper engages with these debates, UN peacebuilding activities and the location of education initiatives therein, through a case study of Sierra Leone. In the first part, we explore the complex and multi-dimensional nature of violence in post-conflict Sierra Leone. In the second, we critically address the role of education in the conflict and post-conflict period, highlighting education’s centrality as a catalyst to conflict, and then reflect on the failure of the post-conflict reconstruction process to adequately transform the education system into one that could support a process of sustainable peacebuilding. Finally, we conclude by exploring the ways that greater investment and focus, both financial and human, in the education sector might, in the long term, better contribute to a sustainable and socially just peace.     

Culturally responsive peacebuilding pedagogy: a case study of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierre Leone

Recent research on the peace-promoting agency of teachers in conflict-affected contexts has critiqued the dominance of a menu of curriculum initiatives circulated within aid organizations which ignore or dismiss indigenous cultural resources available within local communities. On the other hand, the turn to local culture in peacebuilding interventions has also been critiqued for idealizing the local. This paper presents a case study of the work of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierra Leone which aim to support teachers in drawing on local practices, rituals and symbols. Using an interpretative approach, alert to the meanings teachers ascribe to their pedagogical practices, it finds that teachers respond to local culture in multiple, sometimes contradictory ways. These range from celebration of indigenous practices as resources for conflict resolution that resonate with their pupils and communities to critique of their oppressive gender norms and inability to address structural drivers of conflict.     

Reconstruction versus transformation: Post-war education and the struggle for gender equity in Sierra Leone

In post-war contexts, education is widely regarded as essential not only for civic reconciliation, but also as a key force for gender equity. In Sierra Leone, however, despite enhanced educational opportunities for girls, much of the emphasis on post-war educational reconstruction is unlikely to rectify gender inequities that remain entrenched within mainstream schooling and in the broader social context. Yet the capacity of education to contribute to gender-based change has not been entirely muted. Several women's associations are supporting girls’ education as integral to economic and political actions aimed at challenging the hegemony of patriarchy and gendered violence. What remains to be seen is whether these discrete efforts can foster a women's movement capable of altering the structures of patriarchal power in Sierra Leone.     

Parenting and discipline in post-conflict Sierra Leone

BackgroundWhile the literature on physical punishment concludes that it has negative effects on children, the practice remains common in many countries. In post-conflict countries with nongovernmental organizations (NGO) operating in child protection, traditional disciplinary practices may conflict with international child rights agendas. The country of Sierra Leone has a unique history of conflict, abject poverty, low literacy, and weak governance – often, NGO agents are responsible for providing social services that the government is unable to consistently provide.ObjectiveWe examined how Sierra Leonean caregivers think about appropriate discipline for children, and whether they perceived any changes in their attitudes toward disciplinary practices since the end of the war.Participants and SettingWe collected data from parents and caregivers in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas of Sierra Leone’s four districts.MethodsWe used focus groups (12 groups, n = 92) and individual interviews (n = 21) to collect data in 2013. Focus groups and interviews were conducted by research assistants fluent in Krio and English. We used a thematic content analysis approach.ResultsWe found that physical discipline—“beating”—was widely acceptable and common. A few parents mentioned other means of discipline, such as withholding food. Parents widely agreed that parenting had changed since the war, and reported that child rights movements supported by NGOs had made it more difficult to discipline their children in traditional ways.ConclusionsDiscipline was seen a central component of child-rearing and a means of ensuring safe and proper development. This may be a protective mechanism in the precarious, high poverty environment of post-war Sierra Leone. The negative responses of parents to NGO efforts to reduce physical punishment and other forms of child abuse suggest that grassroots approaches are needed to address this pervasive problem.     

Questions in the answers to primary school educational reconstruction in Sierra Leone

The purpose of this paper is to review current issues in pre- and primary school reform and to pose questions on the long-term implications of present day solutions. Such an exercise will open up discussion on the probable effects of educational policy decisions with a view to minimize negative effects brought on by new policies. Because data collection in Sierra Leone is embryonic and unreliable, it is difficult to be definitive in planning future reform in education based on available data. The civil war between 1989 and 1999 practically shut down the educational system. Some of the obvious steps taken to ameliorate the situation included mandatory compulsory primary education in 2004 and completing the construction of 500 new classroom buildings by 2008. School enrolment doubled between 2001 and 2005 and the Gross Enrolment Ratio （GER） was about 160 percent. It is important to join in a discussion of the long-term implications of short-term solutions to educational development in Sierra Leone. The paper is organized under the following headings： （1） The context of pre and primary school development; （2） Current education system; （3） Issues in pre-primary and primary education; （4） Government statements on education and jobs respectively; （5） Questioning as a way to improve education quality; （6） Discussion; and （7） Recommendation.     

Education as humanisation: a theoretical review on the role of dialogic pedagogy in peacebuilding education

In this literature review, we explore the potential role of education in supporting peacebuilding and societal transformation after violent conflict. Following a critical analysis of the literature published by academics and practitioners, we identify the notion of humanisation (as in the seminal works of Paulo Freire and others) as a unifying conceptual core. Peacebuilding education as humanisation is realised by critical reflection and dialogue in most curricular initiatives reviewed, an approach aimed at overcoming the contextual educational constraints often rooted in societal division and segregation, strained community relations and past traumas. We argue that education as humanisation and critical dialogue can offer pedagogical strategies and provide a compelling conceptual framework for peacebuilding education. Such a conceptual framework can serve as a basis for research in the area, especially in contexts where educational institutions tend to be structured to dehumanise.     

School mining clubs in Kono,Sierra Leone: the practices and imaginaries of a pedagogy of protest against social injustice in a conflict-affected context

ABSTRACT

This paper takes as a case study the pedagogical practices emergent from the educational interventions of a civil society organisation in the conflict affected region of Kono, Sierra Leone. Using a cultural political economy approach, it highlights the possibilities of pedagogy being leveraged to protest against perceived and experienced social injustices. In so doing it contributes to understanding of a context-specific model of teacher agency, rooted in the local and global challenges faced by pupils and their communities. It thereby illuminates an alternative to the generic and decontextualized framings of pedagogy frequently offered in human rights and peace education curricula.     

A conceptual framework to analyse the multiscalar politics of education for sustainable peacebuilding

A critical and more nuanced understanding of the multifaceted relationship between projects of peacebuilding and educational provision is starting to develop. Drawing on an epistemological and ontological anchor of critical realism, and a methodology informed by the application of cultural political economy analysis and the strategic relational approach to understanding educational discourses, processes and outcomes, we illustrate how the ‘many faces’ of education in conflict-affected situations can be better theorised and conceptually represented. In doing so, we link goals of peacebuilding to those of social justice, and reinvigorate the notion of education playing a transformative rather than a restorative role in conflict-affected contexts. Making such ideas concrete, we provide examples of how such an analytical framework can be employed to understand the multi-faceted relationship between education and projects of social transformation in conflict-affected environments across the globe.     

The role of international organizations in aid: A case study of a teacher education programme in Sierra Leone

By the early 1970s, the Sierra Leone government realized that the educational system was not meeting the developmental needs of the country. In an attempt to reverse the increasing trend of migration to urban areas, to improve rural productivity and the quality of rural life, and to counteract other deleterious effects of this system, in 1974 the government collaborated with Unesco, UNDP and the African Development Bank in launching the Bunumbu project to train primary school teachers for rural areas. This linked a training college with 20 pilot schools and the local community. This paper critically examines the role played by each of the international organizations in executing the project. It gives examples of resources wasted in supplying inappropriate equipment and expensive building materials, and argues strongly for more consideration of local conditions, and for the involvement of local training agencies and local labour, in any similar future plans. The paper concludes with a discussion of who really benefits from international aid and resolves that both recipients and donors should abandon grandiose schemes.

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Zusammenfassung In den frühen 70er Jahren stellte die Regierung von Sierra Leone fest, daß das Bildungssystem nicht den Entwicklungsbedürfnissen des Landes entsprach. Um die ständig wachsende Abwanderung in städtische Bereiche rückgängig zu machen, die ländliche Produktion und die Qualität des ländlichen Lebens zu verbessern, und um den nachteiligen Auswirkungen des Bildungssystems entgegenzuwirken, arbeitete die Regierung mit Unesco, UNDP und der Afrikanischen Entwicklungsbank zusammen, um das Bunumbu-Projekt ins Leben zu rufen, das Grundschullehrer für ländliche Bereiche ausbilden sollte. Dadurch wurde eine Lehrerbildungsanstalt mit 20 Pilotschulen und der lokalen Gemeinschaft verbunden. In diesem Bericht wird die Rolle untersucht, die jede der Organisationen bei der Durchführung dieses Projekts spielte. Beispiele werden dafür angeführt, wie Ressourcen durch die Lieferung ungeeigneter Geräte und teuren Baumaterials vergeudet wurden. Der Verfasser betont, daß die lokalen Bedingungen und die Einbeziehung lokaler Ausbildungsstellen, sowie lokaler Arbeitskräfte bei vergleichbaren künftigen Plänen mehr zu berücksichtigen seien. Der Bericht schließt mit einer Diskussion darüber, wer bei internationaler Entwicklungshilfe der Nutznießer sei, und kommt zu dem Schluß, daß sowohl die Geber als auch die Empfänger grandiose Vorhaben aufgeben sollten.

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Résumé Au début des années 1970, le gouvernement du Sierra Leone s'est rendu compte que son système éducatif ne répondait pas aux besoins nationaux en matière de développement. Dans une tentative faite pour freiner l'exode croissant vers les zones urbaines, pour améliorer la productivité des campagnes et la qualité de la vie rurale, et afin de refréner les effets délétères de ce système, le gouvernement a lancé, en 1974, en collaboration avec l'Unesco, le PNUD et la Banque Africaine de Développement le Projet Bunumbu dont l'objectif consistait à former des enseignants pour les écoles primaires des zones rurales. Ce projet a établi des liens entre une école normale, 20 écoles pilotes et la communauté locale. Le présent article procède à l'examen critique du rôle joué dans l'exécution du projet par chacune des organisations internationales. Il met en relief le gaspillage des ressources dans l'achat d'un matériel inadéquat ou de matériaux de construction très onéreux, et plaide vigoureusement en faveur d'une prise en considération des conditions locales, de la participation des organisations de formation et de la main-d'oeuvre locales aux plans similaires qui seront mis en oeuvre à l'avenir. L'auteur ouvre enfin un débat pour savoir à qui profite réellement l'aide internationale et en conclut que bénéficiaires comme donateurs devraient abandonner toute idée de projet grandiose.

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The financial support of the IDRC (Ottawa) in providing air ticket and living expenses in Sierra Leone is gratefully acknowledged.     

Global citizenship as education for peacebuilding in a divided society: structural and contextual constraints on the development of critical dialogic discourse in schools

In post-conflict and divided societies, global citizenship education has been described as a central element of peacebuilding education, whereby critical pedagogy is seen as a tool to advance students’ thinking, transform their views and promote democratic behaviours. The present study investigates understandings of and attitudes to global citizenship and the challenges faced in its implementation. Teacher interviews highlight lack of time and resources for critical reflection and dialogue. Where opportunities for relevant training are provided, this can benefit critical engagement. Boundaries of educational systems and structures also influence pupils’ understandings of the issues as evidenced in questionnaire findings. We argue that critical pedagogies may be limited unless criticality and activism transcend local and global issues and are applied to schools themselves. Emotional engagement may be required for teachers to claim the space to critically reflect and share with colleagues within and beyond their sectors in order to enable critical discourse amongst pupils.     

The contribution (or not) of UN higher education to peacebuilding: an ethnographic account

This paper examines the role of United Nations (UN) peace academics in teaching for peace within the UN higher education system, and questions what contribution, if any, UN peacebuilding education makes to the broader field of peace and conflict studies education, and in the lives of the people it touches. The study draws on ethnographic data collected over a six-month period at one UN university in 2015. The data collection period involved participant observation, interviews with faculty and postgraduate students, document analysis, and surveys with learners. Findings suggest tensions and contradiction in the university around issues of UN mimicry, Western-centrism, state domination, and institutional capitalism. Implications are briefly addressed and recommendations provided.     

The changing role of education in the Iraqi disputed territories: assimilation,segregation and indoctrination

ABSTRACT

The oil-rich northern districts of Iraq were long considered a reflection of the country with a diversity of ethnic and religious groups: Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, Assyrians, and Yezidi, living together and portraying Iraq's demographic make-up. Yet the territory has suffered from heightening ethno-political influence and sectarianism throughout its recent history. The ethnic basis to territorial claims has amplified the discourse over linguistic presence, cultural representation and minority rights across the region and elevated debates over territorial representation to the height of ethnic survival issues. This paper will explore the changing face of education in the region over the last 12 years, highlighting the way in which education policy has reflected, and reacted to, national fragility and conflict.     

Using transformative models of adult literacy in conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes at community level: examples from Guinea,Sierra Leone and Sudan

This paper draws on the experience in Guinea, Sierra Leone and South Sudan, to explore how the methodology and modalities of community based participatory literacy can interrelate and combine with those of conflict resolution and peacebuilding. The paper considers how transformative models of literacy, such as those of Freire, REFLECT, the ActionAid literacy programme, and ‘New Literacy Studies’, along with the self‐expression and creative writing these generate, can contribute to the processes of forgiveness, reconciliation and reconstruction. It argues that adult literacy programmes constitute an important element in post‐conflict reconstruction.     

The role of International Non-Governmental Organisations in promoting adult education for social change: A research agenda

This paper explores the role of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) in adult education as one instrument of global civil society to effect social change. Postcolonial theory is utilized to explore the complex relationships between the concepts of ‘globalisation’, ‘global civil, society’, and ‘adult education for social change’. In seeking change for social justice postcolonial theory examines the construction of cultural discourse within the epistemologies of (neo-) colonial and decolonising contexts, as well as how such discourse helps to shape and change social realities and identities. We propose a postcolonial research agenda for studying the adult education role of INGOs.     

Developing agency through peacebuilding in the midst of intractable conflict: The case of Israel and Palestine

This paper discusses the presence of ‘peacebuilding islands’ within civil society as potential agents of transformation in the midst of intractable conflict. Focusing on the particular case of the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict, the argument stems from a deconstruction of the legacy of national myopia perpetuated through social and political institutions and the capacity of individuals to impact them. Inspired by feminist organisations and the personal experience of feminist peace activists in Israel and Palestine, the author discusses the intersection of a variety of peacebuilding and educational initiatives as paramount to the building of a culture of peace in the region. The study embraces strategies that challenge the structural, socio‐cultural and inter‐personal status quo as part of a multi‐layered effort at transforming conflict in the Middle East.     

高校的音乐教育在德育中的作用

高校在进行音乐教育的过程中,有机地将培养学生良好的道德品质、情感品质,增强学生的爱国主义情感、凝聚力和纪律观念结合在一起,让德育教育与音乐教育相互渗透,对促进高校大学生的综合素质提高有着不可或缺的作用。     

Transforming academia: The role of education

Scientific research is usually presented as the driver that provides progress and meaning to the academic ecosystem. Higher education on the other hand, is typically imagined as something that naturally follows scientific research. In the academic ecosystem, education often retains a more marginalized position than scientific research and in many of the predominant accounts of the academic ecosystem it is even neglected. As a result, higher education and teaching tends to be treated as duty work that retracts resources away from research. In response to such accounts the present article proposes an alternative perspective in which higher education can assume a proactive role that affects institutions’ research. The article presents a case that demonstrates how social scientists at the Technical University of Denmark, in response to new demands for autonomous economy within Danish universities, invented the controversial, yet successful, ‘Design and Innovation’ engineering program. Design and Innovation’s controversial curricular composition brought together: creativity, social awareness, and product innovation and heralded the salvation for the declining status of engineering in Danish higher education. The article contributes to contemporary discussions on transformations within the university system by illustrating educational development as a transformative practice whereby the value and purpose of scientific disciplines get rearticulated in conversation with contemporary understandings of social needs.     

Higher education as the catalyst of recovery in conflict-affected societies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of higher education in the recovery of conflict-affected societies and argues that while the sector is typically a very low reconstruction priority, it has the potential, if addressed strategically, to act as a catalyst for effective and sustainable post-war recovery. The article begins by contextualising higher education within broader debates around post-war recovery and education. It then analyses the relationship between higher education and four core intervention agendas in conflict-affected societies: stabilisation and securitisation, reconstruction, statebuilding and peacebuilding.