Education and Conflict Review

Education and Conflict Review (ECR) is a peer-reviewed journal hosted by the Centre for Education and International Development (CEID) at IOE.

'Tahriib’ – Doonidii geerida (Tahriib – the death boat) by Nagib Carab Ibrahim ‘Hanad Arts’. Courtesy of the Hargeisa Cultural Centre — 'Tahriib’ – Doonidii geerida by Nagib Carab Ibrahim ‘‘Hanad Arts’. Image courtesy of the Hargeisa Cultural Centre.

Education and Conflict Review (ECR) focuses on debates about education, conflict and international development and aims to provide succinct analyses of social, political, economic and security dimensions in conflict-affected and humanitarian situations. ECR provides a forum for knowledge exchange to build synergies between academics, practitioners and graduate students who are researching and working on educational issues in these environments.

Unlike conventional academic papers, the ECR provides a space for short original contributions (3500-4000 words including references) that draw upon empirical work or present thought-provoking theoretical arguments in the subfield of education and conflict.

Call for papers

Special issue on rigorous reviews on promising policies, programmes and practices in education in conflict-affected and protracted crisis situations

There is a chronic lack of research on how children in conflict-affected contexts and protracted crisis situations learn and develop, and the kinds of policies, programmes and practices that are effective in improving holistic learning outcomes (e.g. academic learning outcomes, socio-emotional learning and mental and physical wellbeing (Masten & Narayan, 2012; UNESCO, 2015; Burde et al., 2023). Practical, methodological and ethical challenges in conducting research in these contexts make it difficult to generate rigorous evidence (Puri et al, 2017). However, in recent years, a growing body of research has emerged in the field (Burde et al, 2023), but the evidence is fragmented and siloed by disciplines, which makes it difficult to assess progress or take stock of what we know. Consequently, policy makers, national education authorities and development partners struggle to make informed decisions about what programmes to be prioritised; how to coordinate development and humanitarian response in the education sector; and most importantly, about where and how to allocate limited funding and resources in the sector to maximise the benefits for learners and educational communities in these challenging environments.

Based on what is generally reported, low education outcomes are often explained in terms of a lack of cost-effective technical solutions, so the key to solving them is typically seen in terms of developing solutions. This approach insufficiently considers the political economy dynamics, deeply rooted structural inequalities and incoherence in education system operations, often hindering proper implementation of available solutions. Local stakeholders and evidence users typically learn about research studies at the dissemination stage. The majority of research in conflict-affected settings are needs assessments. A greater variety of evidence, particularly around implementation, impact and cost-effectiveness of the solutions is needed to inform policy and practice.

This special issue will bring together rigorous evidence reviews, focusing on a broad range of educational research in conflict and protracted crisis settings. The papers will focus on, but not limited to implementation and effectiveness research in the following areas:

Including refugees in the national education systems,
Teacher wellbeing, professional development & accreditation,
Improving foundational learning outcomes for children in education in conflict and crisis settings,
Socioemotional learning, mental health and wellbeing,
Education for equity, peace and social cohesion,
Addressing the educational needs of most marginalised children in conflict and crisis settings, such as girls and children with disabilities,
System preparedness and ensuring continuity of education at times of natural disasters and pandemics,
Financing education in contexts of mass displacement.

Submission Guidelines

Interested author(s) should submit a proposal for their paper (500 words max) to: educationandconflictreview@gmail.com

Submission deadline for proposals: 5 February 2025
Decisions on proposals: 20 February 2025
Full paper length: 3500-4000 words (including a 150-word abstract and references)
Submission deadline for full papers: 30 April 2025
Citation: The Harvard Referencing Style

Papers must not have been published or be under review in any other journal.