Education and Instability: Avoiding the Policy-Practice Gap in an Emerging Field

Overview & Synopsis

The imperative to provide education for communities affected by man-made or natural disaster has been strongly articulated. Since the mid 1990s, a growing body of literature and research has emerged in the fledgling field of "education and instability"; however, there is still a pressing need for high-quality, applicable research. The article argues that a scholarly attention to the insights and questions of "education and instability" that privileges practitioner involvement may deepen and add rigour to existing insights. Such research may also raise questions and create critical discussion concerning assumptions about conflict, emergency, aid, policy, participation and service provision, and other issues in education and instability. A budding scholarly community at the University of Oxford is the Conflict and Education Research Group (CERG), comprising researchers who have practical experience of working with development agencies and in crisis situations. The group studies what role there might be for education, broadly defined, in promoting stability, peace and development. The article outlines the CERG's emerging research agenda along with its commitment to moving beyond the policy-practice divide to produce meaningful scholarly research with applicable findings and clear dissemination strategies. (Contains 5 notes.)