Adult, Vocational and Community-based Learning

Learning for Informal Language Educators in Refugee Settings in Lebanon and Jordan. A pilot study.

This project investigates the role of informal language educators working in refugee settings in Lebanon and Jordan, and pilot ways of co-creating professional development with the language educators themselves, nurturing agency. It will support educators in examining and articulating their vision for refugee language education through providing connections and opportunities for discussion with refugees and those working with refugees in their own and other contexts, including host communities.

The language learning needs of refugees in Jordan and Lebanon are supported by teachers in formal, non-formal and informal settings. Teacher development can be lacking or inconsistent, particularly for teachers in informal contexts, even though informal education is key to education in emergency, when formal education is disrupted. These teachers are often working through initiatives run by local or international NGOs which are timebound and donor-dependent, and may be in a transitory position themselves, resulting in lack of continuity and shared learning, and in few opportunities to have a say in how they develop as teachers and achieve their aspirations or to contribute to longer-term planning.

This is a key challenge in refugee education and for education in contexts of emergency and crisis more widely.

This pilot will allow to:

(a) collect pilot data on the scope and nature of local challenges in Lebanon and Jordan;

(b) explore new ways of co-creating teacher professional development through participatory and decolonising approaches which strengthen educators’ agency and identity; and,

(c) establish relationships in Lebanon and Jordan that will help to ensure collaboration and co-creation of knowledge with Global South partners working in challenging contexts.

The project is funded internally within the University of Glasgow through the Glasgow Centre for International Developmentsmall grants scheme with £19,761 from January to June 2023.

The PI is Maria Grazia Imperiale and the Co-Is are Dr Giovanna Fassetta and Damian Ross.

CR&DALL Theme Tags:

Seeing Arts Health Research Enacted (SHARED): Understanding what works for whom in arts and humanities-based approaches for mental health and wellbeing across the globe.

This project funded by an AHRC Networking Grant from August 2022 to April 2023 will establish an international network of researchers, arts providers and health partners to explore:

which Arts and Humanities based approaches are working for whom (when, why and where)

and

what is evidenced best practice for embedding Arts and Humanities-based research in mental health and wellbeing provision in diverse socio-cultural contexts, nationally and globally.

With a specific focus on equality and inclusion, and the special part Arts and Humanities have to play in overcoming health inequities and exclusions globally, the network is motivated by a ‘trans-knowledging’ agenda. Research evidence shows that high income countries have valuable lessons to learn from low-income ones, especially in embracing pluralism in respect of approaches to mental health and wellbeing.

Three focused workshops - (i) strategic partnerships between Arts and Health providers (ii) inclusive practices in mental health care and (iii) alignment with existing community capacities - will bring together state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise with ongoing successful models of Arts and Humanities-based research in mental health from across the world.

Building on the exceptionally strong track record in two UK cities (Liverpool and Glasgow) of innovative collaboration between arts and health, as well as on the interdisciplinary research team's experience of working locally and (inter)nationally on Arts and Humanities research for mental health, the workshop series will emphasise co-creation with stakeholders of the means for embedding research-based change and promoting joined-up planning of arts in health care nationally and internationally.

The project will also create a digital anthology of best practices, including case studies of international models

The project has a number of partners:

Mishwar Amal (Scotland/Lebanon)
Wellbeing of the Woods (Glasgow, Scotland)
UNESCO RILA (University of Glasgow, Scotland)
Nawa for Culture and Arts Association (Palestine)
Sturzebecker Health Science Centre, integrating arts with mindfulness (USA)
Community-based Sociotherapy Adapted for Refugees (COSTAR) (Uganda and Rwanda).
NHS Mersey Care & Liverpool Philharmonic (Liverpool, UK)
Cinema, Memory and Wellbeing (UK/Brazil)
Reading in the Care Home (New Zealand)
Uganda Clinical Psychology Association (Uganda)

The Co-I within CR&DALL at the University of Glasgow is Dr Maria Grazia Imperiale and the PI at the University of Liverpool is Professor Josie Billington. The award for the project is £39,184.