Session Overview: Certification of Learning Achievements

Certification of learning achievements of refugee and displaced students: Success, Challenges and Recommendations

Global Consultation 2009, Istanbul

Tuesday 31 March 16:45-18:30, Concurrent Learning Session Block 2

Abstract

This learning session will bring together a committed group of professionals to build upon on-going work on certification issues for refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The session will explore in-country issues and experience of certification, with an emphasis on solutions and new initiatives that are arising.

The qualifications students gain from education programmes conducted in refugee or IDP camps are often not recognized by home or host ministries of education. The lack of clear policy guidance means that children are frequently open to arbitrary treatment or cannot move forward with their education. For refugee and IDP pupils and their parents, this is one of the most frequently expressed frustrations and a major obstacle to educational and economic advancement. Proper certification procedures would increase the economic and social contribution of IDPs, refugees and returnees to their respective communities.

For international agencies and donors, certification is a critical issue for programme quality, impact and sustainability. There is however a major gap in educational policy and practice. Until 2007, there were no publications on the issue of certification. Since then, a research partnership on education in conflict, emergencies and reconstruction has devoted energy to this issue. The University of Amsterdam, IRC, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNESCO IIEP, worked together to lay the research foundations, which were discussed in a seminar on the topic held at IIEP, Paris in January 2008. One of the results of this seminar is a book on certification which will be published in the near future. This was edited by Jackie Kirk, who was brutally murdered in Afghanistan in August this year and whose loss and dedication to this cause is deeply mourned. The learning session in Istanbul will examine new developments in this field since January 2008. It will lay plans for further action including advocacy on policy recommendations such as those outlined in UNESCO-IIEP’s policy brief on certification.

Session Objectives

• Objective 1: Develop policy dialogue around certification issues, building on current field experiences and exploring ways of meeting current challenges and opportunities.
• Objective 2: Build on the research partnership mentioned above to identify specific actions and advocacy needed to operationalize the policy recommendations resulting from the research.
• Objective 3: To identify and encourage networks of people and organizations working on, and interested in, promoting the certification of learning achievements.

Expected Outcomes

• Outcome 1: Increased understanding of current challenges and opportunities in the field.
• Outcome 2: Identified specific interventions, strategies and methodologies that are needed to operationalize the recommendations arising from Certification counts: recognizing the learning attainments of displaced and refugee students’ by Jackie Kirk and the Research Partnership.
• Outcome 3: Decision and plan made to seek funding for further work, as identified in Outcome 2

Panel

Chair: Chris Talbot, UNESCO

Presenters

• Barry Sesnan, Echo Bravo
• Andrea Berther, UNICEF
• Su-Ann Oh, Zoa Refugee Care
• Lyndsay Bird, UNESCO - IIEP

For further information on this session please contact the Session Coordinator Chris Talbot at c.talbot@unesco.org.

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