Designing a Teacher Professional Development Programme for Peacebuilding in Three Southern Border Provinces as a Conflict-affected Area: The Study and a Researcher’s Second-order Reflexivity
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Abstract
This research study aims to: 1) design a teacher professional development programme (TPD) for peacebuilding in the three conflict-affected southern border provinces; 2) study the effects of its implementation on knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding teaching peacebuilding of a target group; and 3) have second-order reflexivity on the designed TPD and its implementation. The research study has two phases: first for the first and second research aims (2016 – 2017); and second for the third aim (2020 - 2021).
Phase one draws on the seven recommendations for TPD in fragile contexts (Burns & Lawire, 2015). The findings show that a designed TPD consists of six modules and the target group’s knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding teaching peacebuilding after joining the TPD were significantly higher than those before joining at the .05 level.
Phase two draws on second-order reflexivity. It found that understanding socio-cultural contexts plays a role in designing a TPD for peacebuilding. Spending adequate time in the field to build positive rapport is thus needed for data collection so that the data truly reflects a phenomenon studied. Moreover, TPD activities should have an effective monitoring system and be assessed through teachers’ and students’ outcomes to prove their effectiveness and efficiency. Finally, concepts and theories of peace widely used in peace education research could reproduce structural violence, especially cultural, in three southern border provinces. Arguably, without a proper understanding of the nexus between education, conflict and peacebuilding, TPD activities for peacebuilding in the region would seem fuelling the conditions of the conflict instead of promoting peace. That is, their success in peacebuilding may be illusory, or, if it is true, unsustainable.
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