1. Quality Education for Refugees in Kenya
Photo Credit: Students at Fuji Primary School, Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya
Presentation Breakdown:
Intro and Situating the Study (Mary M, 5 min)
Conceptualizing the problem (Lesley, 5 min)
Highlighting the methods and school sites (Daniel, 5-7 min)
Presenting the findings (Part 1: Loise, minutes)
Presenting the findings (Part 2: Rosemary, min)
Presenting the findings (Par 3: Caroline, min)
Examining implications and conclusions (Sarah, 5 min)  
Loise Gichuhi, Daniel Gakunga, Rosemary Imonje, Caroline Ndirangu
Lesley Bartlett, Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Mary Mendenhall
CIES 2014 |Toronto, Canada | Wednesday, March 12, 2014

2. Today’s Panel Introducing the team Situating the study
Conceptualizing the problem
Highlighting the methods and school sites
Presenting the findings
Examining implications and conclusions
Opening up the discussion
[MARY]
TALKING POINTS:
Review the outline and plans for the panel
Quickly explain larger IRC-University of Nairobi partnership

3. Introducing the Team & Situating the Study
[MARY]
Mary Mendenhall, Ed.D.
Teachers College, Columbia University

4. Introducing the Team University of Nairobi Faculty: Daniel Gakunga
Loise Gichuhi
Rosemary Imonje
Caroline Ndirangu
Grace Nyagah
Ursulla Okoth
With support from:
Lesley Bartlett: Teachers College, Columbia University
Sarah Dryden-Peterson: Harvard Graduate School of Education
Mary Mendenhall: International Rescue Committee and Teachers College, Columbia University
Mary Tangelder: International Rescue Committee
[MARY]
Confirm faculty titles for UoN for introductions

5. Introducing the Team (cont)
Research Interns
Madeeha Ansari, Tufts
Josie Bergin, TC
Elaine Christian, TC
Amy Descovich, UPENN
Nyoka Joseph, TC
Astrid Lassila-Smith, TC
Michelle Zhang, Harvard
Shyla Dogan, TC
Amanda Lalley, UPENN
Anna Spector, TC
Sheri Money, TC
Emily Durkin, Columbia SIPA
MacKenzie Lawrence, TC
Jessica Kovarik, U of Denver
Laura Humphrey, UPENN
Brittney Wilcox, TC
Jihae Cha, TC
Natasha Mansur, TC
Meredith Saucier, TC
Kathleen Denny, TC
[MARY]

6. Situating the Study: Refugees in Kenya
Nairobi, Kenya
Kakuma Refugee Camp, Turkana County, Kenya
[MARY]
TALKING POINTS:
Kenya hosts one of the largest populations of refugees in the world.
As of January 2014, Kenya hosted more than 649,070 registered refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Eritrea, Burundi, and Uganda (UNHCR, 2013: 64).
The majority of these refugees are housed in Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, established in 1991 and 1992, respectively. Currently, there are more than 463,000 refugees in Dadaab and more than 100,000 in Kakuma. In addition, an estimated 55,000 refugees and asylum seekers live in urban areas of the country.
The number of refugees continues to be dynamic
Between January and August 2012, UNHCR registered 5,700 new refugees from Somalia and 13,000 new refugees from South Sudan.
There has been a resurgence of Sudanese refugees since the outbreak of conflict there.

7. Situating the Study: Policy Context
2010 Kenyan Constitution: right of all children born and residing in Kenya to education
Education Bill of 2012: right of a child to access basic education
Refugee policy: Shifting support for refugees
Educational access: Camps vs urban locations
[MARY]
TALKING POINTS
The 2010 Kenyan Constitution safeguards the right of all children born and residing in Kenya to education. The new Education Bill of 2012, signed into law in January 2013, provides for the right of a child to access basic education, which is defined to include pre-school, primary and secondary education.
The Kenyan government’s refugee policy has also evolved over time. While the Kenyan government has been historically a relatively hospitable host to refugees coming into the country, recent violence in Kenya attributed to the group Al-Shabaab has made the Kenyan government to call for the refugee camps to be closed down and for urban refugees to be returned to their countries of origin, despite international humanitarian law preventing these actions.  
In camp-based and urban locations in Kenya, access to education for refugees is a persistent concern, especially among female children, youth, and adults. In urban areas, some children attend Kenyan public schools, while others attend schools set up by refugee communities. UNHCR reported that 90 percent of primary school aged children in Nairobi were enrolled in school in In Kakuma, children also access education in different sites. There are 14 primary schools funded by UNHCR and one community-based school. In these schools, the 2012 Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) was 45 percent. In addition, according to the local district education office in Kakuma, over 2,000 refugee children were enrolled in the local nearby public schools in Turkana District in May 2012.

8. Conceptualizing the Problem: Quality and Pedagogy
[LESLEY]
Lesley Bartlett, Ph.D.
Teachers College, Columbia University

9. Quality and Pedagogy Notable shift: “access to quality education”
Lack of attention to teaching and learning experiences of refugees
Focus on teacher instruction
[LESLEY]
TALKING POINTS
Education Strategy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) prioritizes “access to quality education”
While the current low quality of refugee education has been well-documented (Anastacio, 2011; Dryden-Peterson, 2011b), to our knowledge, the teaching and learning experiences of refugees have not been explored through a lens of quality.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK for our work draws on two major concepts: QUALITY and EFFECTIVE PEDAGOGY

10. Quality Education Shift from inputs to outputs ignores the processes
UNHCR’s Education Strategy
quality = outcomes of what children will know and be able to do
“rigorous and relevant curriculum” with “hard” academic skills and “soft” skills for human rights and citizenship in “child-friendly learning environment”
[LESLEY]
TALKING POINTS
UNHCR’s Education Strategy--vision of quality centered on outcomes of what children will know and be able to do. For example, one of the central goals is development of “foundational skills in literacy and numeracy, which are the basis of lifelong learning that enable children, youth, and adults to build their knowledge, skills, and competencies continually in order to survive and thrive in their home and work lives” (UNHCR, 2012, p. 11)
The UNHCR Education Strategy identifies certain key elements of processes of teaching and learning. For example, it emphasizes “[r]igorous  and relevant curriculum that includes both ‘hard’ skills related to academic disciplines as well as ‘soft’ skills for peaceful living, human rights, and citizenship” and a “child-friendly learning environment that promotes inclusive education, along with the well- being of children, teachers and education personnel” (UNHCR, 2012, p. 11).”

11. Quality Education (cont)
INEE Minimum Standards for Education
a safe and inclusive learner friendly environment;
competent and well-trained teachers who are knowledgeable in the subject matter and pedagogy;
an appropriate context-specific curriculum that is comprehensible and culturally, linguistically and socially relevant for the learners;
adequate and relevant materials for teaching and learning;
participatory methods of instruction and learning processes that respect the dignity of the learner;
appropriate class sizes and teacher-pupil ratios; and
an emphasis on recreation, play, sport and creative activities in addition to areas such as literacy, numeracy and life skills (INEE, 2010, p. 122).
[LESLEY]
TALKING POINTS
INEE Minimum Standards of Education
1) a safe and inclusive learner friendly environment;
2) competent and well-trained teachers who are knowledgeable in the subject matter and pedagogy;
3) an appropriate context-specific curriculum that is comprehensible and culturally, linguistically and socially relevant for the learners;
4) adequate and relevant materials for teaching and learning;
5) participatory methods of instruction and learning processes that respect the dignity of the learner;
6) appropriate class sizes and teacher-pupil ratios; and
7) an emphasis on recreation, play, sport and creative activities in addition to areas such as literacy, numeracy and life skills (INEE, 2010, p. 122).
Despite clear aspirations for quality, the limited data available point to a lack of learning in refugee settings. There is a clear need to understand the dimensions of quality in settings of refugee education and to identify mechanisms by which quality might be improved. One central dimension of quality highlighted by both INEE and UNHCR, and well established in the international literature, is teacher quality.
In this paper, we focus on instruction as a central component of the processes involved in quality education.

12. Learner-Centered Pedagogy
Learning as active process of inquiry
Students and teachers as learners capable of constructing knowledge
Teachers as facilitators creating conditions for students to ‘learn to learn’ and to develop critical, analytical skills
[LESLEY]
TALKING POINTS
Teaching practice tends to fall along a continuum that ranges from more teacher-centered to more learner-centered instruction. While teacher- and learner-centered approaches are often used categorically, it is more accurate to pose them as the extremes of a continuum that teachers move across with greater or lesser ease depending on their education, training, and experience, and depending upon the learning task at hand (Barrett & Tikly, 2010; Schweisfurth, 2013).
Teacher-centered strategies, such as direct instruction, are important educational tools. They primarily serve to transfer information through lecture format. However, lecture methods have been criticized for not providing active engagement for pupils (Schweisfurth 2013).
What is LCP?
Learning as active process of inquiry
Students and teachers as learners capable of constructing knowledge
Teachers as facilitators creating conditions for students to ‘learn to learn’ and to develop critical, analytical skills (reference Schweisfurth 2013; Vavrus and Bartlett 2013)
4 major challenges to LCP:
nature and expectations of reform, particularly the timing granted the expected change.
material and human resources
lack of alignment across pedagogical preparation, curricula, and examination and inspection systems.
teachers’ instructional practices are clearly constrained by cultural, social and material conditions; contingent pedagogy

13. Guiding Research Question
In what ways are primary schools in Kakuma and Nairobi developing and offering quality education for refugee populations, and what are the challenges they face in meeting that goal?
[LESLEY]

14. Methods and School Sites
[DANIEL]
Daniel Gakunga, Ph.D.
University of Nairobi

15. Research Design: Comparative Case Study
In what ways are primary schools in Kakuma and Nairobi developing and offering quality education for refugee populations, and what are the challenges they face in meeting that goal?
Document Analysis
53 Classroom Observations
16 Key Informant Interviews
63 Interviews with Teachers, 57 with Pupils
School Questionnaire
[DANIEL]
TALKING POINTS
Four primary schools in both sites: one community-based school in each site. 8 schools total.
Strategies for data collection (May-October 2013)
Key informant interviews in Nairobi (n=7) and in Kakuma (n=9) with staff members of UNHCR, NGO partners, and Ministry of Education officials at the district level.
Document analysis
Structured classroom observations (n=53) of the upper primary classes (Classes 5 through 8), with a focus on teacher instruction, pupil engagement, and classroom discourse.
Semi-structured interviews with teachers (n=63) at the focal schools
Semi-structured interviews with pupils (n=57) at the focal schools.
Analysis: Indexing; emic and etic codes

16. School Sites in Kenya Nairobi Kakuma Refugee Camp Mwiki Primary School
New Eastleigh Primary School
New Kihumbuini Primary School
Sud Academy
Angelina Jolie Primary (Boarding) School
Fuji Primary School
Lokitaung Primary School
Kismayo Community School
[DANIEL]
TALKING POINTS
Introduce the schools in each site

17. Case Study School Demographics
# of Pupils
% refugee pupils
Average class size, observed
# of teachers
% refugee teachers
Overall pupil-teacher ratio
Mean KCPE score
NAIROBI
New Eastleigh
782 85 45 30 26
240.51
New Kihumbuini
1801 3
n.d. 34 53
227.9
Mwiki
2550 6 84 62 41
237.8
Sud
155 66 12 14 29 11
257
KAKUMA
Angelina Jolie
247 89 64 18
283.8
Fuji
2488 99
96.6 23 83
108
220
Kismayo
359
100
40.8 33 20
252.98
Lokitaung
1735 19 79 91
270.9
[DANIEL]
TALKING POINTS
Refer audience to full handout (from article) and add pertinent details (e.g. type of schools, country of origin for refugee students, etc.)
(Select Data Only, See Handout)

18. Loise Gichuhi, Ph.D. | Rosemary Imonje, Ph.D.
Study Findings
[LOISE]
Loise Gichuhi, Ph.D. | Rosemary Imonje, Ph.D.
University of Nairobi

19. Centrality of lecture in lesson presentation
Lecture mixed with factual comprehension questions
[LOISE]
TALKING POINTS
Overall, lecture was the primary mode of instruction in the classes we observed across the eight case study schools. Of the 53 classes observed at these schools, 46 featured lecture quite centrally.
In a few instances, the vast majority of the class time was consumed by teacher talk.
For example, at Kismayo, the teacher for the Class 6 Social Studies class began the lesson by reviewing the previous lesson, but he did not involve the learners.
The teacher then introduced the new lesson, which entailed the African response to colonial rule, particularly in Uganda and Tanzania.
The teacher relied on the textbook to read a story about Kabaka Wanga verbatim to the pupils for the majority of the time.
The pupils listened attentively and followed the story in their textbooks; however, with a ratio of 1 book to 10 pupils, very few were able to follow along.
After the story of Kabaka, he introduced the Hehe rebellion in Tanzania between
He continued to read from the textbook about the Hehe community in Tanzania.
In classes such as this one, the teachers controlled the flow of discourse during the entire class.
The lecture method was particularly prominent among social studies teachers.
However, across our observations, it was more likely that a teacher would primarily lecture, but intersperse the lecture with factual comprehension questions for pupils that required them to repeat what the teacher had said.

20. Teachers relied on factual questions to check literal comprehension
Strong emphasis on definitions and the memorization of facts
Examples:
What is trade?
We have two forms of trade, which ones are they?
[LOISE]
TALKING POINTS
The majority of the teachers we observed relied extensively on factual questions, posed to check literal comprehension.
Even when lessons were highly interactive, the focus was on “correct” answers.
The questions we heard during observations were primarily closed, with one correct answer presumed, and sought, by the teacher.
At New Eastleigh, in all four lessons observed, teachers used this type of question.
For example, a Class 6 teacher asked in a Social Studies lesson: “What is trade?,” to which the pupils repeated, chorally, the pre-defined term.
The teacher also asked: “Who can tell me? We have two forms of trade, which ones are they?” The only accepted answers in this case were “domestic” and “international.”
In a Class 7 Science class, the teacher asked, “Who has an idea about friction?” This question seemed to be more open, but was in fact intended to elicit a specific definition of friction, which was the only accepted response.
Across the school sites, there was a strong emphasis on definitions and the memorization of facts in the classes we observed.

21. Lecture and Comprehension: Rising Intonation
Teacher: So today I want to talk about mineral? Students: Salts. Teacher: We have said that mineral salts are present in many types of food. There are many types of food that contain mineral? Teacher: …and mineral salts are present in small quantities. They do not provide energy. So examples of minerals that are needed by our bodies include calcium, phosphorous, and iron. Our bodies require different types of minerals. Our body requires what? Students: Iron and phosphorous.
[LOISE]
TALKING POINTS
During lessons observed, the majority of the teachers used rising intonation that required pupils to provide, in choral response, the correct answer, often in the form of completing the teacher’s sentence.
[Read slide, mimicking rising intonation]
[Transition to Daniel for next slide]

22. Deficit of pupil-initiated questions
Out of 53 lessons observed, in only 17 did pupils ask any questions.
In only 6 of these 17 situations was more than one question posed.
The questions posed by pupils were factual or definitional.
[ROSEMARY]
TALKING POINTS
Pupil-initiated questions were rare in the classrooms of the case study schools.
Out of 53 lessons observed, in only 17 did pupils ask any questions at all; and in only 6 of these 17 situations was more than one question posed.
The questions posed by pupils were factual or definitional in nature.
For example, a Class 5 Social Studies lesson at Fuji in Kakuma, focused on methods of preserving fish.
Two male pupils asked questions. One boy asked what the teacher meant by the term canning and another boy asked, “What is salting?”

23. Absence of conceptual learning
Scarcity of open-ended, inferential questions among teachers
[ROSEMARY]
TALKING POINTS
Opportunities for refugee pupils to engage in conceptual learning were extremely limited, regardless of teacher training credentials in the classes observed and the type of school setting.
For example, among the 10 lessons observed at Mwiki in Nairobi, only one moment featured what might be considered more conceptual understanding.
Despite asking primarily factual questions, the CRE teacher in Class 7 also asked an open-ended question that encouraged pupils to think about the difference between talent and ability.
The teacher and the pupils engaged in dialogue about how some pupils have stronger ability in English while others may be more proficient in math.
Reference photo: With smaller classes and better resources, the teachers at Angelina Jolie in Kakuma allowed more discursive interaction but rarely promoted conceptual thinking.
One indication of this lacuna of conceptual learning was the relative scarcity of open-ended, inferential questions among teachers.

24. Factors Affecting Instruction
Caroline Ndirangu, Ph.D.
University of Nairobi

25. Limited Resources Low funding Overcrowding
Dearth of teaching and learning materials
[CAROLINE]
TALKING POINTS
Funding was a persistent concern across the focal schools.
The three government schools in Nairobi received the normal resources of any government school, without supplemental funding for refugees.
Some refugees received support from NGOs working in partnership with UNHCR for their uniforms, but this assistance was to individual refugees, not to their schools.
The three government schools in Kakuma were jointly funded by the Kenyan government and UNHCR.
Lokitaung and Fuji were severely overcrowded, with average class size in the upper classes observed at approximately 100.
They lacked sufficient seating or textbooks, with four or five pupils frequently sharing a desk and a book.  
The two community-based schools – Kismayo in Kakuma and Sud Academy in Nairobi – faced even graver monetary constraints.
All financial support for these schools, including teacher compensation, was generated by the refugee community.
As a result of precarious funding, the schools faced a dearth of teaching and learning materials.
In the two largest camp-based schools, textbooks were a serious problem.
At Fuji, Class 5 and Class 6 pupils had to rotate sets of books among streams of pupils.
As a result, in two of the classes we observed, no pupil had a text. In other classes observed at Fuji, the textbook to pupil ratio ranged from 1:3 to 1:7.
Similarly, at Kismayo, two classes were observed to have no textbooks, and in the others the ratio ranged from 1:3 to 1:10.
In the Nairobi schools, textbooks were more prevalent, with a 1:3, 1:4, or 1:5 ratio.
There was one exception to the dire funding situation: Angelina Jolie in Kakuma had significantly more resources than the other schools. They had no overcrowding and sufficient textbooks. In the photo at the left, you can see the Angelina Jolie library—the only school to have one. Nonetheless, the physical infrastructure even at Jolie was compromised, as shown by the photo of the teachers’ latrines at the right.
The lack of adequate teaching and learning materials was remarked upon in the majority of interviews conducted with teachers and pupils alike. Overcrowded classrooms and the absence of teaching and learning materials virtually required extensive reliance on lecture methods, affecting educational quality.

26. Lack of pedagogical training and content knowledge
Public schools in Nairobi = highest levels of trained teachers
Camp-based schools = refugee teachers, no training or 6-month, part time diploma program
Scarce in-service professional development
No training in how to support second or third language acquisition
[CAROLINE]
TALKING POINTS
Another factor that significantly affected educational quality was the low level of pedagogical training for the majority of the teachers.
In Kenya, teacher training currently consists of three principle pathways: two-year certificate courses offered by teacher training colleges; three-year diploma programs offered by teacher training colleges; and four-year degree programs offered by universities.
To teach at the primary education level, teachers must have completed secondary school and scored a grade C and above on the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education (KCSE).
The minimum primary teaching certification, a P1 certificate, is achieved after two years of study in a teacher training college.
The public schools in Nairobi, where all of the teachers were Kenyan nationals who were employed by the government, featured the highest levels of trained teachers.
Of the four schools in Nairobi, three boasted a majority of teachers with either a certificate, diploma, or degree.
In contrast, at the community-based Sud Academy in Nairobi, 12 of 14 teachers had no training.
While some teachers in Kakuma were Kenyan nationals and trained within the national system, the practice was to rely on refugee teachers. Teacher training opportunities for refugee teachers are more limited in terms of options, duration, and quality.
The most robust teacher training opportunity to date has been offered through a collaboration between Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST).
Through this collaboration, refugee teachers and a handful of national teachers working in Kakuma pursued a 6-month diploma program, focused on pedagogy.
Teachers taught in the morning at the camp-based primary schools and then attended teacher training classes in the afternoon.
This 6-month diploma was the most common form of training for teachers in the large public schools in Kakuma.
At Fuji, of the 16 teachers for whom we have data, 3 had a P1 and 8 had only a 6-month diploma; at Lokitaung, of the 18 teachers for whom we have data, 3 had a P1 and 11 had a 6-month diploma.
Even at the better-funded Angelina Jolie, of 11 teachers for whom we have data, 5 held a P1 and 6 had no certification.
In contrast, at Kismayo, the private community-based school in the camp, 8 teachers held a P1, 5 had taken a short course, and only 3 had no training.
While holding a P1 or a diploma does not guarantee that a teacher’s preparation was solid and informative, it is reasonable to assume that those with some training would be more successful educators than those with none.
Notably, despite the linguistic heterogeneity in their classrooms, the teachers we interviewed had no training in how to support second or third language acquisition.

27. Curriculum Adaptation to needs of refugees
Relevance of Kenyan curriculum
[CAROLINE]
TALKING POINTS
All of the eight case study schools followed the Kenyan curriculum.
As recommended by the UNHCR Global Education Strategy, this decision provided for greater integration, the certification of learning (in the form of a Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), and the opportunity to learn English, which pupils overwhelmingly described as a key asset to securing productive future livelihoods.
More salient to the teachers and pupils in the case study schools, however, were the challenges of using the Kenyan curriculum.
The national origin of teachers and their lack of training in the Kenyan curriculum; certain subject areas, foreign to refugee pupils; and relevance of Kenyan content to refugee lives.
Adaptation: Given how tightly tied the KCPE exam is to the curriculum, teachers were unable to adapt the curriculum to the specific school contexts or the pupils. For example, Kiswahili was required of everyone, even the older students who started school overage, were struggling to learn English, and did not intend to settle in Kenya. A second example: though the national exams allow students to test in Christian Religious Education, Islamic Religious Education, or Hindu Religious education, in practice schools selected just one of these areas for instruction. At Angelina Jolie, where the majority of pupils were Christian, CRE was taught. This curriculum choice marginalized those pupils in the religious minority, including on their exams.
Relevance: The Kenyan curriculum lacked relevance to the lived experience of many of the refugee pupils, which pupils described as playing a role in their lack of understanding of various concepts. For example, one lesson at Fuji was on the topic of the preservation of fish, and yet this school was located in a desert context. As described above, a lesson on industry in Eastern Africa made no mention of local industries or work conditions, or the fact that refugees were not allowed to work. At Fuji, one female pupil explained that she did not like Social Studies because she did not know enough about Kenya to understand the lesson.

28. Language policy Kiswahili and English simultaneously
Nairobi schools: Kenyan teachers; tuition
Camp schools: teachers with varying competence in Swahili and English
Lack of textbooks
[CAROLINE]
TALKING POINTS
Most refugee pupils arrived at their schools with little to no knowledge of either Kiswahili or English.
Nonetheless, they were required to begin instruction in both languages immediately upon enrolling and they were expected to demonstrate, simultaneously, high levels of competence in two languages whose grammatical structures and vocabularies differ radically from each other and from many of the home languages of refugees.
The urban classes in this study were taught by certified Kenyan teachers with demonstrated competence in English and Kiswahili.
However, the camp schools largely relied on refugee teachers; they spoke many languages, but they taught exclusively in English, in which they demonstrated varying levels of competence. In many camp schools, the school heads endeavored to employ Kenyan teachers who spoke fluent Kiswahili in primary schools. However, this was not always feasible.
In the camp-based schools, there was no formal language education effort. Representatives of two schools reported that pupils who did not speak English or Kiswahili were punished. Instead, to learn these languages, pupils reported that they relied on the good will and patience of teachers.
In contrast, the urban schools where refugees studied alongside Kenyan pupils had implemented remedial teaching, better known as “tuition,” for a fee. Such teaching was done after school or during lunch breaks. In Kenya, tuition is illegal. Notably, in trying to develop strategies to meet the language learning needs of refugees, the teachers were engaging in illegal tuition that further exacerbated inequalities among refugees who could and could not afford the classes.
The medium of instruction policy, combined with the lack of material resources (including textbooks and exercise books), prejudiced the language learning efforts of pupils because pupils spent remarkably little time reading and writing. For example, in only 2 of the 10 lessons observed at Fuji did pupils read.

29. Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Ed.D.
Implications
[SARAH]
Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Ed.D.

30. Implications Instructional approach—poor quality
Need to increase availability and quality of teacher professional development
Deeper content knowledge
Language policy and pedagogy
Adapt curriculum for greater relevance
[SARAH]
TALKING POINTS
The instructional approach documented across the schools represented poor educational quality. Without instructional approaches that promote conceptual learning, it is unlikely that education will be the “hope for the future” that refugee families anticipate (Winthrop & Kirk, 2011); meet the poverty alleviation goals of the education MDGs
(United Nations, 2009); “contribute directly to the social, economic, and political stability of societies” that INEE advocates (INEE, 2010, p. 3); or develop the “transferrable knowledge, skills, and capacities” that enable “refugees to live healthy productive lives and build skills of self-reliance” as UNHCR aspires (UNHCR, 2012, p. 3).
Our findings suggest a clear need to focus on increasing the availability and quality of teacher professional development. Teachers must develop comfort and facility with a wide variety of teacher- and learner-centered pedagogical approaches and they should learn specific questioning strategies that promote conceptual learning among students. It is also important for teachers, especially refugee teachers in Kakuma, to deepen their content knowledge related to the Kenyan curriculum. Critical in both Nairobi and Kakuma is professional development for teachers to learn to meet the specific needs of refugee pupils, particularly related to acquisition of academic language and content knowledge. The immense challenges posed by language policy to quality education deserve deeper consideration: while instruction in KiSwahili may help to meet the goal of integrating refugees in Kenya, it is unrealistic to expect refugee pupils to learn both academic English and KiSwahili simultaneously and with so little language support. Finally, teachers must also learn when and how to adapt the curriculum to make it more relevant to the needs of refugee pupils.
With few resources, lack of access to teacher training, and policies that impede the contextualization of education for refugee populations, teacher instruction at schools serving refugees in Kenya remains focused on lecture, providing few opportunities for conceptual learning. Hanging in the balance are not only the present experiences of refugee pupils but also their future prospects as well as those of their communities, in particular the reconstruction of the conflict-affected societies of their origins.

31. Discussion
[SARAH]