Examining youth agency in post-conflict, Sri-Lankan school settings

Abstract

The authors report on a youth agency study conducted in post-conflict school settings in Sri Lanka. In a three-month field-based, qualitative research study, youth collaborated with the first author to explain and expand on their interviews. Their candor and concern for ensuring that the researcher understood the rationales behind their actions helped to reveal the agentic nature of their responses to situations at school. In doing so they helped the researcher understand how they mitigated their exposure to violent practices that were prevalent in their school settings. The findings point to the importance of recognizing and supporting youth agency as a crucial lever in advancing inclusive education.

Keywords:

• Inclusive education
• children and youth
• violence
• agency
• post-conflict
• post-war
• school-student relationships
• student rights

Disclosure statement

The authors have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Notes

1 We use the term minoritized because it shows that while some groups are demographic minorities, they are further minoritized by hegemonic majority cultures.

2 The village of origin or resettlement often signifies caste status based on the types of employment they undertake. Poorly regarded villages include individuals who were resettled in these villages from different parts of the Island in the aftermath of war.

3 This school is situated in the closest city in the area where children of state agency officials and professionals attend. This school is well funded by parent groups and private donors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tamara Handy

Tamara Handy is a visiting lecturer at the university of Kelaniya, Department of Disability Studies, Faculty of Medicine, Sri Lanka. Her clinical and research specializations focus on Disability and Difference, Systems Change in Policy and Practice. Her scholarship and practice focus on processes and practices within and outside the school system which constricts access, acceptance, achievement, and opportunities for children and youth located in the margins of society due to race, poverty, gender and disability. Her overarching research agenda examines ways in which to establish inclusive educational systems in inequitable school settings.

Elizabeth B. Kozleski

Elizabeth Kozleski is a professor of research at Stanford University. Her scholarship engages in systems change and research on equity and justice issues in inclusive education in schools, school systems as well as state and national education organizations and agencies. Her research interests include the analysis of systems change in education, how teachers learn in practice in complex, diverse school settings, including how educational practices improve student learning.