A call for curriculum reform to combat refugees crisis: the case of Lebanon

ABSTRACT

The study was set to elicit teachers’ perceptions of adopting a new curriculum integrating Human Rights Education (HRE) into most school subjects and developing textbooks which could address the mainstreaming of the Syrian children into the Lebanese schools especially after the influx of more than 1.2 million Syrian refugees who migrated to Lebanon due to the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011. The present study employed a descriptive qualitative methodology design. Thus, the policy context and current HRE literature were assessed and reported along with the responses to a survey developed by BEMIS, a national body established in 2001 to promote and develop capacity and support inclusion and integration of ethnic minorities in Scotland. The BEMIS survey was conducted as a mapping exercise eliciting data required to help address the study questions. The study findings yielded recommendations that underscored the necessity of developing new curriculum and textbooks integrating HRE focused on accepting diversity, building peace culture, democracy and citizenship as well as utilizing the whole-school approach and the transformative model.

KEYWORDS:

• Curriculum reform
• Human Rights Education (HRE)
• transformative learning
• whole-school approach

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ghada Awada

Ghada Awada holds a Ph.D. with the highest distinction in Applied Linguistics and Education from University Rovira i Virgili – Tarragona, Spain and a Ph.D. in Public International Law and International Relations and Diplomacy with the highest distinction from Hautes Etudes Internationales ET Politiques-Paris with concentration in conflict resolution and crisis management. She is currently a Faculty and Consultant at the American University of Beirut. She is an expert in curriculum design and textbook writing. She also consulted as an expert in curriculum development, textbook writing, teacher education and development with institutions and schools in some Arab Middle Eastern countries. Dr Awada designed professional and Teaching Certification programs focusing on the use of ICT technologies, providing inclusive environments to all learners, English language teaching and instructional strategies and techniques.

Hassan Diab

Hassan B. Diab received his B.Sc. (with Honors) in Communications Engineering, M.Sc. (with Distinction) in Systems Engineering, and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering. He joined the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1985 and is a Professor of Computer Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture. He has over 140 publications in internationally refereed journals and conferences. His research interests include cryptography on high-performance computer systems, modeling and simulation of parallel processing systems, reconfigurable computing, and higher education reform. He supervised over 80 research projects and served as Associate Editor or member of Advisory/Editorial Board on five international journals. He was Founding Dean of the College of Engineering and Founding President during 2004–2006 at Dhofar University, Oman. Effective October 2006, he was appointed as Vice President (VP) at AUB. His active encouragement and innovative use of mobile technologies as well as integration of ICT in education during his term as Minister of Education and Higher Education (2011–2014) led to the Government of Lebanon to be the winner of the GSMA 2014 Connected Government Award for the first time. Since July 2013, he returned to his position as VP at AUB.

Kawthar Faour

Kawthar Faour, a post graduate human rights advocate and a researcher, is currently pursuing medical studies at the American University of Beirut.