Education has the potential to be a transformative force – a sanctuary where learners develop not only knowledge but resilience, identity, and hope. Yet, this sanctuary is increasingly fragile.
The impacts are not evenly felt: girls, displaced learners, and LGBTQIA+ youth face the double jeopardy of disrupted education and heightened vulnerability. The question is not whether crises will continue to challenge education systems but how we, as practitioners, policymakers, and advocates, respond. This subtheme asks us to go beyond diagnosing problems and to lead on bold, actionable strategies that safeguard learners’ rights, safety, and wellbeing in a world fraught with uncertainty – whether that be from conflict, natural disaster and climate change, or from violence stemming from systemic inequality and oppression.
The safety and wellbeing of learners must move from being a peripheral concern to the very foundation of how we design, deliver, and protect education systems. This demands integrated approaches that embed safety and wellbeing across every layer of the socio-ecological model: individual, family, school, community, and society. From intersectoral coordination in humanitarian settings to training educators to address trauma and create inclusive environments, there is an increasingly urgent need to think expansively and act decisively.
This theme invites contributions that showcase holistic and sustainable approaches to creating safer education systems and settings. We are particularly interested in strategies that leverage local knowledge, lived experiences, and theoretical insights to challenge harmful social norms and foster systemic change. For instance, how might community-driven approaches address the safety of marginalised learners in fragile contexts; how can education systems better respond to the safety and wellbeing of learners with disabilities in under-resourced settings?
Submissions that employ inclusive and participatory research or innovative methodologies are especially welcome. These might tackle issues such as capturing nuanced local realities, addressing violence in and around schools to improve access and outcomes, or creating culturally relevant tools for measuring learner wellbeing.
We are keen to hear how education can disrupt cycles of harm, whether by integrating safety and wellbeing into policy reforms, supporting transitions between education levels, or strengthening intergenerational learning opportunities. Contributions may range from empirical research and theoretical explorations to practical lessons across diverse education contexts, from non-formal learning spaces to higher education and vocational training. Submissions are particularly welcomed from researchers and practitioners with lived experience of conflict, displacement, climate injustice and survivors of violence based on gender or other social inequality.
Questions for Exploration:
- How do crises—such as conflict, natural disasters, and systemic inequalities—disrupt education systems and compromise learner safety? What innovative, data-driven, or community-driven strategies can build resilience and ensure that learners and learning thrive in these challenging contexts?
- How can education systems integrate social-emotional learning, life skills, and wellbeing into curricula, policies, and classroom practice as essential components of learner safety and development?
- What role does education play in emergencies and humanitarian settings in supporting both learner and educator safety and wellbeing and how can intersectoral collaboration enhance these efforts?
- How can safeguarding strategies—including child and teacher safeguarding and responses to school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)—be holistically embedded across formal and informal education systems to address both immediate risks and long-term wellbeing?
- What role do families, communities, and societal factors play in shaping learner safety, and how can multilevel interventions address risk and protective factors across the socio-ecological model?
- What training approaches best equip educators to foster inclusive environments, address trauma, and support the safety, wellbeing, and inclusion of marginalised learners, including girls, displaced learners, and SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, and sex characteristics) youth?
Sub theme Convenors
 Danielle Cornish-Spencer – School to School |
 Juliet Millican – IDS |