The main focus this week has been to consider to what extent teachers are in a position to develop and promote an understanding of life with dignity and a hope for a better future, even when they and their students are in challenging settings.

We have used the theory of an educational ecosystem to help us think about where we are in this system, and how we can work across the different systems to support our students.

We have also looked at the very different roles that education can have as victim, perpetrator, liberator, and peacemaker, and how the teacher might operate within each of these types of education.

We talked about the roles that teachers play, which are critical for how their students experience the effects of conflict and disruption. We also looked at the classroom practices that enable teachers to hear and understand the students’ perspectives, and use activities to help them.

Now we have a chance to reflect on what can be done. The Educators will post their reflections on the week by Saturday.

Over to you

Do you have a sense of your role as a teacher, as a professional who has a responsibility, and some capability, to make life better for your students?

Please post any general questions you have for the educators in the forum, and ‘like’ any others that you would like to see answered. Then we can prioritise how we address them.

• What are your reflections on the learning you have been through this week? Have you been able to interpret your own teaching context in terms of the way that education, conflict and peace are interrelated in the VPLP framework? And what about the Ecological Systems Theory - can you make sense of it in your context?

• In what ways do these concepts and theories help you understand what children bring to the classroom and how you can help them?

• Please post your thoughts, and also take the time to read through and react to what others have said. We will take into account what you say in these conversations as we revise and develop the course for this and future runs.

© UCL and the Inclusive Education Foundation (CoMOOCs Team), CC BY 4.0