About Us
Our mission
To ensure that children and adults on the move have access to a good education,
by promoting collaboration and providing support and expertise to local organisations, teachers, and volunteers.
Our values
Collaboration
Bringing communities together to harness the skills and talents of all.
Empowerment
Enabling lasting change by releasing human potential.
Integrity
Always acting responsibly.
Our programmes
Our story
Beginnings
RefugeeEd began after our founder, primary school teacher Helen Brannigan spent time in Greece working with refugee education organisations. She discovered that there was a consistent need among the numerous local education organisations for expert-led support, and collaboration between organisations to share knowledge.
Since 2018, we have provided this support to organisations through:
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Our Organisational Capacity Building programme, where we match skilled teachers and trainers with organsitaions to deliver training and mentoring.
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Sharing our free online resources with those teaching people on the move. These are all specially designed by qualified teachers who have spent time working with people on the move.
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Matching organsiations with volunteer teachers, to deliver classes directly to children and adults on the move.
As the needs of our partners change, so do we...
Knowledge sharing sessions
From 2020 to 2021, we led Educators’ Meetups and Educators’ Cafes with organisations from northern Greece and Athens. In these, we facilitated discussions between teachers from multiple organisations, to share knowledge and ideas across the field around key education topics. We also tied these into our lockdown webinar series, allowing practitioners the space to explore topics covered in more depth. Since then, we have happily stepped back to allow the groups to continue running themselves.
Lockdown and online support
Over lockdown, we quickly pivoted to provide all of our support online, which meant we could support a wider range of educators across the world working with displaced populations. We were there to support educators as they learned how to deliver education remotely, finesse their programmes for when in-person learning could begin again, and deliver printed education packs where technology access made online delivery difficult.
In 2022, we have changed our education specialist programme slightly to focus more on delivering capacity building through carefully tailored workshops and webinars, rather than mentoring. This is in response to our partners’ changing needs.
Community Teacher Training programme
In early 2021, we set up our Community Teacher Training (CTT) programme. We recognised during the pandemic that there were many barriers to organizations providing education, which were being met by displaced people setting up their own teaching practices for their communities. We worked closely with community teachers and trainers in the field to develop our CTT programme to develop teachers’ practice. The programme has been delivered in locations across Greece and we are continuing to expand it.
Our work so far
Since launching our CTT programme in 2021, we have rolled it out to cover...
6
iterations of the programme, inlocations across Greece
46
community teachers trained
200+
pupils ultimately benefiting so far
86%
of teachers reported that they always know how to use questions and activities in their lessons following training
Since 2018, we have supported local organisations to deliver a great education to people on the move. This has involved...
54
education specialists, providing training and mentoring to local education organisations
40+
workshops and webinars delivered on key topics in education and the refugee context
60+
partner organisations working with us
86%
of webinar participants feel confident to practice new tools that they learnt during training
Education offers so much to children and adults on the move
Children
Many children have been out of school for years as they fled from conflict, persecution and economic hardship. Some have never been.
It is crucial for them to get back into education as soon as possible as they go through key stages of development.
Education provides stability and routine in a world of chaos and uncertainty. It offers a safe space where children can come every day, knowing what to expect and knowing that they will be valued and included.
Adults
Many adults are now waiting up to five years for an asylum interview in Greece. During this time they are not permitted to work.
Education develops community, and offers purpose: something to work towards during this time in limbo.
Language skills - which most organisations focus on - mean people's skills and qualifications have value in their new country. With language they can settle and communicate with those around them.
Why education?
What next?
The refugee crisis is far from over. As people from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, DR Congo and many other countries seek safety, education is crucial to ensure they have the skills needed to settle into a new country.
We are now looking to move our operations beyond Greece and into other EU and non EU countries that could benefit from our support.
Our support is needed more than ever. We want to work with organisations across the world to ensure that people on the move can access a good education.
To do this, we rely on the support of volunteers and private donors.
As a small organisation making a big impact, anything you are able to give makes a difference.
How can you help?
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It's vital that education is tailored to the needs of children and adults experiencing trauma and other challenges. This is where we can help.
Our partners
Partner with us
If you:
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are involved with an education programme for people on the move;
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work closely with a community where there are self-generated teaching initiatives;
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Or run a teaching initiative within the refugee/migrant community yourself:
We would love to support you!
Please contact coordination@refugeeEd.com for education organisations or ctt@refugeeEd.com for community teaching initiatives.
We currently work with partners in Greece, but we are looking to expand our programmes soon, so you’re welcome to get in touch if you work with people on the move in another country.
