First Advisor

John Nimmo

Term of Graduation

Winter 2024

Date of Publication

3-7-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership: Curriculum and Instruction

Department

Curriculum & Instruction

Language

English

Subjects

Curriculum and Instructions, Education Leadership:

DOI

10.15760/etd.3718

Physical Description

1 online resource (x, 235 pages)

Abstract

This research involved an investigation of the classroom experiences of formally unprepared refugee teachers in Kakuma Refugee camp. The purpose was to understand how refugee teachers with no preservice preparation in accordance with the standards of Kenya Teacher Service Commission (TSC) perceive and interact with pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and cultural relevancy in their daily classroom experiences with students in a refugee camp-based school in Kenya. What informed this study was the view that refugee teachers bring with them their respective and diverse cultural knowledge--ontology, epistemology, and axiology. To gain better understanding of the experiences and perspectives of these educators, the researcher interacted with them dialogically in the field within the cultural context of the classrooms and schools. Critical ethnography was chosen as the research methodological approach. During the summers of 2022 and 2023, four teachers of Kakuma Refugee Secondary School and three Windle Trust Officers were interviewed. Data collection also involved researcher observation of the teachers in their respective classrooms, followed by two concluding focus group discussions. Field notes, including informal conversations with teachers and environmental observations, were other methods of data collection. Tribal critical race theory served as a framework for understanding how refugee teachers experience the gaps of power and minimal professional development, and the impact on their PCK. The study found that refugee teachers were often overwhelmed by students' lack of discipline and were subjected to put-downs by local teachers due to their refugee status. These experiences affected the teachers' continuous growth in PCK and limited the potential impact of their cultural insights as refugees.

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41490

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