Hope through Education: meet the Pioneer Cohort of the Amala High School Diploma Polly Akhurst

Hope through Education

Meet the Pioneer Cohort of the Amala High School Diploma

By Polly Akhurst

Majd was at work in March 2020 when he saw the advert for the Amala High School Diploma. Having fled the war in Syria and sought refuge in Jordan, he had spent years looking for ways to complete his high school education, but all of the options he found were either too expensive or too time-consuming. He had resolved to work instead, but never forgot this dream of completing his education. Edel, who had fled Somalia, had been out of school for several years and had no opportunities to continue her education. When her friend alerted her to the opportunity, she knew she must apply. Ibrahim, originally from Sudan, had dropped out of school due to bullying and violence. When he saw the opportunity from Amala it gave him hope of a second chance.

Majd, Edel and Ibrahim applied to be part of the pioneer cohort of the Amala High School Diploma in Jordan - an alternative pathway for refugee and conflict-affected youth to complete their secondary education. Eighteen months later, on 8 October 2021, they stood proudly on a stage among 20 fellow pioneers to celebrate their graduation. This was an immensely proud moment not only for the students, but also for the Amala team, who have been working on making this new Diploma a reality over the past four years.

A new educational pathway for refugee youth

The idea for Amala was born in 2016 while my cofounder Mia and I were working for the United World Colleges’ refugee scholarship initiative. We discovered that only 1 in 3 refugees had access to secondary education, leading to only 5% going on to higher education (UNHCR, 2022). Once young refugees reach adolescence they often face considerable barriers to entering the national education systems of the countries where they live. We saw the possibility of creating an alternative pathways option for upper secondary completion and delved further, surveying hundreds of refugee youth about the education they wanted. We discovered that the issue wasn’t just about access but about quality: refugee youth wanted an education that would not only prepare them for the future but could help them to improve their lives – and the lives of their community – today. These insights led us to develop our rationale for a curriculum centred on the development of agency for positive change, focusing on ‘lifeworthy learning’, a concept coined by David Perkins (2014). With the educational support of our partner school United World College of South East Asia, between 2018 and 2020 over 150 international educators worked alongside displaced youth to develop ten courses within the Diploma, ranging from ‘Peace-building’ to ‘Maths for Change’.

The Pioneer Cohort

Majd, Edel and Ibrahim were among the 25 pioneer students who started their studies in June 2020. The pandemic meant that the programme, designed to be delivered through a blended learning model, was initially delivered through remote learning. The students, supported by Amala’s Jordan facilitation team, studied via Zoom synchronously from 9am to 5pm on both

days of the weekend. They completed independent work during the week, often at the same time as working to support their families. Yet not one student dropped out in those diffi cult fi rst months, and in spring 2021 in–person learning could fi nally commence.

The students formed an amazingly strong community in spite of the pandemic. The pioneer cohort were of seven different nationalities and Ibrahim, Majd and Edel all comment on the ways in which their fellow students’ experiences, and backgrounds of religion, culture and gender, enrich the learning environment. Ibrahim says that the biggest change he has seen in himself is that ‘I learned how to be empathic and inclusive. Every human needs these things. I learned how to understand other people, and respect them.’

Many of the activities within the Diploma courses involve students presenting their ideas and opinions in class. This kind of learning was new to students, but had a positive impact, according to our facilitator Fatima: ‘There is such an increase in their confi dence, their ability to understand themselves and their needs and to speak up.’ Edel concurs that ‘I am more communicative and connected. I know myself more and what I can do.’ For Majd, Amala’s assessment approach, which involves students creating evidence of their learning against a set of competencies, had the biggest impact. He explains that ‘The most signifi cant thing I learned was that I had to take responsibility for my learning. It made me work harder towards my goal.’

During the Diploma, students develop and implement projects for positive change in their communities. Edel’s project, ‘She Can’, focuses on supporting girls who wear hijabs to do sport. She explains: ‘In our community there aren’t many hijabi girls that do sport. Our project is to give them the confi dence to do what they love and support their abilities.’ Ibrahim’s project raises awareness of the issue of corporal punishment in schools, while Majd has developed ScholaScope, an online platform to link students to universities offering scholarships. He comments ‘When I started ScholaScope I had limited knowledge. Amala courses helped me do my homework on businesses and how to structure them.’

Looking to the future

What next, now Ibrahim, Edel and Majd have graduated? All three and many of their pioneer peers aim to access higher education, with access higher education, with several already securing places at universities in Jordan, Canada and the US. Students have been supported in their applications by a group of professional guidance counselors from international schools. The pioneer cohort are also continuing to work on their projects. As Ibrahim explains: ‘I want to get more information and knowledge and reduce corporal punishment in my community and the surrounding area.’ Majd has recently secured funding to support him to further develop ScholaScope platform and has won a place on a competitive incubator programme.

In January 2021 a second cohort started the Diploma in Jordan and, in May 2021, we also launched the programme in Kakuma Camp, Kenya. We are starting to recruit for our third cohort of students in Jordan, who will start in April 2022. We are also pursuing accreditation of the programme with both the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), and are working on wider recognition of the programme, in order to open up higher education opportunities for many more students.

Amala’s name is inspired by the Arabic word for hope, and Edel, Ibrahim, Majd and the pioneer cohort embody the hope that education provides. As Ibrahim says about his fellow pioneers: ‘At Amala, I met many people who are smart and creative but who didn’t have opportunities. Amala gave us an opportunity to recognise our capabilities. We can be leaders in the world, I’m sure of it.’ ◆

Polly Akhurst is the Co-Executive Director of Amala Education and is an alumna of UWC Atlantic. Further information about Amala can be found at: amalaeducation.org ✉ polly@amalaeducation.org

References

• Perkins D N (2014) Future Wise: Educating our Children for a Changing World. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. • UNHCR (2022) Education. Available from www.unhcr.org/uk/education.html