Young people as actors towards change? : the state of education for social cohesion and peace in Sri Lanka, and its effects on secondary school students’ strategies to promote social cohesion in their country

Young people as actors towards change?

The state of education for social cohesion and peace in Sri Lanka, and its

effects on secondary school students’ strategies to promote social cohesion

in their country

Nathalie Metheuver (10525270)

Research Master International Development Studies

Graduate School of Social Sciences

II

Nathalie Metheuver (10525270)

Research Master International Development Studies Graduate School of Social Sciences

University of Amsterdam

Academic Supervisor: Dr. Mieke T.A. Lopes Cardozo Local Supervisor: Prof. D.A. Premakumara de Silva

Second Reader: Drs. G.S. Paillet Word count: 32,687

18 February 2016 Amsterdam

The picture on the front page was taken in November 2014, during the welcome ceremony of a three-day exchange trip between a Sinhalese and a Tamil school. It shows the first meeting between a Tamil student in a typical Tamil saree and a Sinhalese student in her school uniform. The Sinhalese students were welcomed in a Buddhist temple, which is marked by the Buddhist coloured flags. Additionally, they received a dot, or putta, between the eyebrows, according to Hindu tradition. The presence of an army officer gives an insight in the complexity of the post-war setting in Sri Lanka. It is a beautiful representation of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Sri Lankan society and the way in which education for social cohesion and peace is aimed at creating social cohesion between different ethnic groups.

III

Abstract

The Sri Lankan policy on education for social cohesion and peace (ESCP) aims to encourage secondary school students to promote social cohesion in post-war Sri Lanka. Since research on the effect of ESCP on young people’s agency is fairly non-existent, this study analyses student’s perceptions on their ability to become strategic actors towards social cohesion and how ESCP influences their motivations and strategies to do so. It combines the Critical Cultural Political Economy of Education Framework and the Strategic-Relational Approach to provide a critical analysis of the context of ESCP implementation and to explore how students develop their strategies to promote social cohesion. The research draws on interviews, focus groups and (participatory) observation data obtained in Sri Lanka in 2014, concentrating on the North Western Province. Results show that the political focus on ESCP in Sri Lanka is shrinking, ESCP suffers from several implementation challenges and the ethnic segregation, competitive and exam-oriented school system and lack of focus on co-curricular activities further influences its implementation and effects. Students experience restrictions on their space to manoeuvre because of the hierarchical social structure and the pressure to perform at their exams. Therefore, most of them postpone their contribution to when they are grown-up, or develop mainly local-level strategies to promote social cohesion.

Keywords: peace education, social cohesion, Critical Cultural Political Economy of Education,

IV

Acknowledgements

It is with great pleasure that I present to you my thesis. It has been a long journey which I could never have made without the help of many people. There are a few people in particular that I would like to express my gratitude to:

To all my research respondents, for their hospitality, their interest in my research and their thoughts and opinions. A special shout-out to my student respondents, with whom I enjoyed interesting and at times very amusing conversations.

To Wasantha, a man of great honour. For taking me to various places and people, for the hospitality to stay in his house, for opening many doors for me. For being dedicated to implement education for social cohesion and peace in Sri Lanka and for being a great inspiration to me.

To the academics I had the honour to work with. To Mieke, for guiding me to this process with everlasting support and confidence, for providing supervision while leaving sufficient space for me to develop my own insights, and for providing opportunities to gain working experience. To Premakumara, for initial contacts and academic guidance in Sri Lanka. And to Margriet, for being my inspiration to dedicate my academic career towards education and IDS.

To everyone at NPC, for the internship opportunity and for sharing critical opinions on the situation in Sri Lanka.

To my friends in Sri Lanka. To Romina, who made me feel at home right from the first moment, for endless laughs, love, dances and support, for introducing me to her friends, Colombo, and for letting me pick outfits from her wardrobe. To Chandrika and Sisira, for their hospitality and their French toast sandwiches in the bus on my way to yet another interview. To Pushpakumara, Chintha, Bhagya, Diluka and Chamodhi, for making me feel at home in Kurunegala and for teaching me the necessary Sinhala words. To my interpreter, Sharvanya, for her dedication and for critical reflections on respondents’ answers. To Deepthi, for interesting talks about the political situation in Sri Lanka and for surprising me on my birthday.

To Julia for thesis reflections and many unforgettable moments in Sri Lanka. To Kiymet, for endless ‘What do we do?’-questions, laughter, complaints, travels and life considerations during the whole of our studies.

To Bali, for providing the warmth, calmness and spirit that I needed so bad to finish this thesis. To my family, especially my mom and dad, who are endlessly supporting me in all the choices I make. To my love, Arnaldo, who made my thesis look pretty, who supports me, calms me down during my moments of distress and loves me endlessly, regardless of my mood swings during the process.

And to all the people whom have supported me, shared library hours with me, celebrate my life with me and know I owe them my thankfulness.

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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ... III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... V

LIST OF ACRONYMS ... VII

1

INTRODUCTION ... 1

1.1

T

HE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION IN PEACEBUILDING PROCESSES

... 1

1.2

Y

OUTH AS AGENTS OF PEACE

... 2

1.3

W

HY

S

RI

L

ANKA

? ... 4

1.4

R

ESEARCH QUESTIONS AND STRUCTURE

... 4

2

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 7

2.1

T

HE NATURE OF CONFLICT AND PEACE IN

S

RI

L

ANKA

... 7

2.2

E

DUCATION IN CONFLICT AND PEACE

... 11

2.3

Y

OUNG PEOPLE

... 18

2.4

C

ONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

... 19

3

RESEARCH DESIGN ... 25

3.1

U

NIT OF OBSERVATION

... 25

3.2

U

NIT OF ANALYSIS

... 27

3.3

R

ESEARCH DESIGN AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

... 28

3.4

S

AMPLING METHOD

... 32

3.5

D

ATA ANALYSIS

... 32

3.6

E

THICAL

C

ONSIDERATIONS AND RESEARCH LIMITATIONS

... 33

4

RESEARCH CONTEXT ... 36

4.1

S

RI

L

ANKA AND ITS HISTORY OF RECENT CONFLICT

... 36

4.2

T

HE

S

RI

L

ANKAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

... 38

4.3

R

ESEARCH LOCATIONS

... 40

4.4

T

HE

N

ATIONAL

P

OLICY ON

E

DUCATION FOR

S

OCIAL

C

OHESION AND

P

EACE

... 44

5

THE STATUS OF ESCP IN THE NWP OF SRI LANKA ... 46

5.1

T

HE POLITICAL VIEW ON

ESCP ... 46

5.2

ESCP

IMPLEMENTATION IN THE

NWP ... 54

5.3

S

TRUCTURAL AND CONTEXTUAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE

ESCP

IMPLEMENTATION

... 64

5.4

ESCP’

S INFLUENCE IN THE

NWP ... 74

VI

6

STUDENT’S AGENCY TO CONTRIBUTE TO SOCIAL COHESION IN SRI LANKA ... 80

6.1

M

OTIVATIONS

... 80

6.2

P

ERCEPTIONS OF THE STRATEGIC SELECTIVE CONTEXT

... 81

6.3

S

TRATEGIES

... 83

6.4

A

NSWER TO THE RESEARCH QUESTION

... 86

7

CONCLUSION ... 88

7.1

A

NSWER TO THE MAIN RESEARCH QUESTION

... 88

7.2

R

ECOMMENDATIONS

... 93

7.3

R

EFLECTIONS ON THE THEORETICAL MODELS

... 95

7.4

L

IMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

... 97

7.5

T

O CONCLUDE

... 98

8

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 100

9

APPENDICES ... 110

9.1

A

PPENDIX

1:

O

VERVIEW OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

... 110

9.2

A

PPENDIX

2:

S

TUDENT SURVEY

,

E

NGLISH

... 113

9.3

A

PPENDIX

3:

T

EACHER SURVEY

,

E

NGLISH

... 117

VII

List of Acronyms

A/L (General Certificate of Education) Advanced Level

CCPEE Critical Cultural Political Economy of Education

CEPA Centre for Poverty Analysis

CGPEB Co-curricular, Guidance and Counselling and Peace Education Branch (MoE)

DESD Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

ESCP Education for Social Cohesion and Peace

FLICT Facilitating Initiatives for Social Cohesion and Transformation

GCE General Certificate of Education

GIZ German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation

(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit)

HDI Human Development Index

ISA In-service Advisor

LLRC Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Committee

LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

MoE Ministry of Education

NAP ESDP National Action Plan for Education for Sustainable Development and Peace

NCoE National College of Education

NIE National Institute of Education

NPC The National Peace Council

NPESCP National Policy and a Comprehensive Framework of Actions on Education for Social Cohesion and Peace

NWP North Western Province

O/L (General Certificate of Education) Ordinary Level

PDoE Provincial Department of Education

PTCP Pals of Two Cities Programme (Denuwara Mithuro)

PPECO Provincial Peace Education Coordinating Officers

SCPEU Social Cohesion and Peace Education Unit

SLP Schools in Love Programme (Senehasaka Thaksalawa)

SRA Strategic-Relational Approach

TTC Teacher Training Centre

UN United Nations

UNHRC United Nations Human Rights Council

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization

WB World Bank

1

1 Introduction

December 2014 – five years after the destroying war between the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) an 18-year old student reflects on the importance of peace education in achieving lasting peace in Sri Lanka. She grew up during the war, witnessed the transition from war into peace and, with the final exams coming up in a couple of months, is ready to start building on her future. Yet, to be able to do this in peace, it is important that Sri Lanka doesn’t return into conflict.

1.1 The importance of education in peacebuilding processes

Many scholars have suggested that peacebuilding can contribute to a pertinent state of peace after conflict (Galtung, 1975, as cited in Smith, 2011b; Doyle & Sambanis, 2000; Smith Ellison, 2012). Peacebuilding is defined as the prevention of new hostility and conflict by actively addressing underlying factors that were the initial drivers of structural and cultural violence (Doyle & Sambanis, 2000; Smith Ellison, 2012). Several authors have acknowledged education as an important instrument for peacebuilding (Smith, 2010; Novelli & Lopes Cardozo, 2008; Smith Ellison, 2012; Novelli, Lopes Cardozo & Smith, 2015). Education can contribute to peacebuilding in several ways: it can have a preventative role, a protective role and a social transformation role (Smith, 2010).

The current research focuses on the potential contribution of education to social transformation during peacebuilding processes in Sri Lanka. After suffering from an ethnic war for 26 years, the Sri Lankan society is highly in need for a transformation from an ethnically divided Sri Lanka towards an integrated society with one national identity. To stimulate this, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education (MoE) developed a National Policy and a Comprehensive Framework of Actions on Education for Social Cohesion and Peace (NPESCP). The aim of this policy was to implement peace education into the formal education system and to coordinate ongoing peace education activities, so that peace education in Sri

“Yes, we are already in peace. But if we don’t carry on with peace education programmes, there will be no peace in the future. Our generation now knows what peace is, but the next generation, or the generation after that, they don’t know. If we drop peace education programmes, they will not know. So we should keep these programmes alive and pass them from our generation to the next generation. That is how I think it should be.”

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Lanka could ultimately “help build a peaceful world” (NPESCP, 2008).

Indeed, the role of education in peacebuilding processes is most often related to the implementation of peace education (UNICEF, 2011). Peace education is the teaching of several skills and thoughts that promote peaceful living and peacebuilding (Harris & Morisson, 2013; Isaac, n.d.; Balasooriya, unp.). Although peace education is implemented worldwide, there is little research on peace education and/or evaluation of these programmes (Salomon, 2004; Bajaj, 2008). Scholars have studied peace education in Sri Lanka, focusing on policy makers’ and educators’ perceptions on peace education (Lopes Cardozo, 2008), teacher agency in teaching peace education (Lopes Cardozo & Hoeks, 2015) and the evaluation of programme implementation (GIZ, 2011). However, there is no research that focuses on the outcomes of peace education at a student level. Lopes Cardozo, Higgens and le Mat note that “programmatic impact on youth agency needs to be urgently addressed” (Lopes Cardozo et al., 2015, p.70). My research aims to bridge this gap in knowledge and sheds light on the perceived outcomes of peace education for students. After all, they are supposed to be the ultimate beneficiaries of peace education, and insights in their experiences and opinions are relevant for policy implementation and possible reformation. Furthermore, peace education in Sri Lanka seems to have lost political focus in the post-war period (Lopes Cardozo & Hoeks, 2015). Hence, it is important to analyse if and how peace education is currently implemented and what factors influence its implementation to be able to critically reflect on its effects on students. In this research, I will therefore first explore the current status of peace education in Sri Lanka, and consequently explore how peace education influences students’ perceptions on their ability to contribute to social cohesion in their society and motivations and strategies to do so. Because the Sri Lankan government in the NPESCP terms peace education as ‘Education for Social Cohesion and Peace’ (ESCP) I will refer to peace education as ESCP when specifically discussing peace education in Sri Lanka in the remaining of this thesis.

1.2 Youth as agents of peace

By studying student’s agency to contribute to social cohesion, my research also aims to contribute to an upcoming debate concerning youth’s role in peacebuilding processes. There are different discourses on youth in conflict (Pratley, 2011; Del Felice & Wisler, 2007; O’Donoghue, Krishner & McLaughlin, 2002). First, the youth-as-victims discourse regards children and youth as vulnerable and in need for protection and care, hence without any agency to influence the promotion of or resistance to conflict (Graça Machel, 1996 as cited in Pratley, 2011; Del Felice & Wisler, 2007). Second, the youth-as-troublemakers discourse regards youth as possible troublemakers that can stimulate conflict. Third, and more recently,

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some scholars emphasize the need for acknowledging the positive contribution youth could make in peacebuilding processes, resulting in the youth-as-peacebuilders discourse (Pratley, 2011; Del Felice & Wisler; Berents, 2014; McEvoy-Levy, 2001; Mutisi, 2012). Mutisi (2012, p.112-113) states that “there is a need to desist from focusing on young people as victims, towards a more positive perception of youths as a resourceful community for peace and development”. Despite the severity of their experiences and the fragility that surrounds them, youth in crisis- and conflict-affected environments have shown to be resilient, willing and able to participate in their development (Pratley, 2011). Internationally, youth participation in decision-making that concerns them has been incorporated in the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (O’Donoghue, et al., 2002; UNICEF, n.d.). In addition, the role of youth in peacebuilding has recently been acknowledged by the UN Security Council, which unanimously adopted a resolution on youth, peace and security, underlining the importance of involving youth in peacebuilding processes (UN Security Council, 2015).In the youth-as-peacebuilders discourse, youth are regarded as agents who can either positively or negatively influence peace and conflict (McEvoy-Levy, 2001). As such, the youth-as-peacebuilders construction allows for the dual identities of youth as potential troublemakers and peacebuilders, and emphasizes the dynamic understanding of youth identity in conflict.

I strongly adhere to this idea of different outcomes of youth agency, acknowledging that it can either stimulate or discourage peace or conflict, or rather not influence these processes at all. Moving away from viewing youth as either victims, perpetrators, or peacebuilders, the youth-as-peacebuilders discourse recognizes all the roles youth can occupy in a post-conflict setting. This emphasis on different roles of youth in (post-)conflict contexts is very important and should be acknowledged in the guidance of youth during ESCP initiatives, in order to actively stimulate youth to become agents of peace, rather than agents of war. Children and youth are an extremely important group as they play a central role in social reproduction and are thus central actors in development (Huijsmans, George, Gigengack, Evers, 2014). Moreover, the strategies and activities described in the NPESCP aim to contribute to a ‘desired citizen’ which, amongst other qualities, should be able to “transform conflict” (2008, p.4), indicating an active role for youth in peacebuilding processes in Sri Lanka. My research hopes to contribute to a wider understanding of youth roles in post-conflict peacebuilding initiatives, which is not only important in the context of Sri Lanka, but in many more conflict-affected contexts.

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1.3 Why Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka is one of the few countries having a specific policy on ESCP. This policy was designed during the wartime and implemented from 2008 onwards. However, as noted before, scholars have argued that with the end of the war in 2009 the focus on ESCP appeared to be decreasing (Lopes Cardozo & Hoeks, 2015), as the government seemed to neglect the need for justice, peace and power-sharing now that the LTTE was defeated (Uyangoda, 2010). Exploring the current status of NPESCP implementation will demonstrate if this trend is persisting, and sheds light on the political focus on peacebuilding in Sri Lanka.

One important note has to be made in this regard: the fieldwork of this research took place from September 2014 until January 2015, so this research was conducted under the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. However, against all odds, Maithripala Sirisena was chosen as the new president during the elections at 8 January 2015. He has promised to implement social and economic reforms that imply justice and equality for all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The focus on ESCP may therefore change under Sirisena’s regime. My research therefore should be regarded in its relevant timeframe, and more research on ESCP under Sirisena’s rule is definitely necessary.

1.4 Research questions and structure

In this research, I will answer the following research question1:

I regard a broad understanding of the context of Sri Lanka necessary to be able to critically analyse peace education processes and youth’s perceptions, motivation and strategies to contribute to peacebuilding processes. Therefore, my research aims to sketch a broad picture of the context in which ESCP is embedded. To be able to critically analyse all the important dimensions of peace education and students agency, I use the Critical Cultural Political Economy of Education (CCPEE) framework combined with the Strategic-Relational Approach (SRA). I will elaborate more on this in the next chapter.

1

In this question, ‘young people’ specifically refers to secondary school students.

How do political, cultural and other structural factors influence the implementation and effect of education for social cohesion and peace in the North Western Province of Sri Lanka, and how does this influence students’ perceptions on their ability to become actors towards social cohesion and motivations and strategies to do so?

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As the NPESCP specifically focuses on formal ESCP, I conducted my research in public secondary schools. I chose to work with secondary school students, thereby excluding ESCP at primary level, because secondary school students are considered to be able to think abstractly and critically (Piaget, 1972, as cited in Berk, 2009), which is needed for a critical reflection on ESCP, the Sri Lankan society and their perceptions and feelings of agency. I mainly used qualitative research methods to gather my data. In chapter 3 I will further discuss the research design and reflect on ethical considerations.

My school visits took place in the North Western Province (NWP).2 During my initial interviews I found that the NWP is the only province in which ESCP is implemented in line with the NPESCP. As I was interested in the effects of ESCP on students’ perceptions, motivations and strategies, I decided to focus on this area. These activities may not take place in the rest of Sri Lanka, or rather on a low level. Furthermore, the ethnic distribution and local war-experiences in the NWP differ from other parts of Sri Lanka. It is therefore important to acknowledge that my research outcomes are not generalizable to the whole of Sri Lanka. In chapter 4, I will explain more about the research context.

After having discussed the foundations of my research I will present my results. In order to present these in a structured way, I have divided the result section into two chapters. The first chapter presents the current position of ESCP in Sri Lanka, and the political, cultural and other structural factors that influence its implementation and effects, so that the context of ESCP is explored. The sub question I will answer in the first results chapter is:

2

For exact locations in the NWP, please refer to Figure 4 in section 4.3.

What is the current status of ESCP in Sri Lanka, and specifically in the NWP?

This questions is further divided into sub questions as to present the status of ESCP in a structured way:

1. What is the current political view on ESCP? 2. How is ESCP implemented in the NWP?

3. What structural and contextual factors influence the implementation or effects of ESCP activities described in the NPESCP?

4. What are the perceived influences of ESCP activities that are implemented in the NWP on a student and community level?

6

These four sub questions are inspired by the four moments described in the CCPEE framework, which will be defined in chapter 2. After having answered these questions, the reader will have a clear idea of the context in which students base their perceptions and motivations and strategies to contribute to social cohesion in their country. In the second results chapter, I will then present the answer to the following sub question:

After having presented the results, I will conclude with a last chapter to answer the main research question, reflect on my methodology and to make recommendations for ESCP implementation and further research.

How do ESCP programmes implemented in the NWP influence students’ motivation to contribute to social cohesion in Sri Lanka, how do students perceive their space for manoeuvre and which strategies do they use?

7

2 Theoretical framework

As the famous writer Jorge Luis Borges explained, the way in which theory is used may me equally or even more important than the theories in itself. As scientific concepts and models are often contested, I will discuss them in this chapter, and explain how I will apply these concepts and models in my research. I will give an overview of how education can contribute to establish peace, and discuss the concepts of ethnicity, peace, social cohesion, peacebuilding, peace education and youth. Afterwards I will discuss the conceptual and methodological approach that will guide my analysis, and present my conceptual framework.

2.1 The nature of conflict and peace in Sri Lanka

2.1.1 Ethnicity and ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

Several authors have argued that the Sri Lankan conflict was an ethnic conflict (Duncan, unp.; Orjuela, 2010; Abeyratne, 2004). Before exploring ethnic conflict, it is important to define the concept of ethnicity. Ethnicity can include characteristics such as religion, race, language and culture (Duncan, unp.; Eller, 1999). The concept is often used in academic literature, but there is no specific definition of ethnicity (Eriksen, 2002; Eller, 1999). Brass (1991, as cited in Bush & Salterelli, 2000, p.2) defines ethnicity as “the subjective, symbolic, or emblematic use by a group of people of any aspect of culture in order to create internal cohesion and differentiate themselves from other groups”. Eriksen describes the concept as “an aspect of social relationships between agents who consider themselves as culturally distinctive from members of other groups with whom they have a minimum of regular interaction” (2002, p.5). These definitions both underline a conscious internal cohesion between in-group members and a conscious distinction with out-group members (Eller, 1999). As such, the concept of ethnicity only makes sense in a context where there is ethnic pluralism (Bush & Salterelli, 2000; Eller, 1999), such as Sri Lanka.

Ethnic groups are said to be based on identity: when one identifies with an ethnicity, he or she can be said to ‘belong’ to that ethnic group (Eller, 1999; Duncan, unp.). Eller (1999) notes that ethnicity is subjective, while the basis of ethnicity lays in objective markers, such as religion, culture and history.

“All theories are legitimate. What matters is what you do with them.”

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Ethnic identity may therefore be subject to change. Moreover, ethnic groups may change in terms of content and membership (Eller, 1999).

Ethnicity is not the same as nationalism. Nationalism is a feeling to primarily belong to a nation, which undermines all other feelings of attachment and loyalty (Alter, 1994, as cited in Eller, 1999). “When ethnicity is implicated in nationalism, or when it evolves into nationalism, it is thereby essentially changed: an ethnic group may or may not be nationalistic, but, when it is, it is significantly different from a non-nationalistic ethnic group in terms of both its relation to its own culture and of its political aims” (Eller, 1999, p.21).

Ethnic conflict is a conflict between different ethnic groups (Wolff, 2006). However, it is often neither caused by ethnicity nor nationalism. “As organized ethnic groups confront each other, […] an important question is to what extent ethnic conflicts are actually about ethnicity and to what extent ethnicity is merely a convenient common denominator to organize conflict groups in the struggle over resources, land, or power” (Wolff, 2006, p.6). This also seems to be applicable to the Sri Lankan conflict. The LTTE violently pursued a separate state for Tamils in the North of Sri Lanka (Abeyratne, 2004). However, although the conflict was fought along ethnic lines, the underlying drivers of the LTTE’s desire may have been a lack of political representation and cultural recognition of minority groups and an unfair distribution of resources (Bandarage, 2012; Högland & Orjuela, 2012; Lopes Cardozo & May, 2009).3 To create sustainable peace in the aftermath of the conflict, it is therefore important to keep these underlying drivers into account.

2.1.2 Negative versus positive peace

With the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, Sri Lanka is officially considered to be nation in peace (Orjuela, 2010; Lopes Cardozo & Hoeks, 2015). However, various scholars claim that peace in Sri Lanka may still be fragile (Cox, Orsborn & Sisk, 2014; Höglund & Orjuela, 2012; Orjuela, 2010; Rampton, 2011). “Much demanded political reform […], economic development, reconstruction of war-thorn areas and reconciliation are endeavours that have to be negotiated between different sets of actors with unequal access to power” (Orjuella, 2010, p.9).

To interpret this complex situation, it is important to understand the concept of peace. Galtung has made a distinction between negative and positive peace (1969). He defines negative peace as a state in which war and direct violence are absent but structural problems that underlie the rise of violence are not dealt with. Structural violence, defined as violence caused by structural problems

3

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(Galtung, 1969), may still be present, which produces a rather fragile state of peace. Moreover, this form of peace is not necessarily accomplished by peaceful means (Grewel, 2003). On the other side of the spectrum Galtung positions positive peace, which he defines as a state of peace in which structural problems are actively addressed. As a consequence, structural violence is absent and the peace situation is much more stable (Galtung, 1969; Grewel, 2003; Christie, Tint, Wagner & Winter, 2008).

Applying this distinction to the context of Sri Lanka indicates that Sri Lanka finds itself in a state of negative peace (Cox et al., 2014). Ever since the army defeated the LTTE, the overall sentiment of the government has been characterized by a victory spirit. This has strengthened the character of patriotism in Sri Lanka, in which the Sinhalese majority dominates and ethnic minorities are silenced (Höglund & Orjuela, 2012). While there is a strong need for recognition for minority groups’ culture and language and the eradication of inequalities amongst ethnic groups, the government does not invest in these processes. They concentrate on building infrastructure in the East and North and stimulating national economic development4, thereby rather focusing on the economic side of justice while neglecting the cultural and political side (Fraser, 1995; 1996). The state of negative peace in Sri Lanka is denied, and people and organizations advocating for justice and positive peace are ignored and even publically sabotaged (I04; I35; fieldwork diary5; Höglund & Orjuela, 2012). Yet, the government claims to strive towards a multi-ethnic and equal society (Höglund & Orjuela, 2012; Orjuela, 2010), which implies the intention to reduce inequalities and aims for positive peace. However, despite of this claim, Orjuela argues that the government still aims for a society “where the Sinhalese as a numerical majority naturally dominate” (2010, p.19).

This sentiment of Sinhala domination and the lack of recognition of ethnic and religious minorities on top of the damaging three decades of war have created significant barriers between Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamils, resulting in a number of incidents based on inter-ethnic or inter-religious (sometimes violent) confrontations (Cox et al., 2014). In order to create a situation of positive peace rather than negative peace and create a well-functioning society in Sri Lanka, these structural issues need to be acknowledged and addressed. This can (partly) be done by stimulating social cohesion among different ethnic groups (Wedikkarage & Pushpakumara, 2015; Cox et al. 2014).

4

I04; I35; I39; I43

5 _{As part of my internship at a local NGO advocating for positive peace in Sri Lanka, I attended a meeting between}

civil society members from all over Sri Lanka where they discussed how to deal with the shrinking enabling environment for critical NGOs and human rights defenders working on peace, (transitional) justice and

reconciliation. N.B. I will remove this footnote in the public version of this thesis. Although there is currently a new president, these kind of meeting were contested under the Rajapaksa regime, so it may be better to exclude this information from the thesis.

10 2.1.3 Social cohesion

Social cohesion is a complex and contested concept, without a clear definition (Friedkin, 2004; Jenson, 1998). Jenson (1998) stresses that social cohesion is a process, rather than a condition or end state. It “can be seen as the glue that keeps the members of a social system together” (Dekker & Bolt, 2005, p.2448). It relates to the creation of a shared (national) identity where different groups in society can feel and be part of (World Bank, 2011). “When all members of a society can exercise the same rights and privileges there is a greater unity and a feeling of solidarity and comradeship which in turn induces a greater commitment towards achieving common goals” (World Bank, 2011, p.E1). This definition of social cohesion includes assimilation (the integration of different cultures and religions into a society with shared values) and accommodation (the possibility for different groups to be able to freely practice their cultural and religious traditions, while being accepted as belonging to the shared national identity) (World Bank, 2011). However, Friedkin (2004) argues that it impossible to measure the extent of social cohesion in a group based on group-level conditions. “Certain group-level conditions may contribute to positive membership attitudes and behaviours but, unless positive individual attitudes and behaviours are actually present in a group, one cannot characterise the group as cohesive” (Friedkin, 2004, p.416). Berger-Schmitt (2000, p.4) therefore ascribes two dimensions to social cohesion which correspond to the assimilation and accommodation: the “strengthening of social relations, interactions and ties” and the “reduction of disparities, inequalities and social exclusion”. Social cohesion thus implies a process towards an equal society in which individuals of different (ethnic) groups feel connected to one another. I will use this definition of social cohesion in the rest of my thesis.

The policy that is used as a guideline in this thesis, the NPESCP, mainly focuses on the strengthening of social relations between different ethnic groups. The goals of the policy are described as twofold: the policy should (1) contribute to nation building and the establishment of a Sri Lankan identity, and (2) contribute to the understanding of social justice within the Sri Lankan society and the democratic system. In this research, I therefore define social cohesion as the presence of a national shared identity in which the practices of different cultural and religious activities are acknowledges and respected, and in which different ethnic and religious groups share equal opportunities and voices.6 High

6

Following the NPESCP, this definition is based on social justice theory by Nancy Fraser (1995; 1996; 2005). She identified 3R’s that describe the essence of social justice: Recognition (cultural dimension; every group and its cultural traditions should be acknowledged and respected), Representation (political dimension; every group should be involved in decision-making) and Redistribution (economic dimension; every group should enjoy equal opportunities). Although there is definitely a connection between social cohesion and social justice, I do not focus on social justice theory in this thesis except in this definition on social cohesion. For an excessive description on social justice please refer to Fraser 1995, 1996 and 2005.

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levels of social cohesion in a society therefore include social relations and friendships between different groups, respect for other cultures, absence of prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination, and the presence of a shared national identity.

2.2 Education in conflict and peace

Already in 1991, when the conflict was still ongoing, the government of Sri Lanka acknowledged the positive role education can play in achieving social cohesion (Lopes Cardozo & Hoeks, 2015; World Bank, 2011). I will elaborate on this below, but first I will describe the concept of peacebuilding.

2.2.1 Peacebuilding

Galtung (1975, as cited in Smith, 2011b; Harris & Morisson, 2013) described three approaches to peace: peacekeeping, peacemaking and peacebuilding. The definitions of these three concepts are outlined in Table 1.

Table 1

Definition of peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding (Smith, 2011b; Schellhaas & Seegers, 2009)

Peacemaking Peacekeeping Peacebuilding

The process of diplomacy, mediation, negotiation, or other forms of settlement that are aimed at bringing

conflicting parties to an agreement, so that violence between the parties is ended.

Activities used by [UN]

organizations that focus on the implementation of and

compliance with peace agreements.

Includes processes of peacemaking and

peacekeeping, but goes beyond by addressing root causes of conflict and focusing on transformation of conflict and building lasting relations, thereby focusing on achieving positive peace.

Unlike peacemaking and peacekeeping, aiming to stimulate peace processes but tend to result in negative peace, peacebuilding rather focus on a longer-term peaceful outcome, ultimately pursuing positive peace. Galtung defined peacebuilding as a process focusing on the prevention of new hostility and conflict by actively addressing underlying factors that were the initial drivers of structural and

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cultural violence (Doyle & Sambanis, 2000; Smith Ellison, 2012; Smith, 2011b). Lederach (1995, 1997, as cited in Smith, 2011; Smith Ellison, 2014) adds to this definition the importance of transformation, emphasizing that peacebuilding is a dynamic and social process that involves transformation of conflict as well as transformation of relationships between the clashing groups. It is important to conduct a thorough conflict analysis in order to be able to tackle the root causes of the conflict (UNPBSO, n.d.), so peacebuilding activities should always be context-specific. Furthermore, Galtung (1976, as cited in UNICEF, 2011) emphasizes the importance of including local knowledge, ownership and participation. “The aim of peacebuilding is to foster the social, economic, and political institutions and attitudes that will prevent these conflicts from turning violent. In effect, peacebuilding is the front line of preventative action” (Doyle & Sambanis, 2000, p.779).

Critics on peacebuilding argue that the process of top-down peacebuilding by installing institutions through which liberal values are established is ineffective, as this approach fails to address the needs of local level citizens. Such processes undermine political legitimacy, which is crucial for stability and sustainable peace (Roberts, 2011). Moreover, scholars have argued that Western institutions such as the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN) neglect international factors such as world economics and political power that is often indirectly related to the root causes of conflict (Schellhaas & Seegers, 2009). They doubt the motives of international peacebuilding missions, linking it to imperialism. “Peacebuilders are concerned not only with rebuilding infrastructure or redistributing material resources, but also attempt to transform societies by changing the attitudes and behaviour of people living within them” (Schellhaas & Seegers, 2009, p.12). They claim that there is a need for more reflexive research on peacebuilding (Roberts, 2011; Schellhaas & Seegers, 2009).

This thesis aims to bridge this gap. While acknowledging the need for a thorough analysis of national as well as international root causes of conflict in peacebuilding processes, and emphasizing the need for support by all levels of society, I adhere peacebuilding as a strategy of conflict resolution, rather than a set of policies, politics or a humanitarian agenda (Schellhaas & Seegers, 2009). Moreover, the NPESCP tries to transform relations by implementing programmes at national, regional and local level, thereby encouraging regional and local level support. I will therefore focus on the opportunities and challenges that come with regarding peacebuilding as a post-conflict strategy aiming to achieve positive peace by focusing on researching and addressing the root causes of conflict and transforming relations between conflicting parties.

13 2.2.2 The role of education in peacebuilding

Education can contribute to peacebuilding in several ways (see Textbox 1).

The last point, that education can contribute to social transformation, may be the most relevant contribution in the context of Sri Lanka and this research. Social action is highly important in the dynamic process of peacebuilding, and education can play an enormous role in “changing relationships, behaviour, attitudes, and structures from the negative to the positive” (Smith Ellison, 2012, p.5). Wedikkarage & Pushpakumara (2015) describe education as the “key instrument” to create relations and understanding between different ethnicities.

Although the link between education and peacebuilding is increasingly acknowledged (Smith Ellison, 2014), scholars are critical about its contribution. It was found that while education was specifically intended to contribute to peace, an analysis of the programmes revealed that education programmes implemented under the rational of education and peacebuilding were rather similar to regular development programmes. “What is happening therefore is a rebranding of development education programmes as peacebuilding initiatives without thoughtful consideration of what that shift means in practice” (Smith Ellison, 2014, p.203). Another important comment on education for peacebuilding is that education alone cannot achieve a state of positive peace. It should rather be part of a broader peacebuilding programme which encompasses all sectors of society (Novelli, 2011). It is important to keep these remarks in mind while developing and evaluating education for peacebuilding programmes.

Textbox 1

Ways in which education can contribute to peacebuilding (Smith Ellison, 2012).

1. Education gives students an alternative to engage into conflict, as it provides them with other and more peaceful opportunities to sustain their livelihoods.

2. Education can protect students by guarding them from physical harm and exploitation.

3. A rapid reconstruction of the education sector contributes to the “return to a sense of stability, normality and confidence” (p.4).

4. Education can keep a society from returning into conflict by teaching skills such as critical thinking.

14 2.2.3 Peace education

The GoSL aims to achieve social transformation by implementing peace education in their formal education system. But what is peace education?

2.2.3.1 Defining peace education

Peace education is considered to be both a philosophy and a process of teaching and acquiring skills (Harris & Morrison, 2013). Isaac defines it as “activities that promote the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will allow people of all ages, and at all levels, to develop the behaviour changes that can prevent the occurrence of conflict, resolve conflict peacefully, or create the social conditions conductive to peace” (n.d., p.2). Balasooriya states that peace education aims to present the student with “a set of behavioural skills necessary for peaceful living and peacebuilding from which the whole humanity will benefit” (unp., p.5). It seeks to stimulate the overall development of the student, and teach them “higher human and social values” (Balasooriya, unp, p.5). This should prevent the student from engaging in violent activities. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) describes the two main objectives of peace education: teaching students to recognize and respect other ethnic group in order to be able to peacefully live together and reduce stereotyping and prejudice (Nicolai, 2009, Sinclair, 2004, as cited in Lopes Cardozo & Hoeks, 2015). Thus, peace education should ideally contribute to social cohesion. However, Bush and Salterelli (2000) have argued that education can contribute to decreasing ethnic tensions and establishing social cohesion but on the other hand education can also rather stimulate ethnic tension. It is therefore essential to constantly evaluate the implementation of peace education and its effects at the implementation level, which this research aims accomplish.

2.2.3.2 Themes of peace education

There is no agreement on what themes peace education should encompass (Lopes Cardozo, unp.; Balasooriya, unp.; Isaac, n.d.). Lopes Cardozo & May (2009) describe five dimensions of peace education which are often identified in the literature. These are (1) changing prejudices and perceptions about the ‘other’, (2) providing students with a realistic world view, (3) promoting peaceful relations between rival groups and developing relevant conflict resolution skills and peaceful values such as empathy, (4) developing critical thinking, sensitivity to other’s needs and openness to others, and (5) stimulating the development of democratic values and attitudes, emphasizes social justice and equality. Other skills include problem-solving, cooperation, listening and reflection (Harris & Morrison, 2013; Salomon, 2004).

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These themes of peace education seem to reflect a focus on social peace in peace education. Balasooriya (unp.) complements this social peace dimension with two other dimensions: inner peace and peace with nature. Although these dimensions aren’t necessarily reflected in peace education literature, Hoeks (unp.) states that these dimensions are particularly relevant in the religious and cultural context of Sri Lanka. Inner peace is defined as “harmony and peace with oneself, good health and absence of inner conflicts, joy, sense of freedom, insight, spiritual peace, feelings of kindness, compassion, and content, appreciation of art” (Balasooriya, unp., p.4). Peace with nature is about living together with the natural environment (Balasooriya, unp.).

2.2.3.3 Various approaches to peace education

Haavelsrud (1996, as cited in Bajaj, 2008) identified four categories of peace education that can be used to distinguish different ways of implementation. The first is the ‘idealistic approach’, in which one focuses on universal definitions of problems and their solutions, aiming to create social cohesion between different members of society. There is however no sensitivity for structural context-specific inequalities between groups, so that relevant underlying causes of conflict are not addressed. The ‘intellectual approach’, focuses on studying concepts such as conflict and peace in an academic way. One takes into account all views and opinions about peace and conflict from all stakeholders. “The limitations of this approach are that such supposed neutrality is fraught with contradictions and there is little mention of how understanding the situation can lead to reflection and strategies for acting and change” (Bajaj, 2008, p.137). The ‘ideological approach’ argues that peace education should happen outside of the schools, as schools are said to reproduce the social power balance that is in place, thereby constantly emphasizing the dominant groups’ interest. Lastly, the ‘politicization approach’ focuses on developing students’ critical reflection about peace education concepts, teaching them to see these concepts embedded in its specific context. Education is closely linked to research and action in the process towards social change.

I regard the politicization approach as the best approach to peace education design and implementation, as it takes a peacebuilding approach rather than a peacemaking approach. As such, it creates a broad understanding of drivers of structural violence and teaches students to critically reflect on these, hence contributing to positive peace. This can help students to actively address these drivers

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and restore peace and social cohesion. As the verb ‘to politicize’ has several meanings7, to prevent ambiguity, I will refer to this approach as the politically-informed approach in this thesis.

2.2.3.4 Preconditions for peace education

There is a strong tendency to implement peace education in conflict-affected contexts (Smith, 2011b). However, there is little research on and evaluation of these programmes (Salomon, 2004) and there are discussions about the effect of peace education. As was mentioned before, education can either decrease or stimulate conflict (Bush & Salterelli, 2000). If peace education is not taught properly it may have negative effects: “Peace education that seeks to “normalize” or “restore” a perceived sense of social cohesion without analyses of the underlying structural roots of conflict risks exacerbating, rather than addressing violence” (Bajaj, 2008, p.143).

The NPESCP tries to accomplish social cohesion through various activities including exchange trips where different ethnic groups are brought together. These activities are based on the contact hypothesis. The idea is that bringing different ethnic groups together enables these groups to get to know each other, resulting in the creation of positive attitudes towards the other and a reduction of prejudice and intergroup tension (Allport, 1954, as cited in Pettigrew & Tropp, 2005; Dixon, Durrheim & Tredoux, 2005; Amir, 1969). This is only said to occur when specific contextual factors are in place: (1) both groups should perceive themselves as enjoying equal status; (2) the groups should pursue a common goal; (3) this goal should be achieved through cooperation rather than competition; and (4) this should be supported by authorities, laws or customs. (Alport, 1954, 1979, as cited in Dovidio, Glick & Rudman, 2005; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2005; Niens & Cairns, 2005). Dixon et al. (2005) derived other preconditions for the decrease of prejudice from the literature (see Textbox 2). They argue that if these conditions are not met, contact could rather enhance prejudice (Dixon et al., 2005). Other scholars have argued that the preconditions facilitate the decrease of prejudice, but that decreased prejudice can still be achieved without the described preconditions (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2005). However, some scholars indicate that in practice, in-group members don’t see an out-group member as representing the whole out-group, but rather adhere this individual as an exception to the rule, so that prejudices remain unchanged (Dixon et al, 2005).

7

According to the Oxford Dictionary, to politicize means: (1) cause (an activity or event) to become political in character, (2) make (someone) politically aware, and (3) engage in talk about politics.

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However, Beckerman (2010, as cited in Smith, 2011b, p.31) argues that inter-group contact may not be enough “unless it also engages with deeper issues of identity and historical inequalities in power relations”. Furthermore, peace education programmes alone are not sufficient. The programmes should encompass local ownership, sufficient financial means to create sustainable capacity and adequately trained teachers. Moreover, most peace education programmes require an active learning methodology, which may not match general teaching methods (Smith, 2011b, p.38). Hence, it seems that peace education may be only effective if certain preconditions are met, which is important to consider when implementing peace education programmes.

2.2.3.5 Peace education and social cohesion

Peace education is essential in the promotion of social cohesion because it shapes “attitudes of individuals towards diversity and change” (WB, 2011, p.E1). Peace education can contribute to social cohesion in four ways: (1) it teaches students the ‘rules of the game’ from the society and how to be a good citizen, (2) it provides the students with experiences which are consistent with these principals, so that the students become familiar with other ethnic and religious backgrounds, (3) it provides equal opportunities to all students, and (4) it integrates different perspectives, norms and values of all groups and promotes this set of behaviours as a common form of citizenship (Heyneman, 2010). I would like to add that peace education can also strengthen feelings of connectedness in a society, as these feelings are crucial in the definition of social cohesion that I adhere to.

Textbox 2

Often identified preconditions for reduced prejudice described by the contact hypothesis (Dixon et al. (2005).

 Contact should be regular and frequent

 Contact should involve a balanced ratio of in-group and out-group members

 Contact should have genuine ‘acquaintance potential’

 Contact should occur across a variety of social settings and situations

 Contact should be free from competition

 Contact should be evaluated as “important” to the participants involved

 Contact should involve interaction with a counter-stereotypic member of another group

 Contact should be free from anxiety or other negative emotions

 Contact should be personalized and involve genuine friendship formation

 Contact should be with a person who is deemed a typical or representative member of another group

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2.3 Young people

One of the aims of ESCP in Sri Lanka as defined in the NPESCP is that students actively promote social cohesion in their community. There are three dominant discourses on the role of youth in conflict and peacebuilding: (1) the youth-as-victims discourse, (2) the youth-as-troublemakers discourse, and (3) the youth-as-peacebuilders discourse. As these discourses have been explained in the introduction, I will not further discuss them. I will however discuss my definition of youth, or rather young people, that is used in this thesis.

2.3.1 Defining young people

Most of the literature about young people speaks about ‘youth’. There is no consensus about the definition of youth. Used definitions are either based on age or on youth’s psychological, biological or cultural experiences. As the latter is dependent on context-specific elements and the literature doesn’t necessarily define context-specific definitions of youth in Sri Lanka, I will adhere to a definition based on age.8

However, the literature neither provides a clear age-related definition of youth. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines youth in three categories: adolescents (10-19 years old), youth (15-24 years old) and young people (10-(15-24 years old). The UN and the WB define youth as everyone between 15 and 25 years old. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) regards people between 10 and 19 as youth (Swartz, 2011; Lopes Cardozo, Higgens, Maber, Brandt, Kusmullah & Le Mat, 2015; Swartz, 2008). As this research was based on secondary school students, my research population mostly consisted of adolescents between 13 and 18 years old. However, the research does also include the opinions of a university student between 18 and 24 which provide relevant and context-specific insights in differences between what the WHO terms ‘youth’ and ‘adolescents’. I will therefore largely follow the definition of the WHO. That means that when I speak about ‘adolescents’ or ‘students’, I refer to my respondents between 13 and 18 years old, and when I write about ‘youth’ or ‘university students’, I rather refer to youth between 18 and 24 years old. When I write about ‘young people’ I am addressing both groups together.

8

For a thorough discussion about the definition of youth according to psychological, biological and cultural experiences, please refer to Pratley (2011) and Swartz (2008).

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2.4 Conceptual and methodological approach

2.4.1 Ontological and epistemological position

I believe that there exist a reality independently from us people, but that we can never fully understand and measure this reality because the way we experience reality is always shaped by our personal frame of reference which contains thoughts, feelings and preconceptions that influence the way we interpret reality. We therefore construct a social reality, and consequently can never fully encounter the ‘real reality’. This position relates most to the epistemology of (critical) realism (Sumner & Tribe, 2008). Critical realism explicitly focusses on “how objects work in relation to their context, acknowledging that structures and institutions of society do, in fact, matter in a myriad of outcomes” (Lopes Cardozo & Shah, forthcoming). Critical realism sees reality as composed of three domains, namely the real, the actual and the empirical. The real domain are underlying mechanisms, structures, processes and powers which may or may not be activated but do exist. The actual domain are the effects of the mechanisms, structures, processes and powers of the real domain. These effects do occur, regardless of if they are consciously experienced by people or not. Ultimately, the empirical domain are our experiences of the (actual and real) world, which gives us an understanding about how mechanisms, structures, processes and powers work (Banai, 1995; Lopes Cardozo & Shah, 2013). Researchers are expected to unravel the relationships between what we experience, what actually happens and the underlying mechanisms that are present, hence the relations between the empirical, the actual and the real domains (Danermark et al., 2002).

2.4.2 The Critical Cultural Political Economy of Education (CCPEE)

I will now discuss the two models that will guide my analysis. As mentioned above, there seem to be gaps between what is stated in the NPESCP and actually happens on a school level (Davies, unp.; Hoeks, unp.). To be able to critically analyse this complex context and how the (poorly) implemented ESCP may or may not influence the agency of students to contribute to social cohesion, I will use a Critical Cultural Political Economy of Education (CCPEE) approach (Robertson & Dale, 2015).

The CCPEE model draws on critical realism (Robertson & Dale, 2015) and critical theory to analyse the field of education. Critical theory, according to Cox (1996, as cited in Novelli & Lopes Cardozo, 2008), tries to understand a problem as embedded in and connected to the broader context, which provides opportunities to look into the roots of a problem and come up with alternatives to the status quo. Robertson and Dale (2015) describe two factors of critical theory that are especially important in the CCPEE model. First, critical theory draws on the idea that people’s social realities are

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constructed through an enormous quantity of senses and impressions which they divide in categories in order to make sense of it all. People therefore frame their world through organized categories, which build up their knowledge and experiences. Critical theory tries to unravel these categories, in order to be able to research how people’s knowledge and experiences are constituted (Robertson & Dale, 2015). Second, “critical theory embraces critique as a basis for social change” (Robertson & Dale, 2015, p.5). This means that critically exploring the various dimension of education provides opportunities to expose possible contradictions.

Furthermore, the CCPEE model is a critically applied Cultural Political Economy (CPE) analysis on education (Lopes Cardozo & Shah, 2013). CPE analysis “offers a number of powerful lenses through which to understand the complex, multilevel, and multidimensional social, political, economic, and cultural projects and processes that are manifested and enabled by the international governance of education” (Jones, 2010, p.20-21). CPE tries to understand social experiences and actions as emerging from intertwined processes occurring on three different moments: “the cultural (discourse, language, beliefs and values), the political (power and institutions) and economic (the practices in which social relations are produced and articulated)” (Lopes Cardozo & Shah, 2013, p.7).

Having explained the underlying foundations of the CCPEE model, I will now discuss how the CCPEE model can be used to analyse educational processes. Robertson & Dale have developed what they term the ‘education ensemble’; four moments of education to guide the analysis of educational processes (2015; Lopes Cardozo & Shah, 2013):

1. The moment of educational practices, where one tries to understand the who, what and how questions of education: who is taught, what is taught and how is it taught?

2. The moment of educational politics, where one tries to understand the relation between educational policies and what actually happens in practice, acknowledging that educational policies do not always completely determine what happens in practice, as other mechanisms might be at stake.

3. The moment of the politics of education, where one analysis the ‘rules of the game’ in which education is embedded and which determine what is possible and desirable in education.

4. The moment of outcomes of education, where one focusses on the outcomes of educational practices, policies and politics for those who are directly involved in and around education, but also for wider social processes.

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The design of my research and the four sub-sub-questions of the first sub-question presented in the introduction is inspired by this CCPEE model. I will consider all the moments of education in my research to be able to sketch the context in which ESCP is implemented. Furthermore, I will measure the perceived outcomes of ESCP on student’ personal and community level, because the scope of this research doesn’t allow to measure the actual outcomes of ESCP for Sri Lankan society.

2.4.3 The Strategic-Relational Approach

To be able to critically analyse the perceived outcomes of ESCP on the personal level of secondary school students, I will use the Strategic-Relational Approach (SRA) (Figure 1). Combining the SRA with the CCPEE model allows me to investigate how the agency of young people is shaped within the broader context of the different educational moments.

The SRA regards structures and agents as entirely interwoven and only existing in connection with the other. “Their existence is relational (structure and agency are mutually constitutive) and dialectical (their interaction is not reducible to the sum of structural and agential factors treated separately)” (Hay, 2002,

Figure 1. Structure, strategy and agency in the SRA. Adapted from Hay (1995, p.202). Reprinted from Hay (2002, p.1131).

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p.127). When studying actors and structures, they can be divided, but this distinction is purely analytical and “this analytical distinction is not reified and hardened into a rigid ontological dualism” (Hay, 2005, p.127).

According to the SRA, actors are regarded as having tendencies, which are “preferences for action” (Lopes Cardozo & Shah, 2013, p.5). However, because of the context, some actors might not be able to act out their tendencies. That is because the context is considered to be strategically selective by providing a structure in which some actors are encouraged to achieve their tendencies while others are discouraged (Hay, 2002; Jessop, 2005). Whether an actor or group of actors is discouraged or encouraged to achieve its tendencies depends on its accessibility to strategic resources, such as political, economic, cultural and social capital (Lopes Cardozo & Shah, 2013). For example, the GoSL emphasizes Sinhalese cultural norms and values, which give Sinhalese people more opportunities to act out their cultural beliefs than other ethnic groups. In order to deal with this, actors need to be reflexive and flexible and change their tendencies so that they fit within the boundaries that are shaped by the strategic selectiveness of the context (Hay, 2002). Actors are thus considered to be strategic as they make strategic calculations about their space to manoeuvre within the structure based on their perceptions and motivations. Subsequently, they make strategic choices for action that fit the structure (Jessop, 2005; Hay, 2002). Young people’s agency can therefore be defined as their motivations and strategies to influence their surroundings to achieve their tendencies, based on their perceptions of the strategic selective context that surrounds them.

The outcomes that emerge from the strategic actions of the actors influence both the strategic selective context and the strategic actor. In response to the strategic action, the strategic selective context is either transformed or reproduced. The actor, on the other hand, is able to identify how the structure is influenced by her actions, which expands her knowledge about the structure. This newly acquired knowledge forms the basis of future strategic calculations for actions (Hay, 2002).

Lopes Cardozo and Shah (2013) note that actors in the education arena who are aware of the strategic selectiveness of the structure and who have more knowledge about the structure are better able to achieve their tendencies than other actors. However, structures are constantly changing (Lopes Cardozo & Shah, 2013). They have their own specific spatial and temporal rhythms, meaning that they operate in specific places, at specific times and on one or more scales (Jessop, 2005). Therefore, actors often lack complete knowledge about the structure, so they have to make assumptions about the structure on which to base their strategic calculations and actions. These assumption might be wrong, which can result in unintended consequences of the actor’s actions.

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In my research, I will mostly study students’ as strategic actors. Furthermore, the strategic selective context will include policy makers, policies, school principals, teachers, students, family and community members, but also the larger powers that influence the CPE of Sri Lanka. I will use the four moments of the CCPEE model to guide my critical reflection on the results.

2.4.4 Conceptual framework

Figure 2 presents the conceptual framework that will guide my analysis in this research. The outer layer in the figure represents which I regard as the ultimate aim of ESCP in the context of Sri Lanka, namely the establishment of social cohesion in this post-conflict and multi-ethnic country in negative peace. The second layer represents ESCP implementation in the NWP. My research is positioned within this layer. It displays the two analytical models CCPEE and SRA. As discussed, CCPEE will be used to critically analyse the strategic selective context. However, the four moments of CCPEE encompass both the strategic selective context, the strategic actor and their motivations, perceptions and strategies. I will thus also link students’ perceptions, motivations and strategies to the four moments of the CCPEE framework. The third layer, representing the CCPEE framework, therefore encompasses the whole SRA model. Students have to manoeuvre as strategic actors towards their tendencies, while dealing with the strategic selective context. Their perceptions, motivations and strategies decide their strategic actions to contributing to social cohesion (or not).

Education for Social Cohesion and Peace in NWP

SOCIAL COHESION IN SRI LANKA

Figure 2. Conceptual framework.

Strategic Selective Context

Perceptions & Motivations

Secondary School Students

Strategic Actions towards Social

Cohesion

Critical Cultural Political Economy of

Education