Conceptualising educational resilience during Myanmar's conflict

Since 2021, protracted armed conflict throughout Myanmar has transformed isolated shocks to education into widespread stressors. ‘Education in emergencies’ practitioners, both globally and locally, have increasingly described the flexibility of education systems during crises as resilient, though the attributes and definitions of resilience are the subject of interpretation and debate. This article interrogates the meaning(s) of educational resilience in Myanmar with a multi-ethnic team of researchers located in six states and regions by employing Shah’s (2019) theory of change for education programming with a resilience focus. Researchers identified several key attributes of educational resilience: (1) meaningful participation, (2) strong local networks, (3) decentralised decision-making, (4) the ability to work in low resource settings, (5) a culture of self-reliance, (6) adaptability, and (7) prior experiences with disruption. Through the process of conceptualising educational resilience, this article emphasises its transformative potential to enhance and sustain educational outcomes.