A Conceptual Framework for Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC): A Holistic Approach for Systematic Field Building

Despite growing interest in education for children in conflict and crisis (CAC) settings, evidence on how these children learn and develop—and how best to support them—remains limited. The fragmented research landscape across disciplinary traditions and sectoral silos limits holistic understanding and actionable insights to inform policies and programs. By focusing on four drivers of learning and development—access, quality, continuity, and coherence—the Education Research in Conflict and Crisis (ERICC) framework maps educational processes across local, regional, national, and global levels linking children’s experiences with system-level dynamics. Integrating diverse evidence into a coherent analytic structure, the framework provides a foundation for strengthening education system responses in CACs and generating systematic, actionable knowledge that enriches the global evidence base.