Harmony or chaos? Beliefs and practices about conflicts among naturalized refugee children in Tanzania

Abstract

The current study explored beliefs and practices on the main types and common causes of conflicts among naturalized refugee pre-primary children in rural Tanzania. A region with highest number of naturalized refugees in Tanzania was purposively selected. A total of 12 children were involved in the focus group discussion; nine classroom teachers, and three school principals from three pre-primary schools were individually interviewed. To gain insights on home contexts, six parents who had children in pre-primary classes were visited at their homes and interviewed on individual sessions. A number of policy and practical documents were critically analyzed. Findings revealed that the main types of conflicts among naturalized refugee children were teacher-induced and pupil-induced. Further, it was found that the main causes of conflicts among children of this group were related to scarcity of resources and social issues. These findings highlight that in order to ensure that naturalized refugee children are developing to their fullest potentials and integrated into a host Tanzanian society, deliberate efforts are much needed to understand common types and main causes of conflicts. This will help in devising appropriate strategies to develop children’s constructive conflict-resolution skills.