Teachers as Everyday Peacebuilders in Conflict Settings: Lessons from South Sudan

Teachers play essential yet often overlooked roles as peacebuilders in conflict settings. They serve as frontline custodians of education, determining whether schools survive as civilian spaces or become sites of violence and exclusion. Drawing on collaborative ethnography and interviews with ninety-nine teachers affected by South Sudan’s civil war, this article shows how teachers worked intuitively to safeguard schools, protect students, challenge inequalities, and develop improvised forms of peace education. Their well-being was severely compromised by violence, insecurity and resource shortages, yet many continued to promote students’ safety and learning regardless. In a period marked by escalating conflict, attacks on education, and declining international aid, this study reveals the vital but undervalued labor that some teachers perform in war zones. We argue for greater attention to these everyday forms of peacebuilding and protective agency, identifying the professional values, relationships and skills that enable such initiatives and the threats and deprivations that undermine them. We also urge policymakers to urgently increase support for teachers’ well-being and training in crisis contexts—not only to enhance and sustain their contributions to quality education, but also to promote civilian protection and durable peace.