The Sixth Commonwealth Teachers’ Research Symposium brought together education researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to share experiences from developed and developing countries both within and outside the Commonwealth. This collection of papers from the event examines current trends in teacher migration, including education in emergencies, forced migration and pan-African migration, in line with the current global focus on education in conflict affected countries.

The chapter, Beyond the commonwealth teacher recruitment protocol: next steps in managing teacher migration in education in emergencies, by J. Penson, A. Yonemura, B. Sesnan, K. Ochs, and C. Chanda, asks what the issues affecting forced migrant teachers are compared to voluntary migrant teachers, and what policies are necessary to ensure their welfare.

Noting the research gaps around the role and status of refugee teachers in emergencies, it is found that teachers are significantly under-represented in the refugee population. By analysing the reasons why this is so and finding gaps in the existing policy environment and legislative framework, the paper attempts to determine the connections between the issues faced by refugee teachers, the protection of their rights and the contribution they are able to make towards increasing access to and quality of education.