Dr. Jihae Cha

Dr. Jihae Cha
Assistant Professor, International Education and International Affairs
School: Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Department: Cross-Disciplinary, Educational Leadership
Contact:
- International and Comparative Education
- Policy Issues in International Education: Developing Countries
- Planning Education Reform in Developing Countries (Project Design and Management)
- Educating Those Out of School
- Education in Emergencies and Protracted Displacement
Selected Recent Publications:
Cha, J. (2024). What’s Pushing Them Out of School? Dropout Trends and Factors for Refugee Children and Youth in Kakuma Refugee Camp. International Journal of Educational Development
Cha, J. & Galle, L. (2024). The Influence of ‘Hidden’ Costs of School Uniforms for Refugee Students in Kenya. Compare – A Journal of Comparative and International Education.
Cha, J., Shepard, D., Cho, M., & Jeon, A. (2024). Children and Youth’s Belonging in Protracted Displacement: A Mixed-Methods Study in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 40(1)1-18
Choi, M., & Cha, J. (2023). “Stories Told by Refugee Youth: Alternatives to Dominant Narratives.” International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 1-19
- November 2024 - Dr. Jihae Cha co-published an article with GSEHD alumna Laura Galle (master's, International Education) titled, "The influence of ‘hidden’ costs of school uniforms for refugee students in Kenya," in Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. In addition, Dr. Cha published an article in the International Journal of Educational Development titled, "What’s pushing them out of school? A mixed methods approach to examining primary school dropout in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya."
- June 2024 - Dr. Jihae Cha and colleagues published an article in Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees titled, "Children and Youths’ Belonging in Protracted Displacement: A Mixed-Methods Study from Kakuma Refugee Camp." They conducted a mixed-methods study among students in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya to examine the roles of knowledge, experience (direct or indirect), language, and schooling in students’ sense of belonging to their home country and intention to return.
- February 2024 - Dr. Jihae Cha, along with doctoral students InJung Cho and Doo Rhee Lee (both in the Ph.D. in Education's Comparative and International Education concentration) presented as part of a panel at the Power and Politics of Localization Conference, convened by the Humanitarian Action Initiative (HAI) housed in GW's Elliott School of International Affairs.
- September 2023 - Dr. Jihae Cha, along with Dr. Minkyung Choi from Montclair State University, published the article, "Stories told by refugee youth: alternatives to dominant narratives," in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education.
- September 2023 - Dr. Jihae Cha published a chapter online titled, Children and Youth as “Agents" in Displacement: Young Girls' Stories of Motivation, Action, and Change in Kakuma Refugee Camp. In this book chapter, Dr. Minkyung Choi, Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at Montclair State University, and Dr. Cha examine the concept of “everyday agency” in children and youth’s daily decisions and actions in a highly restrictive environment. They find that children and youth -- even amidst displacement -- are constantly exercising agency and/or are actively involved in “agentic practices” on a spectrum consisting of three major categories: thinking, action, and change. The chapter is part of the book, Education for Refugees and Forced (Im)Migrants Across Time and Context: Volume 45.