This paper explores the dynamics of repression and resistance within the Colombian education system through exploring human rights violations against educators. Drawing on the findings of several fieldwork visits carried out since 2005 across Colombia, the paper focuses on the darker side of the education/conflict relationship, demonstrating through a series of cases the complex way education systems and education actors get caught up in the Colombian civil war and the national and transnational catalysts for the human rights violations that occur. In doing so, the paper also argues for a more interdisciplinary and critical approach to education and conflict that recognises the transnational drivers of conflicts in education and beyond. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 2 notes.)