Politics, incoherence and inequalities of Jordan teacher management system

• In Event: Power and (in)coherence: political economy analyses of education systems in conflict and crisis

Proposal

Marginalized and vulnerable students typically have the least experienced and least supported teachers, lowering their chances of academic success. This persistent problem cannot be addressed in isolation but requires an understanding of the complex systems in which it is embedded and shaped. This is the premise of systems thinking currently being applied to the education field.. This paper presents the results from a study employing systems thinking to Jordan’s public school system, which has struggled since 2011 to provide education for both its citizens and more than 1.3 million Syrian refugees, most of whom reside in host communities and attend public schools. Despite international aid, the education system still suffers from limited resources, a lack of decentralization and accountability, and a constant churn of education ministers - all problems exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recently, Jordan’s Ministry of Education implemented a new national teacher evaluation framework, ranking system, and training programs - although these reforms do not cover teachers in refugee settings. As a result, researchers on the Education Research in Conflict and Protracted Crisis (ERICC) programme designed a study to understand what points of incoherence exist amongst the various system elements and actors managing teachers, particularly in regard to inequities between full-time and temporarily employed teachers who mainly serve refugee students. The researchers employed the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) diagnostic, a framework that outlines key “relationships'' and “design elements”. The four accountability relationships exist among four system actors: the state, education authorities, schools, and families/communities. The five design elements through which one actor can influence the behavior of another in each relationship are: delegation of tasks, support, performance monitoring, resources, and consequences. The RISE diagnostic aligns these categories into a matrix to allow for identification of misalignments and incoherences across the education system and to assess whether system components are aligned for learning, access, socialization, or patronage/interest groups. The study is among the first to apply the RISE framework to a conflict-affected context and where the impact of systemic misalignments on refugee students will be the central focus.

In terms of data collection, the researchers first performed a desk review of national policy documents and relevant research, conducted a mapping of national education stakeholders, and held two workshops with 16 Ministry officials to further understand current teacher management policies and practices. Field data collection included 10 semi-structured interviews with key informants from government, international organizations, and local NGOs, as well as eight focus groups with teachers, principals, and supervisors (total n=60).

The paper will present several insights gleaned from the analysis of the data collected using the RISE framework, including the confusion and tension surrounding the evaluator roles, the lack of disciplinary mechanisms, the misalignment of teacher hiring practices and field realities, and the perpetuation of a parallel teacher management system for teachers of refugees. The paper will also highlight the benefits and challenges of applying the RISE framework to crisis-affected country contexts.
 

Author

• Emilee Rauschenberger, Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development