Leadership Development in the Middle East and in East and West Africa

• In Event: 42.021 - Future International Directions in Educational Leadership: Can We Locate and Expand Equal Opportunities?

Abstract

The paper compares factors enhancing educational/school leadership in three Middle Eastern states: Egypt Turkey and Israel and in two east and west African nations, Kenya and Tanzania. Pointing up especially attempts to reform the educational systems, often borrowing models from “Western” states to improve teacher quality and establish programs for principals’ training. Due to strong centralization of control over the education systems in all three studied countries, it is the Ministry of Education that initiates and develops and supervises initiatives for reform. Broader access to education for women and increasing the age of high school graduation in all three states has led to slow progress for various populations within the education systems.

In Africa, two regional associations serve as geopolitical blocs reflecting both the historical and contemporary reforms. Thus, unlike the Middle East which is analyzed nation by nation, a review of the East African Community (EAC)and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) tells a different story. That said, the focus is on select national policies and initiatives of Tanzania and Ghana, two pivotal countries in EAC and ECOWAS in relation to education. The paper examines the roles and challenges of Tanzanian and Ghanaian women educational leaders via empirical studies and posits policies and/or programs to foster and enhance educational leadership and administration in Tanzania and Ghana so the nations and blocs continue to progress in socio-political and economic development.

Authors

• Khalid Arar, The Center for Academic Studies

• Maysaa Y. Barakat, Florida Atlantic University

• Izhar Oplatka, Tel Aviv University

• Selahattin Turan, BIYOSIDAL

• Beverly Lindsay, University of California