Transforming Teacher Preparation in Jordan: Practicum Reform as a Catalyst for System-Level Change

• In Event: Roundtable Session 14
  In Refereed Roundtable Session: Empowering Educators for System Change: Preparation, Agency, Well-Being, and Evidence-Based Reform

Proposal

The enhancement of practicum standards in Jordan marks a landmark achievement in national education policy reform, led by local decision-makers with support from Asas, an early grades education project implemented by IREX and funded by USAID. The reform addressed a critical challenge: teacher education programs were failing to provide student teachers with sufficient, high-quality practical experience or meaningful integration of theory and practice. This gap compromised teacher readiness and perpetuated inequities in early grade learning outcomes nationwide.

To address this, Asas and partners adopted a systems thinking approach, viewing practicum reform not as an isolated intervention but as an entry point for broader systemic transformation. An evidence-driven process underpinned this approach, combining data collection, benchmarking, and stakeholder consultations to co-develop solutions that were both context-specific and feasible. This helped secure buy-in from the Ministry of Education (MoE), universities, and the Accreditation and Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutions (AQACHEI), ensuring reforms were anchored in national ownership and policy coherence.

The resulting policy change—endorsed across public and private colleges of education—doubled student teachers’ classroom practice hours from 350 to over 700, aligned practicum competencies with the updated curriculum, and secured formal national access to schools for all practicum students. Crucially, the reforms also set the stage for graduates of restructured programs to receive exemptions from mandatory post-graduation Continuing Professional Development (CPD), a change expected to save the MoE up to $1 million annually while incentivizing institutions to adopt higher-quality preparation models.

Building on this foundation, Asas is now supporting a strategic redesign of teacher education governance. Efforts focus on:

Developing a national Quality Assurance (QA) framework tailored to faculties of education;

Integrating faculty professional development and recognition into accreditation and promotion policies;

Redesigning the National Proficiency Test to incorporate portfolios and performance-based assessments; and

Strengthening pathways for policy alignment between MoE, AQAC, and universities.

These reforms are designed not as standalone efforts but as interlocking components of a coherent system that embeds accountability, continuous improvement, and institutional incentives throughout the teacher preparation pipeline.

This case illustrates the transformative potential of policy systems thinking: targeted reforms, like enhancing practicum quality, can serve as catalysts for re-engineering entire policy architectures. By grounding reform in existing governance structures, aligning institutional incentives, and centering government leadership, Jordan is advancing a sustainable, competency-based teacher development system that promises to improve learning outcomes for all children.

Author

• Hebah Foda, IREX