Aisha Khairat

Abstract

Community education in the Arab Republic of Egypt is a model that provides education to remote, underprivileged villages and hamlets where children have no access to public education. The Community Education model is based on the philosophy of transforming individuals to reach their full potential and on instilling the seeds of empowerment and citizenship to induce societal transformation. This research aims at investigating the degree to which the leadership style and organizational culture of the Egyptian community schools demonstrates an empowering approach. Nile Valley NGO, an Egyptian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) leading hundreds of Egyptian community schools was studied to investigate the perceptions of empowerment amongst its leadership. This in turn will have serious implications on the level of empowerment the communities managed by Nile Valley NGO are experiencing, and will serve as an indicator to the degree to which community schools are achieving their goals in transforming individuals and empowering communities and reforming Egyptian education - and not just a tool to reach literacy. This mixed-methods research utilized surveys and semi-structured interviews to capture the perceptions of empowerment in the views of a sample of 380 community schools facilitators (teachers) spanning eight Egyptian governorates and Nile Valley NGO's Community Education project team and leadership. The findings demonstrate interesting leadership approaches with traits from transformational and servant leadership theoretical models. The organizational culture at Nile Valley NGO reflects the universal dichotomy between market-oriented and humanitarian orientations. The perceptions of empowerment were positive and several success stories were uncovered in spite of the many challenges faced on the national level and despite the scarcity or resources.

Department

International & Comparative Education Department

Degree Name

MA in International & Comparative Education

Graduation Date

6-1-2018

Submission Date

May 2018

First Advisor

Zaalouk, Malak

Committee Member 1

El Deghaidy, Heba

Committee Member 2

Toprak, Mustafa

Extent

130 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Approval has been obtained for this item

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