Rehane Sarhan

Abstract

This study focuses on the “Education First” program, a private-sector initiative supported by the Ministry of Education in Egypt for the professional development of teachers. The study undertakes a SWOC analysis of this initiative, building on qualitative research through structured and semi-structured in-depth interviews. Study participants included teachers, schools’ headmasters, and Ministry of Education officials who attended the program training sessions. The analysis shows that the most important program strength lies in its national outreach throughout the country, targeting all 721 public Tajrebeya schools’ teachers for English, Math and Sciences in the 27 governorates. It also recognized that the program weaknesses were mainly in its reliance on sustainable funding sources. As for opportunities, the study revealed that the program actually benefited from its good reputation to launch new initiatives targeting senior students in the graduation year at the Faculty of Education Ain Shams University. Challenges were mainly found in sustaining the political support for the program. The study recommends developing a time-bound strategic plan that helps detecting the operational and strategic issues and the development of training hubs in all regions of Egypt to reduce teachers’ time and effort in commuting during training sessions. At the level of government policies, there are essential success factors to ensure sustainable education improvement, such as political commitment, public accountability and partnership among main stakeholders. All of the above mentioned is essential to ensure that the program achieves its goals leading to improvement of student’s learning.

Department

Public Policy & Administration Department

Degree Name

MA in Public Administration

Graduation Date

6-1-2018

Submission Date

May 2018

First Advisor

Barsoum, Ghada

Committee Member 1

Aly, Hamid

Committee Member 2

Abdel Halim, Khaled

Extent

77 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

Comments

First I would like to thank God who gave me the courage to pursue this path, my family and especially my husband who believed in me and encouraged me to endure through the end, and my children Asser and Malak, who also believed in my capabilities and tolerated all my ups and downs. I wanted to set a model for persistence and hope I did. My deep gratitude goes to my family, my dear mother and sister, and to the soul of my father who taught me all what I learned in life and believed in me. My success is due to their encouragement. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Dr. Ghada Barsoum my supervisor who has always put me on track, and whose knowledge and ideas inspired me all the way; without her help and guidance I would have not been able to complete this achievement. I wish to also show gratitude to all my professors in the Public Policy and Administration department for enriching my background in this field. I would also like to deeply thank my readers Dr. Hamid Aly and Dr. Khaled Abdel Halim, for accepting to be my readers and helping me with their constructive feedback. Besides, I wish to extend my deep gratitude to all my friends and colleagues who encouraged me throughout the study phase, and contributed to the fulfilment of this achievement in a way or another. I wish to also express my gratitude to the program manager of the organization, and the respondents whose feedback helped me through the data collection process and enabled me to produce this work. May God bless you All.

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