Project profile — School and Directorate Improvement

The project aims to improve the quality of education available for girls and boys enrolled in public schools in Jordan, in order to better prepare them to contribute to and benefit from a knowledge economy. Activities undertaken through the project include: training school and directorate staff on self-assessment and strategic planning as well as results-based management and gender mainstreaming; and engaging students, parents, communities, teachers, and others to contribute to planning and implementing improvements for their schools. This project represents Canada's support for Jordan's Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy II (ERfKE II) initiative. It is building on results achieved from Canada's past support for education in the country, as well as achievements of Jordan's ERfKE I initiative which included: development of a national education strategy; development of a new curriculum, teacher guides, learning resource material and learning assessment tools for all subjects; and intensive and extensive teacher training.

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Results achieved as of June 2014 include: (1) 28 field directorates (field directorates represent the middle level of the Ministry of Education’s organizational structure and connect schools with the Ministry central). The 43 Field Directorates in Jordan are each responsible for approximately 60 to 120 schools in their geographical area). and over 2,600 schools (out of 3,582) are in different stages of implementation of the school and directorate improvement project, which includes preparing development plans and receiving block grants; (2) 2,196 principals, vice-principals and supervisors at the Ministry of Education were trained to develop participatory, results-based school improvement plans for Jordan’s schools and districts; (3) a gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation system was developed with the Ministry’s staff and 133 field-based supervisors; and (4) 1,270 school principals and assistant principals were trained in results-based management. One of the main results of the SDI project is also the recent approval of the educational council regulations, which facilitates and regulates community donations to schools and encourages community engagement. In addition, the gender training provided within the SDI project has raised awareness and introduced “gender champions” in the field directorates to help Directorates mentor and coach schools on gender related issues. As a result school plans now address the specific needs of girls and boys in the classroom to improve their respective quality of learning. These are contributing to strengthening the ability of schools to improve the quality of education in Jordan’s public schools through increasing the responsiveness of the education system to the needs of the schools