The Road Not Traveled: Education in MENA

Anyone with an interest in education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) should download and read a recent report from the World Bank entitled: The Road Not Traveled - Education Reform in the Middle East and Africa. Indeed, anyone with an interest in the development of education globally will find much to think about here.

Like any report from the World Bank, this paper is replete with an incredibly rich and fascinating mass of statistics as well as formidable analysis of social and economic trends. However, it is also admirably (I almost wrote 'surprisingly') thoughtful in its discussion both of broader trends in educational thought and practice across the globe and of the implications of such trends for education in this impatient and learning-hungry region. It ranges across primary, secondary, vocational and higher education, and paints a picture of a swathe of countries that have expended, and are expending, much effort and no little resource in attempting to generate real educational opportunities for their citizens (but a very mixed picture, of course, in so many respects, in terms of broader social, gender and political opportunities). The report, basically, looks at 'what next': how can countries in the region take further decisive steps towards achieving a higher quality and greater relevance in education at all levels?

The authors of the paper take a particular approach to improving a national education system, an approach that seeks to produce better 'engineering' of education, better motivation of the actors involved, and better public accountability of policy makers to citizens.

"Better engineering involves providing the necessary level and mix of inputs to achieve the objectives of education by means of effective management and adequate resources. Better incentives go beyond compensation to issues of evaluation, monitoring, and information. Finally, better public accountability involves giving parents/students voice to influence educational policies and resource allocation."

While the systems-like approach taken here might jar with some, there is no doubt that, for many parts of this disparate region, a seriously concerted effort is needed to push forward with further and effective reforms of education systems. Many countries, the report acknowledges, have already relied heavily on 'an engineering perspective' in getting their education systems to where they are now. As the paper says:

"What is surprising is that they have not as yet gone far enough in the direction of relying more systematically and coherently on measures of incentives and public accountability. The engineering approach probably served the region reasonably well earlier, when it was necessary for the government to take the lead on establishing a new education system, with a new structure and administration, new curricula and textbooks, a new professional teacher corps and administrative staff, and a command and control apparatus. However, the expectations from education have changed over time, for both internal and external reasons. The strong preference for the engineering perspective is starting to show its limits and strains. The path taken so far is no longer what is needed going forward. Thus a shift in orientation is needed."

An 'engineering' approach is necessary but not sufficient to achieve the level of change and reform required in many countries today.

So:

"...all over the world, the organization of education systems is changing on pedagogical (student-centered and competency-based learning), structural (lifelong learning), financing (diversification of funding), and managerial (decentralization and coordination) fronts to keep pace with the changing place of human capital in the development equation. Hence, the success of future education reform programs will require a change in tack. It will require a sharing of responsibility among sector authorities, potential service providers, and civil society. In other terms, it will require a new balance of engineering, incentives, and public accountability."

The World Bank, as might be expected, sees education as primarily an instrument for improving 'human capital development'. Again, this might jar for some who read the 400 or so pages here. But no one should doubt that the reservoir of untapped potential in MENA could be opened up massively through an approach such as the World Bank advocates here, for all its reductive flaws. In time, and perhaps more quickly than will be the case for older and more developed (and just as highly 'engineered') education systems, a better educated population in some parts of MENA might be able to move on from an 'engineered' education system to one that is more about passion and ambition and development of the whole human than simply about ensuring that the education system and the labour market tick along, more or less, in tandem. I believe this could be an 'intended unintended consequence', in the medium to longer term, of such reform (as I have tried to argue before). As such, any country that managed this would surely act as a beacon for what other countries in this region could achieve?

"The modern history of education reform in MENA is a tale of brazen ambition, struggle against internal and external odds, unintended consequence, tactical error and success, accomplishment, and unfinished business. It is also the story of the interaction of competing visions of the purpose and ends of education, pitching global trends in education strategy and content against age-old education traditions. Along this tumultuous path, the region should indeed be proud of its accomplishments."

I see evidence in my own work of the very ambition and struggle described here. And I certainly see a number of countries that, given the opportunity, could take massive strides in the next few years.

[Please note that this is cross-posted from my own blog at: www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/.