Hossam Badrawi Official Website
Any educational policy shall depend on number of bases and pillars that include:
(First) Education and learning are two continuous processes that begin from birth to end of life. However, regular educational represents key part because it is one of the critical cycles of continuous learning, and plays the key role in providing individual with communication skills, knowledge of language, mathematics, arts and computer, and ability to get information and self-learning in the future as well as all related behaviors.
(Second) Development of education is immense and gradual processes, and shall not be suddenly created. Development processes shall be prepared between executors and beneficiaries. However, this shall not obstruct importance of rapid movement in changing the means of central management, educational districts and schools, and to upgrade their means and develop and amend their responsibilities.
(Third) Development of education in Egyptian society shall not be separated by any means from what happens in the world around us. We must have big part of future look, and to have reflections on higher and university education, whether in the system of study or development and linking of curricula to local and international community.
(Fourth) School is the basic unit of education, and teacher is its living cell. School management is its nervous system. Any development shall depend on preparation of teacher as first maker and means of development. Teacher’s social and material conditions must be reconsidered and his moral position in society shall be upgraded.
Standards for development of curricula
The idea of having standards to regulate any work shall be identified and declared to all parties of this work. In education, it is on the professional level represented in school districts, or on the popular level represented in recipient of right. We invite school districts in this framework to set themselves in regional and international comparison, and to work on standardization of scales to be able to amend the tracks when needed and to encounter the challenges.
We confirm importance of participation of intellectuals and scientists with the responsible ministry in definition of priorities that shall be adopted in curricula in every age group and on the level of governorate and state, and to include standards for measurement of the skills gained by the students, and language and superiority in mathematics and science, and the degree of community participation.
We have set vision for development of the method of drafting curricula. This vision is summed up in adoption of scientific approach in drafting, developing and assessing curricula. We recommended effectuation of the role of National Exams and Educational Assessment Center in issuance of annual report on the Egyptian curricular as compared to other countries, and to consider offering of number of various curricula to match the degree of school accreditation to create a new vision where there is competition to work on upgrade and development of schools and students taking the following bases into account:
- Adoption of the principle of preparation of curriculum for the integrated academic stage.
- Expanding adoption of mandatory curricula and optional curricula, and increasing the space of choice in the secondary stage, and linking them to subjects that quality for enrollment in university.
- Using the localized curricula of science, mathematics and technology on education curricula which prove success of their effect and quality of their outputs, and linking this type of curricula to developed countries to be in line with the international development and to focus on creativity in the curricula of Arabic, civics, history and other curricula.
- Granting partial freedom in drafting optional curricula within certain percentage for governorates and schools.
- Developing presentation of curriculum in textbook and leaving determination of supporting readings to school.
- Setting mechanism for survey of teachers’ opinion in the curriculum that they learn.
- Setting mechanism for identification of the percentage of student’s use of textbook and his utilization of it.
- Taking global quality tests and considering adoption of the principle of use of global educational institutions to measure success of the educational curriculum for the various stages of study, particularly in languages, mathematics and computers.
- Preparing study on school education work hours to match the prescribed curricula.
- Necessity for curriculum to include the required skills and to study sufficient time of school activity, research and training in skills.
- Necessity for continuous amendment of curriculum for every period of time in the pace of development of world and knowledge.
Teacher and future of education
Teacher is one of the pillars of future of education. He is the pivot of innovation and development. The policies introduced by us in education vision 2030 added to teacher’s role further importance and higher affair. It involves essential change of teacher’s functional roles with which the single source of knowledge is shifted to guide of multiple knowledge resources, coordinator of education processes and inspector of what is suitable to the abilities and inclinations of every learner.
Policies which are introduced emphasize the necessity for development of teacher’s preparation means and training and good professional structure of education by creating and supporting relations between these policies and the professional associations which focus on education quality through teachers, and establish documented professional ethics with him.
We believe that standard of education in any country will not supersede standard of its teachers. The vision offers an approach that was “formally” adopted by the state and wasn’t “actually” adopted in upgrading the profession of teacher, and dealing with him within the framework of professional academy to be crucible where teacher can be promoted to the highest standard, not in accordance with time, but by training, research, efficiency and achievement.
This vision also includes licensing practice of the profession of education, and extends to all professions in society as comprehensive vision, and guarantees for people degrees of professional worthiness with specific standards, and educational systems that focus on every declared and renowned professional worthiness.
Legislation of Academy of Teacher and Development of Education was issued in 2008. However, in my political experience and focus on not judging the effect of this on the profession without initiation of application, I noted repeated misapplication of the philosophy that creates certain policy. This was unfortunately proved thirteen years after establishment of Teacher’s Academy.
Students’ assessment
Students’ assessment is one of the key topics of educational systems throughout the world. It is a key part of development and is sometimes an excellent approach for teach of the pattern and media of teaching.
One of the reasons for spread of tutorials is that they prepare students for certain type of exams. Development of assessment methods may be key to eradicate this plight that overburdens the Egyptian family, and drive for creators of curricula to adopt the reasons for renaissance and development by turning to exploitation of the student’s developed mental capacities instead of instruction and focus on study only.
Authentic assessment is an integral part of education. Assessment can’t be separated from the comprehensive educational context. In view of the developed objectives of education in Egypt, there shall be radical development of the concept, objectives and means of assessment. Assessment is the basic means for verification of comprehensive quality in every system of educational process. Comprehensive quality is not realized in view of examination systems by mechanism that measures the students’ capacities of memorization and disregards his creative capacities.
Education is the only opportunity that aims at sorting and classifying students regardless of the accumulated education outcomes, and the mental skills, behavioral habits and moral and practical values and attitudes gained by students. This approach of assessment and its means resulted in suffering of students and Egyptian family, and increased because of tutorials. This was accompanied by considerable decrease of education outcomes quality and undermined community confidence in the official education institutions, and in teacher who is the main pillar of education. This resulted in appearance of nonsystematic pattern of educational system that compromised its education structure.
I am very careful before criticizing what happens in the system of education assessment these days. However, I can’t ignore that the idea of making the first secondary year exam and fourth primary year exam and years of transfer exam for all Egypt in the meantime, which is centralization that is not required, and unnecessary creation of problem that didn’t exist. These are stages of assessment of schools everywhere in the world. We have to assure decentralization within general rules.
Within digitalization, I am concerned with emphasizing that pillars and philosophy of assessment are not changed by its means, because they depend on the following global standards:
- Validity: That is, the exam actually measures what is required to be measured according to the specific curriculum.
- Reliability: That is, the exam produces results for students even if its means changed; and
- Justice, fairness and equal opportunities.
We shall turn to students’ assessment to enjoyable, fair and comprehensive process that tests what students actually know, and tests how they perform and works on development of learning and self-actualization skills to avoid this process being horrible (anxiety of exams) and dedicates negative practices such as private tutorials and cheating in exams to get rid of the dilemma of low grading marks that lead to comparison to others and absolute judgment of failure.
View of the concept of assessment changed. We see it as description instead of measurement, performance not test, work file instead of mark, diagnostic structural instead of issuance of judgments, cooperative performance, contemplation and self-assessment instead of competition and assessment of others.
In fact, success in exams is sign of success of schools, not student, because all students are capable of success if they are taught well.
The key problem in development of education systems is that application is not sustainable, and that priority of education is more verbal than actual. In fact, education system of Egypt with all its various elements suffers challenges that were fueled by Covid Crisis. We have to acknowledge that transition from vision and policy to application always encounters new developments. We must consider, address and discuss them reasonably and objectively, and to seek to transcend them to meet the desired outcomes. We have to participate with society in understanding those challenges and to determine those policies to be able to move from our place to the intended place.
Continuous desire towards development of education and demographic reality in Egypt imposed on us group of challenges that have to be encountered, primarily:
(First) Low of society confidence in official public education institutions and appearance of nonsystematic patterns parallel to the educational system of education outside school and considerable spread of private tutorials.
(Second) Low confidence in the main pillar of education, teacher, and his low status and limitation of his capacities in assessment of student.
It is noteworthy that teacher’s leadership decreases and enlightenment school role declines. There is an attempt to lay solid stereotypes of thinking which comes in the forefront of challenges that have to be encountered.
(Third) Low proficiency of languages, including Arabic, and law standard in mathematics and science and students’ distraction from specialization in them.
(Fourth) Low or no scope of students’ activities in many cases with all negative meanings in building of personality.
(Fifth) Wide gap in curricula of education and that they don’t adapt to expedition of knowledge and necessity to link it with the needs of community and labor market.
(Sixth) Unprecedented geographic spread of schools throughout Egypt, with its positive availability and its challenge in its central management, and difficulty in upgrading them and evaluating their performance.
(Seventh) There is more than one school period in about 20% of schools. Therefore, hours of students’ presence in school decrease and there is apparent increase of students’ absence from school, particularly in the secondary stage, which marginalizes the school role in building the student’s personality, and undermines the educational value of their existence.
(Eighth) Pressure of general exams in their present form, whether the conventional one or the resulting new approaches because of corona pandemic, and its effect on students and Egyptian family as they minimize the students’ capacities and don’t measure the higher thinking capacities and creativity, and creates social and political atmosphere of anger and feeling of injustice which is reflected on increasing loss of confidence in credibility of educational institutions.
(Ninth) Lack of political understanding that deals with the exponential increase of power that resists change and development, which hampers the attempts of progress in education and holds central ministry solely liable for making and managing change.
(Tenth): Infrastructure of digitalization in education is not consistent and complete for students in their homes and teachers in their classes and school management which is very far from digitalization.
Human factor and lack of training of teachers in digital management will remain to be key reason for delayed development.
We believe that slow encounter of those challenges by strong will and according to public integrated plan will directly lead to negative effect on rights of children and youth by:
(First) Higher marginalization of the poor and inability of education in its present condition to support positive social mobility as a direct and indirect outcome of it.
(Second) Movement of the most capable categories to private and foreign education inside and outside Egypt following general culture and use of Arabic, and social segregation of classes.
(Third) Poorer classes bear costs that relatively exceed their capacity in private tutorials, and official educational institutions don’t make benefit of this particular spending, which means much lost opportunities and unreal free education, and negative special impact on common sense.
