Ripples of hope: leading educational change for equity in Egypt’s public schools

Globally, economically disadvantaged and minority students are especially negatively impacted by less-qualified teachers, yet less-qualified teachers are disproportionately found in low-income, minority communities. Many countries struggle with the need for highly qualified teachers, in low-performing schools. This case study investigated how a private-public-international partnership fostered large-scale educational change in Egypt to improve teacher quality through teacher-of-teacher professional development. Employing interviews, surveys and document analysis, including evaluations of 720 experimental public schools in 27 governorates, with a sample of 90 educators, the study spotlights large-scale educational change. Change was initiated at the school level by leaders seeking educational change for equity, demonstrating qualities of transformative leadership. Preliminary findings of educators changing their mindset about pedagogy, accompanied by modifying practices and beliefs. Findings illuminate how the leaders’ utilized the existing centralized, hierarchical system, incorporating both upper and middle management to support change. We conclude that large-scale educational change can be initiated at the school level by courageous transformative leaders and that interconnectedness at all levels is essential for sustainability. The international partnership exemplified global interconnectedness and was advantageous to public-school reform. Finally, professional learning is a bedrock of school-reform and could be the place where knowledge frameworks are deconstructed and reconstructed.