The role of primary school teachers in education change in Jordan

This thesis reports an evaluation of the Jordanian Education Reform Program (JERP) initiated in 1987. The thesis includes a review of the international literature on education reform culminating in a conclusion that the most widely accepted approach currently is a mixed-model one that is partly top-down and partly bottom-up. Both quantitative and qualitative types of data were gathered and analysed. The findings of the study were that some seven teacher roles, particularly those of technologist and social change agent, were being performed at comparatively low levels, while others, particularly those of developer of student’s cognitive growth and health educator, were being performed at comparatively high levels. Many problems in the implementation of the education reforms were revealed in the interviews, especially the failure to involve teachers in the process of planning the reforms. Implications for policy, practice and further research were suggested