Globalization and the reform of faculties of education in Egypt: The roles of individual and organizational, national and international actors

Abstract

In this manuscript we examine an example of globalization - the international organization-aided reform of faculties of education in Egypt. We first sketch the historical context during which secondary and primary-level teacher education became a part of Egyptian higher education. Then we draw on extensive documentary analysis and our own roles as observant participants to investigate the objectives, organization, and activities of two projects launched during the early years of the 21st century to achieve goals ascribed to the government of Egypt: a) the Faculty of Education Enhancement Project, which was a component of the Higher Education Enhancement Project funded by the World Bank, and b) the Faculty of Education Reform Project, which was part of the Education Reform Project funded by the United States Agency for International Development. We describe how the proposed policy and practice reform ideas reflected global discourses, while at the same time exploring the interplay between and among local and global actors and identifying individual and organizational factors that enabled or constrained these efforts to improve the quality of pre-service teacher education in Egypt. In particular, we document how these two projects, with similar objectives, operated in a relatively separate manner during planning and implementation stages, limiting the impact that they might have had if their activities had been more fully coordinated. This study thus contributes to theoretical debates about globalization as well as provides insights for educators, national government officials, and international organization personnel who seek to champion or resist global educational reform initiatives.