Jordan education reform puts teachers at the centre
last updated: 2 h ago
As the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development begins operating under its new institutional structure, teacher empowerment has emerged as a central issue in Jordan's evolving education sector, amid an official push to strengthen professional development and draw teachers more directly into curriculum and programme design.اضافة اعلان
Teachers are the most visible link between written programmes and classroom reality, yet their precise role in the new system remains a matter of debate. Will they move from passive recipients of curricula to active partners in shaping them? And what conditions must be met before empowerment produces measurable improvements in the quality of teaching and learning?
Education experts say the new system has already redefined what is expected of teachers. They are no longer simply executors of a curriculum or recipients of instructions and training. Instead, they are expected to act as essential partners in forming and improving the educational process — exercising greater professional freedom, experimenting with teaching methods, and feeding observations back to policymakers.
In separate interviews with Al-Ghad, several specialists said that opening curriculum development to active teacher participation represents a shift from a top-down directive model to one built on partnership and field-grounded innovation. Teachers, they said, are uniquely positioned to diagnose student needs and identify classroom challenges, making their involvement in curriculum design, teaching methods, and assessment not merely desirable but necessary.
They added that translating empowerment into genuine quality improvements requires building a sustainable professional development system that keeps pace with educational and technological change — one that complements the professional diploma programme the Ministry is currently running.
Education Minister Azmi Mahafza, in a message to teachers at the start of the new academic year, said that empowering teachers and recognising their efforts is central to the Ministry's strategy for the coming period. 'We will spare no effort in expanding the scope of professional development programmes and providing a supportive and stimulating work environment that guarantees teachers their prestige and high social standing,' Mahafza said.
He added: 'We fully realise that true investment begins with developing your capabilities, supporting your career paths, and opening wider horizons for your active participation in shaping development programmes and interactive curricula, so that you may always remain inspiring role models and true makers of hope in our generous nation.'
Educational expert Faisal Tayeh said debate about teacher empowerment should not stop at improving working conditions or expanding training opportunities. It must reach the point at which teachers have a genuine hand in developing the very programmes and curricula they implement, since they are best placed to judge whether those materials are practical and suited to students' needs.
Tayeh said the Ministry's move into a new phase presents an opportunity to redefine the teacher's role, particularly given the system's stated focus on curriculum development, future skills, digital transformation, and revised assessment methods. These ambitions, he said, require teachers who can contribute to shaping programmes, not simply carry them out.
He drew a distinction between genuine participation and superficial consultation. Asking teachers for their views once a programme has already been designed does not constitute real involvement, Tayeh said. True participation begins with identifying needs and problems, continues through designing and testing solutions, and ends with evaluating outcomes and adjusting course on the basis of field feedback.
Tayeh called for clear institutional channels through which teachers can communicate their experience, observations, and recommendations — channels with real influence over decisions on curricula, assessment methods, and professional development.
He linked genuine empowerment to professional trust. Teachers cannot be expected to nurture critical, creative, and independent students if they themselves work in an environment that does not respect their expertise or allow them any meaningful initiative. At the same time, Tayeh stressed that empowerment does not mean working outside established frameworks. The goal is a balanced equation between professional autonomy and accountability: clear objectives and standards alongside adequate professional space to decide how to meet them.
Tayeh identified continuous professional development grounded in real needs as a further requirement — not isolated training courses, but programmes that build skills in learning design, assessment, digital education, artificial intelligence, inclusive education, thinking strategies, and the management of individual differences. He also called for a reduction in the administrative load on teachers, arguing that it is unreasonable to expect a teacher to participate in curriculum committees and development projects while devoting a large share of their time to administrative tasks that could be simplified or digitised.
He said the success of empowerment should ultimately be measured by its effect on classroom practice: whether teachers can design active learning, use assessment to drive learning, address individual differences, deploy technology effectively, and contribute to programme and curriculum development. Only then does empowerment become more than an administrative concept — it becomes a tangible force in the teaching and learning relationship.
Tayeh argued that teacher participation should extend beyond development to post-implementation evaluation, forming a continuous cycle of design, field feedback, assessment, adjustment, and improvement. Professional councils, teacher networks, and professional learning communities can play a meaningful role here, he said, provided they function as genuine institutional channels rather than formalities.
He added that experienced teachers represent a valuable knowledge resource that should not remain confined to individual classrooms. Years of accumulated experience in dealing with students, curricula, and classroom challenges can be converted into professional knowledge shared through training, mentoring, professional communities, and direct involvement in curriculum development.
Tayeh said the shift from a culture of the teacher as implementer to the teacher as partner cannot be achieved by a single administrative decision. It requires a change in institutional culture, so that the relationship between the Ministry, its directorates, and individual schools is built on trust, cooperation, and feedback rather than instruction, supervision, and procedural accountability alone.
'The message that must reach the field,' Tayeh said, 'is that empowering teachers is not a privilege granted to them, but a necessity for improving the quality of education. A teacher who feels their voice is heard, their expertise is respected, and they have room to develop and take initiative will be more willing to take responsibility for improvement.'
He described the central challenge for the coming phase as building an educational model that 'trusts the teacher as much as it demands responsibility from them.' Curriculum reform without teachers will be incomplete; digital transformation will not succeed without them; assessment development will have limited impact without them; and building future skills requires teachers who themselves possess those skills and know how to develop them in students.
Tayeh concluded that teachers in the new system should be partners in thinking, development, and evaluation — and should share accountability for results. That partnership, he said, is what turns the concept of empowerment from rhetoric into practice, visible in teachers' daily work, their relationship to the curriculum, their professional decisions, and the level of trust placed in them within their schools.
Educational expert Dr Najwa Al-Qubailat said the coming phase should see a fundamental shift in the teacher's role. Developing the educational system, she said, must encompass all components of the process — inputs, processes, and outputs — to achieve a positive and lasting effect on educational quality.
Al-Qubailat described teachers as one of the most important inputs into the educational system and its central pillar, making their professional development and empowerment essential to any reform effort. The Ministry's move towards granting teachers a broader role should, she said, go beyond curriculum delivery, traditional assessment, and administrative oversight. Teachers should become active partners in curriculum development, the design of educational programmes, the evaluation of teaching effectiveness, and the leadership of school-level improvement.
She said that opening curriculum development to active teacher participation reflects a move away from the model of the teacher as a passive recipient of decisions toward that of an innovator capable of channelling field experience into planning and decision-making. Teachers are best equipped to identify student needs and classroom challenges, she added, making their involvement in curriculum design, methods, and assessment an educational necessity.
Al-Qubailat said building a sustainable professional development system — one that complements the Ministry's existing professional diploma programme — is a prerequisite for meaningful empowerment. This must go alongside genuine teacher participation in curriculum development committees and educational decision-making, stronger professional authority attached to their roles, and a school environment that encourages initiative, innovation, and collaborative working culture.
She said the measure of success is not the number of training programmes offered or policies announced, but the impact on daily classroom practice and on student learning — with students themselves becoming genuine participants in their own education. An empowered teacher, she said, is one who can design more effective learning opportunities that develop students' thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills, preparing them for the future job market.
Al-Qubailat said the new education system, if implemented correctly and if the Ministry conducts a thorough review of educational pathways, is a genuine opportunity to redefine the teacher as a partner in planning, implementation, development, and evaluation — rather than simply an executor of policies and programmes. This transformation, she said, raises the quality of education, heightens teachers' professional responsibility, and builds a system more responsive to change.
Educational expert Muhammad Abu Amara said the new education system has redefined the teacher's role. Teachers are no longer simply curriculum implementers or recipients of instructions and training; they are essential partners in shaping and developing the educational process.
Abu Amara said this transformation requires granting teachers greater professional freedom to be creative in teaching methods, as well as empowering them to feed observations back to those responsible for the educational process. Teachers' field experience, he said, makes their views a fundamental input for curriculum, programme, and policy development.
He said teachers are best placed to assess educational needs because of their direct interaction with students, the curriculum, and all other elements of the educational process. Their voices and field experience must be taken into account when developing curricula, programmes, and policies, particularly for newly introduced material.
Moving teachers from the role of curriculum implementer to partner requires, Abu Amara said, building their capabilities across three levels: knowledge, skills, and authority — alongside building their professional confidence. The knowledge required is no longer simply a matter of possessing information; it involves a shift in how teachers approach knowledge and how they convey it to students. Teacher empowerment also requires a review of the powers granted to them, allowing greater scope for appropriate educational decisions, together with job security and a reinforced belief that teaching is a viable and fulfilling career path.
Abu Amara said these changes place new responsibilities on the Ministry of Education. Providing training programmes alone is not enough; professional development must be continuous, periodically evaluated, and aligned with teachers' actual classroom needs. Training that is disconnected from a teacher's reality, a school's resources, and the nature of the curriculum will not achieve a real impact.
He called for teachers to be given space to make educational decisions, to experiment and innovate, to share experiences and successful practices, and to integrate artificial intelligence and technology into their teaching — noting that the Ministry has set a focus on modern schools using AI tools and educational technology, and that several private schools already have advanced experience in this area.
Abu Amara said true teacher empowerment is not measured by the number of training courses attended, but by the extent to which professional development improves student learning. It is essential, he said, to assess student performance before and after training programmes to determine whether they have contributed to improved engagement, stronger thinking skills, higher performance, and more positive attitudes toward the subject. Teacher performance in the classroom must also be monitored, with attention to whether teachers are able to use data, feedback, technology, and AI to improve their practice.
He stressed that quality education cannot be built on teachers alone, despite their central role. It requires a supportive school environment, collaborative educational leadership, flexible curricula, suitable digital infrastructure, a fair assessment system, and a societal and family culture that views teachers as experts and partners in educational decision-making.
When those conditions exist, Abu Amara concluded, teacher empowerment moves from a slogan to a practice with a direct and measurable impact on the quality of education in the classroom.
This article was originally written in Arabic by Alaa Mazhar for Al Ghad.
Teachers are the most visible link between written programmes and classroom reality, yet their precise role in the new system remains a matter of debate. Will they move from passive recipients of curricula to active partners in shaping them? And what conditions must be met before empowerment produces measurable improvements in the quality of teaching and learning?
Education experts say the new system has already redefined what is expected of teachers. They are no longer simply executors of a curriculum or recipients of instructions and training. Instead, they are expected to act as essential partners in forming and improving the educational process — exercising greater professional freedom, experimenting with teaching methods, and feeding observations back to policymakers.
In separate interviews with Al-Ghad, several specialists said that opening curriculum development to active teacher participation represents a shift from a top-down directive model to one built on partnership and field-grounded innovation. Teachers, they said, are uniquely positioned to diagnose student needs and identify classroom challenges, making their involvement in curriculum design, teaching methods, and assessment not merely desirable but necessary.
They added that translating empowerment into genuine quality improvements requires building a sustainable professional development system that keeps pace with educational and technological change — one that complements the professional diploma programme the Ministry is currently running.
Education Minister Azmi Mahafza, in a message to teachers at the start of the new academic year, said that empowering teachers and recognising their efforts is central to the Ministry's strategy for the coming period. 'We will spare no effort in expanding the scope of professional development programmes and providing a supportive and stimulating work environment that guarantees teachers their prestige and high social standing,' Mahafza said.
He added: 'We fully realise that true investment begins with developing your capabilities, supporting your career paths, and opening wider horizons for your active participation in shaping development programmes and interactive curricula, so that you may always remain inspiring role models and true makers of hope in our generous nation.'
Educational expert Faisal Tayeh said debate about teacher empowerment should not stop at improving working conditions or expanding training opportunities. It must reach the point at which teachers have a genuine hand in developing the very programmes and curricula they implement, since they are best placed to judge whether those materials are practical and suited to students' needs.
Tayeh said the Ministry's move into a new phase presents an opportunity to redefine the teacher's role, particularly given the system's stated focus on curriculum development, future skills, digital transformation, and revised assessment methods. These ambitions, he said, require teachers who can contribute to shaping programmes, not simply carry them out.
He drew a distinction between genuine participation and superficial consultation. Asking teachers for their views once a programme has already been designed does not constitute real involvement, Tayeh said. True participation begins with identifying needs and problems, continues through designing and testing solutions, and ends with evaluating outcomes and adjusting course on the basis of field feedback.
Tayeh called for clear institutional channels through which teachers can communicate their experience, observations, and recommendations — channels with real influence over decisions on curricula, assessment methods, and professional development.
He linked genuine empowerment to professional trust. Teachers cannot be expected to nurture critical, creative, and independent students if they themselves work in an environment that does not respect their expertise or allow them any meaningful initiative. At the same time, Tayeh stressed that empowerment does not mean working outside established frameworks. The goal is a balanced equation between professional autonomy and accountability: clear objectives and standards alongside adequate professional space to decide how to meet them.
Tayeh identified continuous professional development grounded in real needs as a further requirement — not isolated training courses, but programmes that build skills in learning design, assessment, digital education, artificial intelligence, inclusive education, thinking strategies, and the management of individual differences. He also called for a reduction in the administrative load on teachers, arguing that it is unreasonable to expect a teacher to participate in curriculum committees and development projects while devoting a large share of their time to administrative tasks that could be simplified or digitised.
He said the success of empowerment should ultimately be measured by its effect on classroom practice: whether teachers can design active learning, use assessment to drive learning, address individual differences, deploy technology effectively, and contribute to programme and curriculum development. Only then does empowerment become more than an administrative concept — it becomes a tangible force in the teaching and learning relationship.
Tayeh argued that teacher participation should extend beyond development to post-implementation evaluation, forming a continuous cycle of design, field feedback, assessment, adjustment, and improvement. Professional councils, teacher networks, and professional learning communities can play a meaningful role here, he said, provided they function as genuine institutional channels rather than formalities.
He added that experienced teachers represent a valuable knowledge resource that should not remain confined to individual classrooms. Years of accumulated experience in dealing with students, curricula, and classroom challenges can be converted into professional knowledge shared through training, mentoring, professional communities, and direct involvement in curriculum development.
Tayeh said the shift from a culture of the teacher as implementer to the teacher as partner cannot be achieved by a single administrative decision. It requires a change in institutional culture, so that the relationship between the Ministry, its directorates, and individual schools is built on trust, cooperation, and feedback rather than instruction, supervision, and procedural accountability alone.
'The message that must reach the field,' Tayeh said, 'is that empowering teachers is not a privilege granted to them, but a necessity for improving the quality of education. A teacher who feels their voice is heard, their expertise is respected, and they have room to develop and take initiative will be more willing to take responsibility for improvement.'
He described the central challenge for the coming phase as building an educational model that 'trusts the teacher as much as it demands responsibility from them.' Curriculum reform without teachers will be incomplete; digital transformation will not succeed without them; assessment development will have limited impact without them; and building future skills requires teachers who themselves possess those skills and know how to develop them in students.
Tayeh concluded that teachers in the new system should be partners in thinking, development, and evaluation — and should share accountability for results. That partnership, he said, is what turns the concept of empowerment from rhetoric into practice, visible in teachers' daily work, their relationship to the curriculum, their professional decisions, and the level of trust placed in them within their schools.
Educational expert Dr Najwa Al-Qubailat said the coming phase should see a fundamental shift in the teacher's role. Developing the educational system, she said, must encompass all components of the process — inputs, processes, and outputs — to achieve a positive and lasting effect on educational quality.
Al-Qubailat described teachers as one of the most important inputs into the educational system and its central pillar, making their professional development and empowerment essential to any reform effort. The Ministry's move towards granting teachers a broader role should, she said, go beyond curriculum delivery, traditional assessment, and administrative oversight. Teachers should become active partners in curriculum development, the design of educational programmes, the evaluation of teaching effectiveness, and the leadership of school-level improvement.
She said that opening curriculum development to active teacher participation reflects a move away from the model of the teacher as a passive recipient of decisions toward that of an innovator capable of channelling field experience into planning and decision-making. Teachers are best equipped to identify student needs and classroom challenges, she added, making their involvement in curriculum design, methods, and assessment an educational necessity.
Al-Qubailat said building a sustainable professional development system — one that complements the Ministry's existing professional diploma programme — is a prerequisite for meaningful empowerment. This must go alongside genuine teacher participation in curriculum development committees and educational decision-making, stronger professional authority attached to their roles, and a school environment that encourages initiative, innovation, and collaborative working culture.
She said the measure of success is not the number of training programmes offered or policies announced, but the impact on daily classroom practice and on student learning — with students themselves becoming genuine participants in their own education. An empowered teacher, she said, is one who can design more effective learning opportunities that develop students' thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills, preparing them for the future job market.
Al-Qubailat said the new education system, if implemented correctly and if the Ministry conducts a thorough review of educational pathways, is a genuine opportunity to redefine the teacher as a partner in planning, implementation, development, and evaluation — rather than simply an executor of policies and programmes. This transformation, she said, raises the quality of education, heightens teachers' professional responsibility, and builds a system more responsive to change.
Educational expert Muhammad Abu Amara said the new education system has redefined the teacher's role. Teachers are no longer simply curriculum implementers or recipients of instructions and training; they are essential partners in shaping and developing the educational process.
Abu Amara said this transformation requires granting teachers greater professional freedom to be creative in teaching methods, as well as empowering them to feed observations back to those responsible for the educational process. Teachers' field experience, he said, makes their views a fundamental input for curriculum, programme, and policy development.
He said teachers are best placed to assess educational needs because of their direct interaction with students, the curriculum, and all other elements of the educational process. Their voices and field experience must be taken into account when developing curricula, programmes, and policies, particularly for newly introduced material.
Moving teachers from the role of curriculum implementer to partner requires, Abu Amara said, building their capabilities across three levels: knowledge, skills, and authority — alongside building their professional confidence. The knowledge required is no longer simply a matter of possessing information; it involves a shift in how teachers approach knowledge and how they convey it to students. Teacher empowerment also requires a review of the powers granted to them, allowing greater scope for appropriate educational decisions, together with job security and a reinforced belief that teaching is a viable and fulfilling career path.
Abu Amara said these changes place new responsibilities on the Ministry of Education. Providing training programmes alone is not enough; professional development must be continuous, periodically evaluated, and aligned with teachers' actual classroom needs. Training that is disconnected from a teacher's reality, a school's resources, and the nature of the curriculum will not achieve a real impact.
He called for teachers to be given space to make educational decisions, to experiment and innovate, to share experiences and successful practices, and to integrate artificial intelligence and technology into their teaching — noting that the Ministry has set a focus on modern schools using AI tools and educational technology, and that several private schools already have advanced experience in this area.
Abu Amara said true teacher empowerment is not measured by the number of training courses attended, but by the extent to which professional development improves student learning. It is essential, he said, to assess student performance before and after training programmes to determine whether they have contributed to improved engagement, stronger thinking skills, higher performance, and more positive attitudes toward the subject. Teacher performance in the classroom must also be monitored, with attention to whether teachers are able to use data, feedback, technology, and AI to improve their practice.
He stressed that quality education cannot be built on teachers alone, despite their central role. It requires a supportive school environment, collaborative educational leadership, flexible curricula, suitable digital infrastructure, a fair assessment system, and a societal and family culture that views teachers as experts and partners in educational decision-making.
When those conditions exist, Abu Amara concluded, teacher empowerment moves from a slogan to a practice with a direct and measurable impact on the quality of education in the classroom.
This article was originally written in Arabic by Alaa Mazhar for Al Ghad.
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