IEP Students Spend J-Term in Morocco

During J-Term 2012, a group of 15 graduate students from the International Education Policy Program (IEP) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education spent 10 days researching the Moroccan Education system. Representing the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Morocco, Russia, and Japan, the delegation set out to conduct rigorous comparative education policy analysis under the theme of “Implementing Quality in Education.”

This study abroad program emerged when a group of IEP students convened and decided to launch an ambitious comparative educational study across three wildly diverse contexts: Brazil, Jamaica, and Morocco. These countries were selected as regions of interest due to their status as emerging economies, political powers, or educational innovators. Although they represented a wide spectrum of cultures, ethnicities, and education systems, they shared the characteristic of a commitment to innovative education reform.

In the case of Morocco, the country is currently in the process of implementing a sweeping educational reform. Its flagship initiative, the new National Education Emergency Program (“Plan D’urgence” 2009–2012) introduces a series of comprehensive educational reform at all levels, with specific emphasis on education for all and improving quality of outcomes.

In Rabat, the group attended meetings with several departments of the Ministry of Education, including the Department of Strategy, Planning, and Statistics; the department for the promotion of private education and cooperation; the Department of Curriculum ; the Department of Quality; the Department of Higher Education; and the Department of Non-Formal Education. Outside of the ministry, the group visited the regional offices of UNESCO, USAID, World Bank, the Higher Education Council, and the Regional Academy of Education and Training for the Rabat region. Highlights of the trip included visits to a community youth center and preschool in Casablanca, in which participants had the opportunity to enter classrooms and interact with Moroccan school children.

Amid the diversity of organizations and entities, several issues consistently emerged: improving literacy rates, improving gender parity, improving rural education, reducing dropouts, and promoting 21st Century Skills. There were also recurring questions regarding the policy implications of language of instruction, privatization, and decentralization.

Many of the participants drew parallels between the ongoing issues of the Moroccan reform efforts and their own respective education systems. This trip provided students a unique opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at the strengths of the Moroccan education system and areas in which they have room to improve. Students were able to apply skills and information learned at HGSE to a real-world context, where abstract policies become concrete practice with measurable results. The experience was extremely valuable for the students, who hope to formulate policy suggestions that will help the Moroccan Ministry of Education continue on their trajectory of improvement and the provision of a quality education to all students.