Implementing School Management in the Arab Palestinian Education System in Jerusalem Schools, the Viewpoint of the Administrative Staff

Abstract

This study aims to examine the impact of School-Based Management (SBM) on Arab Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem. SBM, which has become a major and irreversible trend in educational reform in Western countries, has been introduced into a number of Asian and African nations over the last few decades. Consequently, a higher level of autonomy and decentralization constitutes the “default” approach to the management of schools within centrally-determined policies, goals, standards, curriculum, and accountability. However, the literature on SBM does not address the repercussions of implementing SBM in conflict zones such as Palestine in the context of larger political questions about power and ideological control. Using a qualitative methodology, field observations, and in-depth interviews with a sample of various stakeholders in Arab-Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem, including school principals and faculty members, this study investigates the impact of SBM on the educational system in these schools, their philosophy, policies, objectives, and the implementation of the curriculum, and the consequences of this on designing a “programmed” educational system educational outputs and learning outcomes. Findings show that these school reforms are driven not by a commitment to decentralization but by political and or ideological considerations (Israelifications and the assimilation of Palestinians within Israeli educational and philosophical frameworks). The study recommends that leaders in the field of education and education and local authorities in the Palestinian Arab community take appropriate measures to correct the current trajectories of the educational process in East Jerusalem schools.