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Education in Morocco: Aspects and Prospects Edited by Adil Bentahar Mohammed Melouk
Published by the Moroccan Center for Civic Education iii
Editors Adil Bantahar English Language Institute University of Delaware, DE, United States Mohammed Melouk Faculty of Education Rabat, Morocco
© Moroccan Center for Civic Education 2019
Dépôt Légal : 2018MO5868 ISBN : 978-9920-36-894-0
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights reprinting, translation, broadcasting, reuse of illustration, and reproduction in any physical way. The Publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published institutional affiliations. The views expressed in the content are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Moroccan Center for Civic Education Cover design by Abderrazak Morjani Printed by Imprimerie Kortoba, Agadir, Morocco
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Foreword It is legitimate to wonder why you would want to read a collection of articles on the educational system of a country that has consistently lagged in international assessments in reading, mathematics, and science. If the country’s educational story is to be reduced to these three metrics, there is truly little to brag about. However, if we pause to consider that the country is steadfastly claiming its place as one of the favorite knowledge intensive investment destinations, then maybe there is more to the Moroccan educational story than just the unflattering results of its 4th and 8th graders in TIMSS, PISA, and PIRLS. Despite the gloom and doom of international assessment results, many students in Morocco have not been defined by their grades. They failed forward and continued to learn and perfect their skills, and eventually joined the country’s emerging and continuously expanding knowledge economy. Morocco’s story is worth sharing and reading because it embodies the struggle of building the bridge while walking on it. It is the story of the underdog Global South who though imperfect and often clumsy continues to learn and march forward to provide quality learning opportunities for all its children. In many Global South countries, providing quality and inclusive learning opportunities for all students is tantamount to a Rubik Cube with many interdependencies. It hinges on a transparent, standard-based, and accountable system that is based on valid data and globally benchmarked standards. It is also contingent on high quality human capital that ensues from careful recruitment, high quality pre-service training, on the job continuous improvement, and effective leadership. Last, but not least, quality learning opportunities for all becomes possible when centralized and decentralized structures provide the necessary financial, administrative, and training support for principals and teachers to deliver effective leadership and instruction. Like many other developing countries, Morocco’s march towards school improvement has required concomitant efforts to build organizational, human, and data capacity to ensure that service providers know what quality looks like, how to effectively achieve it, how to know they achieved it. This book is the first in a series of volumes that will be published by the Moroccan Center for Civic Education to capture the country’s journey toward educational improvement. v
Entitled Education in Morocco: Aspects and Prospects, this volume is a collection of articles written by Moroccan policy makers, education professors, education supervisors, and teachers on various aspects of Morocco’s educational systems. The book is unique in at least two ways. It represents one of the first collections of articles written for an international audience entirely in English. Second, it brings together the multiple perspectives of education change makers from the vantage points of their diverse roles and responsibilities in the country’s educational system. The book represents one of the very few windows into the educational system of a country that has often documented its own change process in Arabic or French. The sequence of articles follows a funnel logic of general to specific. The first article captures the mission, vision, and key strategic goals of Morocco’s education reform from 2015 – 2030. The second article documents the history of educational reform in the Kingdom since independence in 1956. The third article chronicles the evolution of English language teaching in Morocco’s public schools, and how English instruction steadily raised in prominence in a country where French still dominates as the language of the powerful and privileged. At the core of English instruction is the curriculum. Morocco has always defined itself as a tree whose branches extend to the Mediterranean but remains deeply rooted in Africa. The fourth article shows how the English curriculum in Morocco’s public school embodies a national identity that blends local culture with global outlook in raising a global citizen who sees diversity as an asset, not a threat. In this regard, article five investigates the extent to which exposure English represents both a linguistic and cultural experience that influences student’s pragma-linguistic competence. In the 21st century, learning to live, let live, collaborate, and work together is foundational to successful teams, cohesive societies, and world peace. The sixth article tackles this timely topic by discussing the development of civic education in Morocco and the role of public schools in Morocco in civic socialization. As educators all over the world grapple with ways to be relevant to their multicultural, multi-racial, and multi-faith classrooms, it is important to know how such issues play out in the context of a multicultural and multi-racial Muslim majority country. Articles seven, eight, and nine address multiple aspects of school leadership. Article seven explores the use of information and vi
communication technology (ICT) as a means for teacher supervision and professional development. In rural Morocco in particular, schools are dispersed but phones are everywhere. The article highlights the benefits of ICT and its applications in large scale supervision and training in Morocco. Article eight examines the multiple roles of teachers as leaders. This is a very promising article because it signals a break from a centralized topdown approach to instruction marked by memos from the Ministry and the tyranny of bureaucrat inspectors to a work environment that encourages free initiative, innovativeness, and creativity by fostering leadership dispositions and skills among teachers. Finally, article nine takes school leadership beyond the walls of the school. Public schools especially in poor urban centers in Morocco become extension battle grounds to dysfunctional families and neighborhoods. The article examines the role of school leaders in confronting marginalization of urban youth. It captures how principals’ roles have evolved from mere enforcers of Ministry of Education memos into those of leaders with significantly broader margins for maneuver for leading improvement within and outside the school walls. In addition to acquainting readers with Morocco’s education system, this book serves another equally important purpose. It helps connects the community of English speaking researchers and practitioners with a global community of colleagues from the Global South and North who share similar challenges or are experimenting with similar solutions. The intent of this book therefore is not simply to provide answers, but also to generate further questions of regional and global comparative interest that would result in research collaboratives spanning geographical borders. Mohammed Elmeski Senior Researcher at American Institutes for Research Washington, DC, USA
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Contents Pages 1. A Strategic Vision of Reform: School of Equity, Quality and Promotion …...……………. 1 Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research 2. Evolution of Educational Reforms in Morocco Adil Bentahar …….………………………………………….. 5 3. A Journey into the Last Thirty Years of ELT in Morocco Mohammed Melouk ………………………………………… 17 4. The Make-up of the Moroccan EFL Curriculum Ahmed Chaibi ……………………………………...………. 29 5. Developing Moroccan learners’ Pragmalinguistic Knowledge in EFL: The Case of Apologies Abderrazak Es-sobti ………………………………...…….… 39 6. The Role of NGOs in the Provision of Citizenship Education in Morocco Elarbi Imad …………………………………..……………… 51 7. ICT for Teacher Supervision and Professional Development Mohammed Hassim ……………………………………….... 60 8. Developing Teacher Leadership in the Moroccan ELT Context Samira Idelcadi ……......………………………………….… 70 9. Empowering Marginalized Children to Integrate the Knowledge Economy: Can School Principals in the Middle East and North Africa Lead the Charge? Morocco as a case Mohammed Elmeski ……………………………………...… 89 ix
Acknowledgements
Many individuals have generously given of their time to help improve the text through their reviews and comments in addition to layout and design, including Mr. Abderrazak Morjani and Mr. Mohammed Hassim.
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About the contributors
The Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research, which is composed of 92 members, is a consultative body in charge of advising and assessing public policies pertaining to education, training, and scientific research in Morocco. The Council was created according to the provisions of Article 168 of the Moroccan Constitution of 2011. The Council is chaired by Mr. Omar Aziman. Other members of the Council include ministers, education experts, members of unions, and civil society members. The creation of this Council responds to the need of reforming the education sector in Morocco. Its role is also to inform decision-makers, stakeholders and the public, through systematic and rigorous quantitative and qualitative assessments on the different aspects of education, training and scientific research systems. In 2015, the Council issued the document “SCHOOL OF EQUITY, QUALITY AND PROMOTION: A STRATEGIC VISION OF REFORM 20152030
Dr. Adil Bentahar Before moving to the United States for graduate studies in 2010, Adil Bentahar taught English in the South of Morocco, where he also served as the Regional Program Director for Moroccan Center for Civic Education. After earning a master’s and a Ph.D. from Boise State University (Idaho) and the University of Wyoming (Wyoming) in curriculum and instruction with a focus on ESL, he served as a faculty member at Virginia Tech. Adil is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware English Language Institute. Dr. Bentahar’s research interests include English language teaching, reading, civic education, and social justice.
Dr. Mohammed Melouk is a professor at the Faculty of Education in Rabat and founding member of the Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE). He has worked as consultant and expert in education and training with national and international institutions. Dr. Melouk has also published numerous articles in Arabic, French and English. He has supervised MA and Doctorate theses and conducted a number of educational assessments in Morocco and overseas. Prof. Melouk has coordinated and lectured at MA and Doctoral programmes in Applied Linguistics and Didactics of English. He has also acted xi
as Director of the Centre for Doctoral Studies: ‘Man, Society, Education’ at the Faculty of Education. In addition to being a member of the National Observatory of Languages and Sciences, he has worked as expert and collaborator for the Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research. Prof. Melouk has been a member of the scientific and editorial board of the journal ‘Al Madrassa Al Maghribia’.
Ahmed Chaibi is currently the Head of the Division of Evaluation in the Centre National de l’Evaluation, des Examens et de l’Orientation at the Morocco Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. He holds a Diploma in Strategic Planning and Performance Testing from the Centre de planification et d’orientation and Teacher Educator diploma from the Centre de Formation des Inspecteurs de l’Enseignement, Rabat. In 1987, Mr. Chaibi earned his BA degree from Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, Mohammed Ben Abdullah University in Fes and a Teacher Training Diploma (Diplome de l’Ecole Normale Superieure). Mr. Chaibi is the National Project Manager of PISA Morocco and the National Research Coordinator of the International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). He also serves as the Educational focal point and member of the working team responsible for the JICA- MNEVT cooperation project entitled “Promoting Education with Equity and Quality (PEEQ) in the Moroccan Education and Training System”. Mr. Chaibi is a member of the working team responsible for the “Promotion of Entrepreneurship Education (EPE) in the Moroccan Education and Training System. In his capacity as the English Supervisor Central specialist coordinator, he has been able to coordinate a number of the Summer Forum of English events.
Dr. Abderrazzak Essobty has been in education since 1982. Currently he is an English language supervisor in Beni Mellal Khenifra Regional Academy for Education and Training. Essobti holds a PhD in education. He has participated in many national and international conferences where he has given presentations and conducted workshops. His main interests include ELT issues, pragmatics, discourse analysis and textbook evaluation.
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Elarbi Imad is a teacher trainer and the President of the Moroccan Center for Civic Education. He received his BA degree in applied linguistics from Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco and a diploma in teacher education from the Teacher Training Institute ENS, Ecole. He graduated in applied linguistics from the University of Reading in the UK. He holds a Master degree in Education from Cardiff University, UK and a University Doctorate (Hon) from Ottawa University, Canada. Mr. Imad worked as a teacher in a number of high schools across Morocco, then as a test designer and member of the National Item Bank Team. He served as President of the Board of Directors of the Arab Civitas (a regional civil society network) from 2004 to 2008. In 2003, he founded the Moroccan Center for Civic Education that has become a leading institution in education for democracy in Morocco. Mr. Imad has over 15 years of project management experience. He has also been working as a consultant and international expert in assessment, textbook analysis, citizenship education, civil society and youth. Currently, Mr. Imad serves as the North South Center of the Council of Europe Coordinator for Global Education in Morocco and Vice president of the Global Citizenship Fund.
Mohammed Hassim is a recently retired teacher supervisor (early retirement starting 30 August 2018) from Morocco. He worked as a teacher of English in Marrakech and Taroudant (1985-1993) and as an ELT teacher supervisor in Ouarzazate, Tinghir, Zagora and Taroudant for 23 years (1995-2018). He is a former president of Moroccan Association of Teachers of English (MATE) for two mandates (20062008 and 2016-2018). He holds a BA (1985) in English language and literature from Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, an ELT proficiency certificate (1987-1988) from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS), Rabat and a secondary education inspector certificate (19931995) from Centre de Formation des Inspecteurs de l’Enseignement (CFIE), Rabat. He is the co-author of the English textbooks Gateway to English 1 (2006) and 2 (2007) for 1st and 2nd year baccalaureate classes respectively. He is also the co-author of two English textbook series, Atlas English (2011) and Score High in English (2017-2018), for primary school (6 levels each). He has published many articles on ELT, ICT and teacher development. He has presented in many national and international conferences. He has been involved in xiii
various national and international educational projects. His main interests are teacher training, materials development, using ICT in ELT and professional development. 
Samira Idelcadi is an ELT supervisor in Souss Massa Regional Academy for Education and Training-Tiznit Directorate. She holds an Msc in Public Services Policy and Management from Kings College London (2011). She is currently a doctoral student at Hassan II University Casablanca. She is an active member of MATE (Moroccan association of Teachers of English). She is co-founder of Tiznit MATE branch. She is a board member of Morce-net (Moroccan Resource Centers of English Network) and former president of AMA (Association of Moroccan Alumni). She has participated in several national and international conferences and worked on several international collaborative projects. Her main interests are teacher leadership, educational change and educational policy.
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Dr. Mohammed Elmeski is a senior researcher in International Policy, Practice, and Systems Change at AIR. His primary responsibilities include providing technical assistance in the reform of international education systems. Dr. Elmeski also conducts process and impact evaluations. He has extensive experience in pedagogy, educational policy, educational leadership, child-friendly schools, community-school partnerships, and mixed-methods evaluation of educational programs. Previously, Dr. Elmeski was a research associate at the Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota. In that capacity he provided technical assistance in mixed methods and policy analysis to help Midwestern states in the U.S. improve the functional and academic outcomes of individuals with disabilities. Dr. Elmeski holds a Ph.D. in comparative international development education with a minor in program evaluation from the University of Minnesota.
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