The project 'School Textbooks in the MENA Region' was established in 2016 with the aim of strengthening the focus on textbook reforms in the Middle East and North Africa at the Georg Eckert Institute for Textbook Research. The project encompassed research and transfer activities. In the frame of the project, the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig conducted applied, multidisciplinary research into textbooks and other educational material in North Africa and Middle East countries, connecting with a network of researchers and experts in the field of education based in the whole region. Due to the centrality of religion as a core topic for educational reforms and political discussions in the region and beyond, the discussions of researchers joining the network were especially focused on changes in the representation and teaching of Islam in different subjects with an emphasis on textbooks for religious instruction in public schools. Diversity and environmental challenges were also core topics within the project. The resulting network attacted researchers and educators from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and Yemen. The Institute regularly organised meetings and academic events to provide a platform for discussion and joint cooperation. Despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was still posible to organise activities within the network.
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Events
2021: Workshop 'Towards a Joint Paper on Religion and Textbook Reforms in the MENA Region'
The workshop gathered experts from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Syria and Turkey and provided them with a platform to work towards a joint publication on the topic of religion and textbook reforms in the MENA region. The workshop offered space for discussion on the empirical content of an envisioned publication (focusing on the specific country expertise of the participants), theoretical framework, structure and future agenda for collaboration. The workshop, held on 15 July, was organised by the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig. Due to restrictions on international travel imposed by the COVID pandemic, the workshop took place online.
2020: 33rd International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI 2020)
In 2020 the GEI proposed and organised two roundtable events within the framework of the 33rd ICSEI. The topic of the annual congress was 'Education, Youth Empowerment, and Sustainable Development: Areas of Collaboration between the Global South and North to Improve Education Quality'. The congress, hosted for the first time in Africa, gathered policy makers, researchers, civil society leaders and practitioners with the aim of establishing shared priorities for collaboration between the global North and South with respect to improving education quality for all. The participants at the roundtable discussions organised by the GEI provided insights into recent and ongoing textbook reforms in several MENA countries and in Germany. They addressed data from textbooks, curricula and teaching manuals as well as political documents and media debates about textbook revisions. The discussions focused on changes in the representation and teaching of Islam in different subjects with an emphasis on textbooks for religious instruction in schools. The congress took place in Marrakesh on 6-10 January 2020 and was hosted by the Moroccan Center for Civic Education (MCCE) in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Training, and Scientific Research, and the Regional Council of Marrakech-Safi Region.
2019: Workshop 'Religion and Textbooks Reforms in the Arab Countries: The Challenges of Textbook Research'
This workshop provided space to discuss the (changing) role of curricula, school textbooks and other educational media in the Middle East and North Africa. The purpose was to analyse, compare and discuss how school textbooks from various countries of the region depict religious and societal diversity. The cases of Palestine, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan were discussed through the insights and contributions of experts working in educational institutions in the MENA region, who gathered at the GEI. The workshop provided a platform to discuss further collaborative opportunities in research and education between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. It took place from 29 September to 2 October 2019, at the Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research in Braunschweig (Germany) and was organised by the GEI.
2017: Religion and Textbook Reforms in Arab Countries
Following a workshop on diversity and environmental challenges in 2016 this meeting was held on 1 and 2 October 2017 in Casablanca with the aim of discussing recent and ongoing textbook reforms in different Arab countries. The participants focussed on changes in the representation and teaching of Islam in different subjects, with an emphasis on textbooks for religious instruction in schools.
In some Arab countries, textbooks are constantly revised, while others reform curricula and textbooks in the light of Islamic extremism with the aim of countering the radicalisation of young citizens. This raises questions regarding what changes are made in order to fight extremism. Which educational content is deemed to be problematic in each scenario? How are these textbook revisions discussed in the political sphere, in society and the media or among educators? How can we possibly evaluate the effectiveness of such reforms? How are reforms viewed in other Arab countries? Are they perceived as necessary and adequate tools to counter radicalisation?1 - 2 October 2017
Idou Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco
Conference languages were English and Arabic2016: Representations of Religious Diversity and Environmental Issues
An international conference on textbooks in the Arab world was held on 20 and 21 November 2016 in Cairo. Delegates discussed the representation of religious diversity and environmental issues in textbooks for political and social studies which reflect ideas of citizenship, social cohesion and societal diversity in particularly noteworthy ways. The conference aimed to promote dialogue on education reform and textbook revision in the region, create links to previous projects run by the GEI in this arena and provide a space for the development of ideas for future cooperation in research.
The conference based its discussions on analyses of textbooks and curricula from the relevant countries, which engage with topics significant to political and cultural debate as well as to communication within the region and with Europe. We hope the dialogue with researchers from the Arab world for which the conference provided a forum will generate inspiration for researchers to engage with matters of diversity and environmental issues in German-language textbooks.
20 and 21 November 2016
German Science Center Kairo, El Saleh Ayoub Street 11, Zamalek, Egypt
Conference languages were English und ArabicYou can view the conference programme here.
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Publications
- Nijmi Edres (2021): "Religion, ideology and nation-building in Jordanian curricula for the teaching of Arabic language". Languages Cultures Mediation 8(2), p. 81–100.
- Riem Spielhaus und Ahmad Shehata (2020): ‘Ägyptische Schulbücher: Ein Umsturz kommt selten allein’. zenith 2020 (2), p. 92–93.
- Tobias Ide, Abdulkhaleq Alwan, Khalil Bader, Noureddine Dougui, Maysoun Husseini, Elarbi Imad, Farouk Gaafar Abdel Hakim Marzouk, Amany M. Taha Moustafa und Riem Spielhaus (2018): ‘The Geopolitics of Environmental Education: An Analysis of School Textbooks in the MENA Region’. Journal of Educational Media, Memory, and Society 10 (2), p. 64–83.
Ongoing publication projects
Currently, the MENA network experts are working on the publication of a peer-reviewed article in English and a volume in Arabic on Religious education in North Africa and the Middle East
