استراتيجية مقترحة لتعزيز الشراكة بين وزارة التربية والتعليم وكليات التربية بالجامعات الفلسطينية
Authors: Hussein Al Hajjar Raed 
Published: April 2015

It has become clear that the partnership between the Ministry of Education and universities plays an important role in achieving the level of quality education, from the training of teachers before and during the service, through contributing to the solution of educational problems, and to improving the quality of the curriculum by participating in its construction and ongoing evaluation.

Colleges of Education in Palestinian universities have gained much attention ensuing the development processes carried out by the Ministry of Education, especially when the ministry focused during the fourth session of a project on improving the quality of education (QIF Quality Improvement Fund) funded by the World Bank and the European Union on the subject (partnerships concerning the upgrade of teacher preparation programs at higher education institutes) in 2010. (http://www.tep.ps)

This comes in accordance with the recommended strategy for the preparation and training of teachers approved by the ministry for the year 2008, which aims at developing a cadre of qualified teachers to improve the educational opportunities for students in all Palestinian schools, especially the development of teacher training programs and education colleges that offer them.

It is worth noting that any attempt for educational reform that is not founded on the principle of partnership between them, is not a real reform. Hence, colleges of education and institutes of the Ministry of Education are to be viewed as complementary partners with respect to significance and role. The establishment of such a relationship is not easy, though, as it requires the integration of contrasting cultures and the launch of a line of communication; a set of serious challenges that have to be taken into account.

Research issues:

Despite the attention given to achieve cooperation in the educational decision making between the Ministry of Education and colleges of education industry, the results of several studies have concluded a weak level of cooperation between the two parties, especially with respect to the responsibility towards the quality of the preparation and training of teachers as dictated by the status quo, the absence of realism in the educational programs at the colleges of education, and after researching the real problems of schooling. (Haouli, 2010, Sukkar, 2011, Jerjawy, 2011, 2014 Shireer).

In light of the above, the research problem is determined in answering the following questions:

1. What are the challenges that necessitate the need for partnership between the Colleges of Education and the Ministry of Education?

2. What are the areas of the expected partnership between the Ministry of Education and colleges of education in light of the global and regional expertise?

3. What is the reality of the partnership between the Ministry of Education and colleges of education in the Palestinian universities from the point of view of experts and educator leaders?

4. What is the proposed strategy to strengthen the partnership between the Ministry of Education and colleges of education?

Research significance:

· The significance of research lies in its being a response to the recommendations of many previous local, Arab and international previous studies.

· Taking advantage of the departments at the colleges of education in providing services to the Ministry of Education institutions, such as training, consulting and research.

· Educational experts at the colleges of education can benefit from the results of this research in order to develop their academic programs.

· The ability to taken advantage of the proposed strategy since it identifies clear steps and procedures to achieve a true partnership, away from theorizing and general recommendations.

Research methodology and tools:

The research will use the descriptive method to characterize the concept of partnership between the two parties and to disclose the reality of this partnership. The research will depend on a questionnaire as a tool to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the internal and external environment of the partnership system; and in light of the strategic analysis, the researcher will use the Delphi Technique to adjust the proposed strategy in reference to the guidance of some experts and educational leaders at the Ministry of Education and the Palestinian universities.