THE TUNISIAN

EDUCATIONAL
SYSTEM
AND THE CHALLENGE
OF QUALITY
 Rapid Overview of the Educational System
Population of the Country : 10 million - GDP : 3,150$ per capita
Pop. in Education: 2,200,000 pupils ( + 300 thousand students)
Educational Budget/GDP: 7,5% - Educ. budget./State : 30%
Enrollment ratio: 99% (6 years) - 90,5 (6-16 years)
76,1 (12-18 years)
Educational Coverage: 5,851 establishments  1 primary school
per 2,250 habitants - 1 middle school and 1 high school per
7,851 inhabitants
Teachers: primary (59,739) – middle school and high school
(71,247)
:Average number of pupils per class
primary (22/2) – middle school (30) – high school ( 25,5)
:Average number of pupils per teacher
primary (18,2) – middle school and high school (16,0)
: average pupils per computer (2006)
primary (30,3) – middle school (84) – high school (16,6)
 Three Major Reforms
Initial Reform  construction of a :1958
unified national education system –
goal: to enroll all children in school
within ten years

2nd Reform  adaptation of the :1991

system and establishment of a basic 9-
year compulsory and free education
3rd Reform  implementation of the :2002
“school for tomorrow” project - goal:
quality education for all
The Pioneering Period: the Reform of
1958 and the Challenge of Universal
Education
Starting Point 
a very low enrolment ratio (14%)
a divided educational system (3 sub-systems)
a small number of teachers
insufficient educational infrastructures
Solutions dictated by the urgency of the
situation 
 gradual establishment of a unified educational system
(primary mission/ministry – secondary: sections a.b.c )
 large-scale recruitment of primary school teachers with few
qualifications (primary) and use of staff coming from foreign
Cooperation Services and experienced primary teachers (sec.)
 over-sized classes – premises rented from private individuals –
average distance to school/LR exceeding 5 km
 A Six-point Summary
1- Numerous benefits but the internal output of the
system remains insufficient
2 – An Education of the mind of an encyclopedic
kind  the pupils know a lot but they do not know
how to do much
3 – Ever-increasing diversity which needs to be
managed
5 – Excessive centralization and absence of
accountability
6 – Lack of professionalism at every level of the
system
The 1980s: a Pivotal Decade
 the goal of universal primary education almost achieved
educational infrastructures appropriate to needs
 better trained teachers
but … too many failures / highly selective process for entry
into secondary education / a system running out of steam
…

From1988
 a general evaluation and preparation of a new period of
reform, that of 1991

2000 – 1995
 a new stage
 new challenges
 new requirements
… but first a summary
 The Reform of 2002: a Six-Part
Strategy
1. Placing the pupil, who is the chief stakeholder in
the educational system, at the centre of the
educational process
2. Professionalizing teachers and support staff
3. Giving the school a status and enhancing its
prestige
4. Implementing the principles of equal opportunity
and educational equity
5. Making information and communication
technologies available for teaching and learning
activities.
6. Modernizing the educational system and enhancing
its capacity to fulfill the increasingly demanding
requirements of society.
 How to go about
successfully conducting
the management of change

or
the difficulty of changing
the educational
environment
 It is easier to Design Reform than to
Implement it
What is needed for successful implementation of reform:
 an appropriate definition of the choices and a rigorous conception of
the desired Project
 the capacity to implement the project on the ground, in the schools
(institutional capacity – human and material resources…)
 the capacity to mobilize the stakeholders around the project
Explanation:
• the situation before reform, however unsatisfactory, offers a
form of stability to which, with the passage of time, everyone
has adapted.
• reform, by upsetting this stability, creates a new and very
disturbing situation which requires prior intelligent
management and which must be properly negotiated afterwards,
if we hope to achieve a new balance which includes both the
integration of the changes brought about by the reform and the
adaptation of the stakeholders to the situation that they have
generated.
 To successfully carry out
Reform:
1- Adopting a Systemic approach
 Influencing all the factors which determine
quality at school level
• educational factors: content and methods of
learning, evaluation procedures, teaching tools
• level of qualification and preparation of the
teachers
• management and running of the educational
establishment
• availability of equipment and educational support
material
• educational well-being
2 – Making Stakeholders accept Responsibility,
giving free Rein to Initiative
 developing a culture of evaluation at every level of the
system
 decentralizing, delegating increased authority to the
regions
 giving greater autonomy to schools and educational
establishments

3 Key words: initiative, innovation, accountability

accountability means:
 responsibility: everyone, at every level of the system, is
responsible for his or her actions (provided that they are
given the necessary resources and room to practice
autonomy, to exercise this responsibility) 
 and the need to achieve a result: people are responsible for
what they do, and are bound by that very fact to account
for the results of their actions
3- Professionalizing the Teachers and the
Main Stakeholders in the Educational
System
Professional teaching staff means teachers:
 Who know both the science and the art of their profession,
 Who are capable:
- of constructing and implementing an educational project which
includes all the specificities of the context in which they are
developing;
- of planning, evaluating, and managing various educational
situations,
- of giving pupils a desire to learn, of modifying their teaching in
the light of the evaluations carried out …
For school principal, professionalisation means:
 Mastery of knowledge and of skills related to the areas of activity
devolving from their responsibilities  (management – organization of
school life – educational and administrative evaluation – steering and
monitoring…)
 Technical skills in the areas of management, IT, and communication.
 But above all, attitudes and knowledge of appropriate behavior, such as
leadership, the capacity to work in a team, an ability to listen, self
control, and the skill of communicating with others.
4 – Positive Management of the Diversity
of Pupil Populations
 The issue of diversity arises simultaneously, though in
different ways, at the three levels of the educational
system:
• The educational system (macroscopic level)
• The school (mesoscopic level)
•
The class (microscopic level)

 The management of diversity is:

• Institutional – structural for the first level

• Managerial - administrative for the second level
• Educational for the third level
Seven Years Later: Some Lessons
Accompanying action to be taken on all the
parameters/determinants for success
Availability of structures and tools for effective
monitoring and guidance to be ensured
The support of the stakeholders) teachers – support
staff - parents ) to be ensured  information, training
and communication
The training of teachers to be based on practical
aspects of the profession
Systematic evaluation to be conducted for the
purpose of regulation
Willing participation needed in comparative regional
and international evaluations and learning the
necessary lessons
Need to identify innovations and good practices and
share them
Thank you
for your
attention