The Development and Implementation of the TAMAM Capacity Building Program
The unfolding of the experience of developing and implementing the TAMAM Capacity Building Program is reported in a series of technical reports that outline the actions and the design decisions that the TAMAM Steering Ream took. Part of these experiences were published as journal articles from these technical reports.
Journal Articles
Abstract
The School Based Reform in Arab Countries (TAMAM) project aims to build leadership
capacity for school-based reform. This paper asks: (a) To what extent can a design-based approach frame the design of school improvement projects such as TAMAM? (b) What characteristics of design-based approaches are most relevant to guide the design of school-based improvement projects? Results of the qualitative analysis demonstrate that a design-based approach can be used to describe TAMAM and highlight the most important elements. This study proposes that design-based approaches be used for designing and describing comparable school-based improvement initiatives, especially in contexts similar to the Arab region.
This paper presents a descriptive case study of the TAMAM project as a new school reform initiative in the Arab world. The case addresses goals, strategies and assumptions of the project, its distinctive and promising design features, and the cultural and contextual factors critical to its successful implementation. The work adopted grounded theory procedures for collecting and analyzing data. The study provides researchers interested in cross cultural transfer of conceptual knowledge insights into the aspects of widely accepted reform models that need to be emphasized if those western models are to be successfully adapted to the Arab schools’ cultural context.
The purpose of the project was to obtain authentic, reflective, and critical perspectives of TAMAM participants regarding their experiences in TAMAM during Phase I of the project (2007-10). For that purpose, participants were trained in narrative writing and inquiry and used these approaches to write their narratives in Arabic.