Improving learning environments in Jordanian public schools: lessons from school visits and community dialogue in Northern Jordan

This report from the project “Education for the Future” provides an overview of challenges and prospects of improving learning environments in Jordanian public schools in general. Available literature and public narratives on education in Jordan since 2011 highlight the many challenges to the creation of a positive learning environment posed by the increased number of children attending Jordanian public schools, and Syrian children in particular. The report observes how such challenges have affected the learning environment of Jordanian and Syrian children in the governorate of Mafraq (northern Jordan), where the number of Syrians refugees in the main town exceeds that of the indigenous population (about 100,000 versus 80,000) (Al-Ghad, 2015). It also focuses on an often neglected dimension of the learning environment, namely parental involvement and the role of parent-school relations.