The Challenges Facing The Educational Foundation In Light of The Current Syrian Crisis In The Opinion of The Educational Supervisors In The Directorate of Education In Damascus (AnEmpirical Study on The Educational Supervisors of The Secondary School in The Directorate of Education In Damascus)

Prepared by the researcher

Drwish Hasan Drwish, PHD-Curriculum and Instruction(EP), Ataturk University- Turkiye

Omer Abdullah Haraki, PHD-Curriculum and Instruction(EP), Ataturk University- Turkiye

Mustafa Abdullah Almukdad. Dr-Education Administration, Akdeniz University-Turkiye

Ali Osman Engin. Prof.Dr- Curriculum and Instruction, Ataturk University- Turkiye

Democratic Arab Center

International Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies : Eighteenth Issue – September 2022

A Periodical International Journal published by the “Democratic Arab Center” Germany – Berlin

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Abstract

The study aims to identify the challenges facing the educational institution from the viewpoint of the specialist supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate.In addition, the current research aims to identify the differences in the assessment of challenges by specialization for educational supervisors (literary, scientific). In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the scale (Al-Osaili and Abdullah, 2005) is adopted.Thedomain of scaleconsisted of (30) items distributed among (6) areas, and each field represents a crisis that the educational institution suffers from. Where this tool was applied to a sample of (50) supervisors in the Directorate of Education in Damascus. After processing the data statistically, it was found that the educational institution in Damascus faces challenges to a high degree. It was found that there are differences according to specialization in favor of literary specialization.

1.Background:

Conflicts and wars leave many disasters and crimes against the innocent, and cause destruction and devastation to urbanization and the environment, but the most tragic consequences are what they leave for workers in educational institutions that may accompany them throughout their lives.In wars, a culture of anxiety and fear spreads, forcing generations to lose contact with life well, and the effect may extend throughout their lives (Al-Sadiq, 2009). The literature shows that mental illness among educated people increases by no less than (17%) and the field becomes open to the emergence of strong psychological pressures that lead to severe frustration, shocks and violent crises (Saada, Abu Ziyad and Zamil, 2002). Many specialists also believe that there is a clear shortcoming in the Arab countries in the field of psychological care and in securing the necessary means to contain the effects of wars and conflicts on educational supervisors, teachers, learners and workers in educational institutions. While the majority of Western countries direct parents on how to deal with educated people in the event of wars on their land or the land of others, in order to prevent the child from being affected by watching violent scenes on television (Al-Jabali, 2009). The concept of crisis is one of the widespread concepts in our contemporary societies, and it affects all aspects of life, starting with individual crises and ending with international crises (Kardam, 2005).

1.2. Problem of The Study:

Based on the theoretical literature, it is clear that schools, in the absence of political and security stability, have been subjected to many pressures and incurred many losses represented in human losses (such as the martyrdom of hundreds of students and teachers, and the injury of thousands of people, and many of them have permanent disabilities). And the material losses resulting from the bombings that hit some schools. The academic losses represented by the low level of academic achievement, the high percentage of students who are absent from exams, the disruption of work hours more than once due to the curfew, and the students losing many lessons. In addition to the psychological losses represented by anxiety, lack of attention, low level of concentration and memory, students, teachers, and supervisors losing a sense of self-security, and other abnormal and unhealthy manifestations. In any case, talking about the crises that schools suffer from, and in particular wars, is part of the general conversation that our people circulate in their handling of public crises, which are crises in politics, economy, culture and education.

In dealing with some aspects of the diagnosis of the crises that schools suffer from, we aim to expose these negative aspects, by trying to understand the nature of these crises and their components in this important field. As all schools in Syria in general and Damascus city schools in particular are subject to crises and problems facing development projects and school and community service, which he called hidden diseases. These include the dropout of learners, the deteriorating economic situation, the administrative and financial problems, the weak teaching methods used, the lack of security and stability, and waves of cultural invasion. And that these problems interact with each other to produce a real crisis unless it is resolved through the work of policies aimed at uprooting it, treating its consequences, and working to reduce its negative effects on reality (Al-Zubaidi, 2007).

Through the above, the researchers ask the following two questions:

– What are the challenges facing educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors in the Directorate of Education in Damascus?.

– Are there statistically significant differences between the average responses of educational supervisors to challenges according to the variable of scientific specialization (scientific – literary)?.

1.3. Importance of The study:

Crises are an inevitable part of the reality of human and institutional life, and a widespread concept in our contemporary societies, affecting all aspects of life, starting with individual crises and ending with international crises. Many researchers have described the current era as the era of pressures and crises (Frank, 1985). Where crises have increased in our time to the extent that it has become, according to one of the researchers: The world of crises is part of us (Hadour, 1999).

– This study attempts to present the challenges facing educational institutions and the crises that threaten their existence. It also attempts to clarify some practices that can contribute to facing these challenges.

-This study emphasizes the importance of addressing this issue at the present time, and the need to know how to help and advance educational institutions to overcome their crisis, so that they can create individuals capable of development and progress towards the future. In addition to activating the role of schools in the transition of our Syrian society to a new historical stage in which we are witnessing advanced transformations of intellectual and scientific advancement.

-The importance of this research stems from identifying the real reasons behind the emergence of crises in educational institutions or educational institutions, as well as identifying the negative effects on education, and what are the most important quick decisions to be taken to overcome this crisis as contained in the recommendations.

-The importance of this study is shown by providing us with information that helps us diagnose the type and nature of the research problem, all in order to raise the level of performance and raise the level of work in the field of education.

-This research is one of the original research, and it is of great importance for:

1. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, which is the ministry responsible for education in educational institutions.
2. The local community with all its categories and social segments, because educational institutions were originally established in order to provide educational services to the children of the community and advance it.

1.4. Propose of The study:

The current research aims to:

– Measuring the challenges faced by educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors in the Directorate of Education in Damascus.

– Know the significance of the differences between the average degrees of the challenges that educational institutions suffer from the point of view of educational supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate according to the academic specialization variable (scientific and humanitarian).

1.5. Limitation of The Study:

The current research is limited to educational supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate for the academic year 2022-2021

1.6. Terms of The Study:

Challenges: Ford (1981) defined challenges as a situation characterized by two characteristics, namely, a serious threat to the interests and core objectives that the manager seeks to achieve, and this threat includes the size of the potential loss and the possibility of achieving it; The greater the size of the losses and the more likely they will be achieved, the greater the threat, in addition to the time pressure(Ford, 1981) It is a situation or problem that requires taking a decision to meet the challenge it poses, whether it is administrative, political, systemic, social, economic or cultural (Kardam, 2005). The researchers defined it procedurally as the degree to which the respondent obtains on the paragraphs of the scale prepared for this purpose.

The educational supervisor:According to the researchers; it is the person who enjoys supervising proficiency and competence related to his specialization and expertise, which is the focus of the supervisory process.

Educational institutions: According to the researchers; it is asocial institutions designated by the community to carry out the function of formal education, and generally aim to prepare the children of the community behaviorally and cognitively, through cycles and stages that complement each other.

2. Review of Literature:

2.1. Effects of Wars:

Wars and crises have significant impacts, including on education, and the United Nations report (2011) documented this in the following:

– Learners and schools are in the line of fire in armed conflicts, as classrooms are targets in most wars.

-The physical damage and psychological trauma experienced by learners are sometimes difficult problems to solve.

– Reports indicate the recruitment of educated people in twenty-four countries in the world, including Arab countries. Sexual violence is also spread as a means of warfare in many countries. One of the effects of war is that it causes the displacement and displacement of families and deprives them of educational opportunities. The severe effects of wars on the living conditions of the family, especially the decline in the level of income, the interruption of livelihoods, the high unemployment rates, the decline in the health and educational levels of the family, and their effects on society in general through human development indicators and other measures (Shtewi, 2007).

2.2. Effects of Crises on Behavior:

To determine the nature of behavior, most researchers consider that it is not easy to describe behavior as normal or abnormal because it is a relative issue that is subject to time and place. In conflict and crisis situations, a lot of positive behavior turns into abnormal behavior because of the force majeure conditions that the person is going through(Abbas and Al-Ankabi, 2001).

There are a set of criteria for normal and abnormal behavior, including:

– The deviation of behavior from socially accepted standards and the difference in standards for judging behavior according to different societies, cultures, age, gender and current circumstances. The severity of the behavior where the behavior is unusual if its intensity is unusual, the behavior may be very strong or weak according to the time and place. Thus, crises affect behavior mainly because the behavior of the individual changes according to the place and the situation in which he lives and the challenge he faces(Al-Zahir, 2004). According to Al-Shami (2019), wars directly affect the learners and cause a group of disorders such as sleep disturbance, which formed the highest average among learners, followed by emotional disturbance, then behavioral disturbance, then psychological/physical disturbance, all of which were averaged, and no differences appearedbetween males and females. In addition to the negative impact of wars on the school activity of the learner (Al-Shami, 2019).

2.3. Psychological Effects of War:

Wars and crises leave many psychological effects on people, and the most important of these effects is anxiety; It is a condition that comes spontaneously, and the main component of all psychological reactions to disasters, and it occurs suddenly with disturbance in function.

Delirium and stupor: These are states of emotional breakdown at various levels, including mental stupor, temporal and spatial misdirection, confusion, and terrifying dreams.Cases of hysteria whose appearance spread at that stage, meaning that cases of war and repeated fear caused the person to be hysterical.

Depression: It usually appears after battles due to people losing their families and friends. According to Barakat (2007), the sources of crises experienced by students vary between economic, educational, political, psychological and social crises (Barakat, 2007). The results of the study of Abdullah and Al-Osaili (2005) showed that the most prominent crises facing Al-Quds Open University are: political crises and psychological crises in the first place, economic and then administrative crises. Among the most prominent of these crises are:

– Psychological stresses caused by occupation, such as anxiety, frustration and boredom.

– The barriers that make it difficult to reach the university centers.

– The blockade that cuts off the ties of the homeland and causes the communication between the university centers to be interrupted.

– The teacher lost a sense of personal security (Abdullah and Al-Osaili, 2005).

2.4. Effects of Crises on The educational Level of Learners:

The educational level of learners means the learner’s attendance at school and maintaining his academic level and learning to the extent that his abilities allow.Academic achievement is the extent to which the learner has achieved the learning objectives as a result of his study of a particular subject of study (Aql, 2001). Conflict and war have a significant impact on the academic achievement of students in basic education schools, and conflict and war have a significant impact on the behavior of learners (Azizi, 2018). The most severe cases or issues for students are those related to educational attainment, death, and social and economic relations (wayne, 2005).

3. Method and Procedure:

3.1. Population and Sample of The Study:

The current study population was identified with educational supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate. While the study sample was chosen on the stratified random method represented by the departments affiliated to the Damascus Education Directorate; The research sample was determined by (14%) of the original community and by (50) educational supervisors distributed over the two departments (scientific and literary) referred to in Table (2). The sample included in conducting the research was divided into (25) educational supervisors from the scientific specialization, and (25) from the literary specialization.

Table (1) shows the distribution of study sample members according to academic specialization.

In order to measure the challenges faced by educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors in the Directorate of Education in Damascus, the researchers adopted the scale prepared by (Abdullah and Al-Osaili, 2005).

Table (2) shows the distribution of the challenges facing educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate according to domain.

With regard to the scale alternatives and its weights, the researchers adopted the scale adopted by (Abdullah and Al-Osaili, 2005) in answering each paragraph, which is (a very high degree, a high degree, a medium degree, a low degree, a very low degree) in the opinion of the educational supervisor.

Validity of the tool: In this context, the researchers extracted several indicators of the validity of the crisis scale that educational institutions suffer from:

Virtual validity:The scale was presented in its initial form to (10) experts in psychology, psychological counseling, and psychological and educational sciences.

Stability: The researchers calculated the stability by the alpha coefficient method on a sample of (50) supervisors, and the value of the total reliability coefficient of the scale was (0.88), which is a statistically good stability coefficient. Whereas, the coefficient of stability of the scale domains was as follows:

1 – Psychological crises domain: 81.0 stability coefficient.

2 – Economic crises domain: 84.0 stability coefficient.

3- Security crises domain: 85.0 stability coefficient.

4- Cultural crises domain: 86.0 stability coefficient.

5- Educational crises domain: 94.0 stability coefficient

6– Administrative crises: 95.0 stability coefficient.

3.2. Resultsof The study:

First: Measuring the challenges facing educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate:

The results of the research showed that the arithmetic mean of the research sample scores about the challenges facing educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate was (103.88) and with a standard deviation (19.10), which is statistically significant (0.01).Which indicates that the challenges facing educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors suffer from political, economic, psychological, cultural and administrative crises that affect the compatibility of educational supervisors in the Damascus Education Directorate as shown in the table below.

Table (3) T-test for the significance of the differences between the

arithmetic mean and the standard deviation from the point of view of educational supervisors of the difficulties and crises experienced by educational institutions in the governorate of Damascus.

The current result agrees with the results of the study (Abdullah and Al-Osaili, 2005) that there are statistically significant differences between the arithmetic mean of the sample for the scale from the point of view of the sample.The above result can be explained by a number of reasons, such as the deteriorating security conditions experienced by educational supervisors, students and workers in educational institutions in general, loss of psychosocial security, and disruption of studies due to the placement of barriers and curfews, psychological stress caused by anxiety, tension and frustration, the low economic situation, and exposure to various forms of violence, The lack of educational and administrative competencies, and the lack of sufficient buildings to accommodate supervisors, teachers, students and working units.This result is also due to the incompatibility of the educational institutions’ outputs and market requirements, the dropout of large numbers of learners from them, and the low incentives and rewards for each of the supervisors, teachers and employees of the educational institution.

Second: Identifying the significance of the differences between the average degrees of challenges faced by educational institutions from the point of view of educational supervisors, according to the variable of academic specialization (scientific, literary):

Data analysis showed that the average degree of the challenges from the point of view of educational supervisors for the literary specialization is (110.50) and standard deviation is (17.66).While the average degree of the challenges from the point of view of educational supervisors for the scientific specialization (98.77) and a standard deviation (18.99).Table (4) shows a summary of the test results for the difference between the averages of the educational supervisors’ point of view on the challenges facing educational institutions according to the academic specialization variable.

Table (4) test results for the difference between the averages of the educational supervisors’ point of view on the challenges facing educational institutions according to the academic specialization variable.

The result can be explained by the presence of statistically significant differences from the point of view of the educational supervisors according to the specialization variable in favor of the literary specialization.The reason for this may be due to the influence of the sample members by the educational and psychological factors experienced by the educational supervisors, represented by the various security, cultural and educational pressures.In addition to the many students’ problems, the lack of educational buildings to accommodate teachers, students and their employees, and the lack of educational competencies to compensate for the existing shortfall.

3.4. DiscussionResults of The study:

Through the interpretation of the results, the current study reached similar results with previous studies, and there is also a difference between the current study and previous studies in terms of sample selection.While the sample of the current study was educational supervisors, while the sample of previous studies included teachers and learners, and some of them included parents of learners.Most of the previous studies were completely similar in terms of research methodology, depending on the descriptive analytical method.The results of the current study and previous studies showed the existence of an impact of crises and conflicts on society in general and on educational institutions and their workers in particular.In addition to the economic difficulties experienced by educational supervisors, teachers and workers in educational institutions, which negatively affects the productivity of supervisors and teachers.In addition to the loss of security, which is the main factor in the continuity of education.In addition, educational institutions lost much of their infrastructure (electricity, gardens, extra-curricular activities…)

All of these challenges face educational institutions, and from an economic point of view, society in general faces living difficulties as a result of the crisis in Syria, where it is difficult for the head of the family to provide the simplest things for his family, especially at the beginning of the school year (clothes, stationery, shoes).All of these things cause a psychological crisis for learners because there are families whose economic situation is good and some of them are poor, and thus affect the psychology of learners, which is one of the greatest challenges facing educational institutions.When it comes to talking about the winter season in light of the current crisis, all the tragedies and pains in terms of cold and the lack of heating facilities in the school gather in this season.Through previous studies, it was found that wars in general have many effects, including economic, psychological, social and cultural ones, on all segments of society.Thus, the results of previous studies and the current study must be taken into consideration in order to face the difficulties and challenges facing educational institutions and work to solve them.

4. Conclusion:

In the end, we find that conflicts and wars have a significant impact on the educational level and the behavior of educational supervisors, learners and workers in educational institutions in particular, and on society in general.Through the previous results, it is necessary to intensify psychological rehabilitation courses that help educational supervisors, learners and workers to overcome psychological crises that conflicts and wars are a major cause of low educational level and behavioral disorders among educational supervisors, learners and workers.Therefore, the results of this study should be used to treat the low educational level and reduce behavioral disorders among learners.

5. Recommendations:

The researchers recommend a set of important recommendations that serve everyone involved in the research community, as follows:

-Providing means of protection for supervisors, teachers, students and workers in educational institutions, in order to provide a calm atmosphere away from tension, anxiety and insecurity.

-Develop and develop effective economic and financial strategies and plans by the financial institution in educational institutions to reduce the dire economic situation that educational institutions are going through.

-Holding training courses for employees of educational institutions on the systems, regulations and plans that serve the work.

-Providing management requirements for employees in educational institutions to perform their work in the correct manner.

-Providing and building the necessary buildings to accommodate the expansion of the institution, or to create new units that develop the work of the institution.

-Creating administrative programs for employees and workers in the institution on technological and administrative changes, specialized in the work of accounting and new management systems.

-Providing financial and moral rewards to supervisors, teachers and workers in educational institutions in order to stimulate their abilities and increase their motivation towards work.

-Holding educational courses for teachers in order to develop curricula and adopt modern teaching methods that increase students’ efficiency.

-Establishing psychological and educational and vocational guidance centers for teachers, students and workers in educational institutions in order to increase their academic and professional competence, and achieve an appropriate level of mental health.

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