Unifying a growing school: a case study from Egypt

The 2023-2024 British Council’s Action Research programme empowered Marwa to tackle her school’s challenges through social and emotional learning.

The British Council launched its Action Research programme to support educators in making meaningful changes within their schools and the wider community. In 2023, 12 participants received their grants and started their research projects which focused on one of three themes: leadership, professional development and technology.

Among the participants was Marwa Atteya, the Vice Principal of the Capital International Schools in New Cairo. Her research focused on how a Professional Development programme focused on Social Emotional Learning (SEL) could be utilised to unify school culture and enhance student well-being. This involved interviewing teachers and students, observing the impact of professional development sessions in classrooms and looking at research conducted by other schools.

Marwa shared her experiences with the action research programme and the impact of the research project within the school community. This is her story.

Recognising the need for unity in a growing school

When deciding between the three themes of the Action Research programme, Marwa was instantly drawn to professional development. “I am doing my Master’s degree in leadership so that would have been an easier choice,” she said, “But I wanted to do something that would benefit my school the most.” 

Marwa’s decision was inspired by a real challenge that Capital International School was facing with its culture. Each year, the student population grows by 30%, which results in more professionals joining the team. She said, “Our school culture was still emerging and it wasn’t settling because every year we had more new people coming in. I was looking at professional development as a way to unify our culture.”

What’s more, Marwa knew these difficulties wouldn’t be isolated to her own school. “I think any growing school would have the same challenge,” she said, “It takes time to set the way you do things and make sure everyone is on the same page.” There was a real chance for Marwa’s Action Research to positively impact her own school and others in the British Council Partner School network.

Taking the first steps in the action research process

Many of the action researchers were school leaders with busy timetables and lots of pressing responsibilities. So, fitting the action research programme around participants’ regular duties was difficult at the beginning. However, the commitment from both the British Council team and the participants helped them overcome this early challenge.

Marwa said the British Council provided participants with ample support, acknowledging that most of them had other priorities. The team developed a clear timeline for all the mentorship sessions and scheduled them at suitable times for everyone. Despite having participants from countries as far-flung as Peru and Pakistan, which is an eight-hour difference, Marwa said there was a high level of attendance.

For many of the researchers, the opportunity to participate in the programme was motivation enough. “We were so excited about it,” said Marwa, “The whole idea of action research was something new to most of us, even though most of us had done research in some other capacity. Nobody had ever done research where you could get a finding and actually implement it within your context. That excitement also kept us going.”

Adapting strategies after the exploration phase

Marwa had a clear vision for her action research project but after some unexpected results, she decided to adjust her focus. She initially intended to launch the SEL Professional Development programme for newly hired teachers to integrate them fully into the school culture. However, following informal conversations with school leaders and a questionnaire with teachers, Marwa soon realised that everyone in the wider community needed to be involved for the new programme to be truly effective. “SEL has to be a schoolwide initiative,” Marwa said, “It’s not enough to develop your teachers, it has to be everyone who deals with students - whether that’s teachers or floor supervisors and administrators.”

Far from being a setback, this surprising turn added extra value to the action research. Marwa said many of the returning teachers were excited to join and became very supportive of the entire initiative. “What we learned was that a certain approach might not be the correct one,” said Marwa. “And, when you explore other perspectives, it might change your course of action.”

Exploring the impact of the action research

When it came to the implementation phase, Marwa launched three separate programmes aimed at different groups:

• A combination of on-site workshops and online sessions for staff with no prior knowledge of SEL
• A self-paced online course for staff who need to expand on their existing knowledge
• A short course for two Deputy Pastorals (supporting staff members)

As the project neared its end, Marwa concluded that SEL was indeed the right course to integrate new staff and unify her school culture. “Working on it not only affected our teachers but also had a huge impact on students and it was really just the beginning,” Marwa explained. The project was so successful that Capital International Schools is planning to continue with SEL. “My school is working on the same project this year by introducing the Leader-in-Me programme.”

Aside from the positive results of the project, Marwa said her main takeaway was the realisation that action research is an important part of problem-solving. “Action research lets you find solutions for challenges within your context. When you ordinarily face challenges and look into previous research, it’s never 100% effective because context plays such an important role. The value of action research is that you reach conclusions based on your context with your own students.”

Marwa believes that’s why everybody should take the opportunity to conduct their own action research. “You can not only use your findings to solve your current challenges but also later on when you encounter new obstacles.” She ends by saying, “I strongly recommend to anyone who can to join this project.”

Looking forward 

The British Council has recently launched the second year of its Action Research Grants. Participants may recognise a familiar face — many of last year’s researchers are still involved in the programme as mentors, Marwa included. As the Action Research programme continues, we’ll be counting on insights like hers to help us refine the programme.

For a full overview of all 12 research projects and their key learnings, you can now access the recordings of our first online symposium Action Research Now! by logging into the Online Support for Schools platform.