From regional leader to regional laggard: primary teachers’ voices on the decline of student learning outcomes in Jordan

Regarded as a regional educational leader in the 1990s and earlier, in the last two decades Jordan has progressively been lagging behind its regional peers to such an extent that it now scores behind most Arab States participating in international student learning assessments. This article analyses public primary teachers’ views on the reasons behind this decline. This analysis uses neo-ecological systems theory to break down the complexity of what is essentially a wicked policy problem, while treating culture as a cross-cutting influence that shapes expectations, relationships and responses across household, school and policy levels. The paper argues that system-wide factors at the household, school and national levels are the root cause of low learning outcomes among students, mediated in part by wider socio-cultural norms and attitudes, even while the relatively recent ‘shocks’ from the Syrian refugee crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have steepened the gradient of learning decline.