Developing a Model for Assessing Sustainability in Governmental Schools in Palestine: Case Study of Ramallah Schools رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Sustainability and the seventeen sustainable development goals (17SDGs) are gaining an increasing importance in different sectors in the globe. Among the 17 SDGs is goal no. 4 on quality education which ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. To contribute in promoting this goal in Palestine, this study aims to assess the three pillars (economic, environmental and social) of sustainability in governmental schools in Palestine taking Ramallah governorate as a case study as perceived by those governmental schools principals. To this end, a quantitative hypothesis-testing research approach was adopted. Primary data were collected from a random sample of 70 governmental schools via personallyadministered and online questionnaires answered by school principals themselves. The questionnaire consisted of three parts; one for schools’ data demographics, the second for sustainability pillars-related data and the last one was for measuring the impact of sustainability on the quality of school education. Collected data were statistically analyzed using both the SPSS and Smart SEM-PLS. More specifically, descriptive and some inferential statistics were conducted through SPSS while the evaluation of the relevant measurement (outer) and structural (inner) models was conducted by Smart SEM-PLS. The findings revealed that the correlation of the environmental dimension indicators on sustainability was the highest, followed by social aspect indicators and the lowest was related to the economical aspect indicators. It was also found that the expected impact of sustainability in schools on educational quality would be high. Furthermore, a school sustainably assessment tool (SSA-tool) was developed based on the weights of sustainability criteria and sub-criteria generated by the analytic hierarchical process (AHP) using Expert Choice 11 software. The AHP V results reveal that environmental, economic and social sustainability main pillars’ weights are found to equal, 30.3%, 36.5% and 33.2%. Also, a comparison of the SSAtool weights with weight of other rating systems, namely, LEED, CASBEE, BREEAM and GP-tool was conducted. To facilitate the use of the SSA-Tool for assessment, an Excel template of the SSA-tool was developed and validated on a random sample of schools from the 90 targeted ones. The SSA-Tool proved to be valid for assessing the school sustainability quantitatively and qualitatively A set of managerial implications for policy makers in the Palestinian school education system were provided. Also, one important recommendation to the Ministry of Education is to revisit the policies of the educational system in Palestine and take into consideration sustainability in those policies