The School-Based Excellence Model was created in alignment with a broader vision to raise standards of living in Aqaba through sustainable development, with education identified as a key driver of long-term impact. While public schools had benefited from various professional development initiatives, these efforts were often fragmented, role-specific, and insufficient to generate lasting school-wide improvement. Schools faced interconnected challenges, including uneven teaching quality, limited instructional leadership capacity, weak collaboration structures, insufficient attention to student wellbeing, and difficulty sustaining improvement over time.
In December 2023, a three-year cooperation agreement was established between the Queen Rania Teacher Academy and local education partners to address these challenges. SBEM was launched in 2024 to reposition schools as the primary units of change. By simultaneously strengthening school leaders, teachers, counsellors, and supervisors, and by aligning professional learning with real school needs and national priorities, SBEM enables schools to build shared vision, collective responsibility, and internal capacity for continuous, school-driven improvement.
In practice, SBEM is implemented as a structured, multi-year model across public schools during the period 2024–2026. It delivers a coherent and integrated set of professional development programs designed to address leadership, pedagogy, wellbeing, innovation, and sustainability. Core interventions include the Advanced Instructional Leadership Professional Diploma; the Teacher Education Professional Diploma; subject-specific pedagogy programs in Arabic, English, mathematics, science, and social studies; Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Education; the Psychological Adaptation Skills program; the Environmental Awareness Journey; and targeted capacity building for educational supervisors.
These programs are delivered through blended learning, coaching, mentoring, and school-based application, and reinforced through professional learning communities and peer collaboration. Schools engage with SBEM at progressive exposure levels, allowing contextual adaptation while maintaining coherence and depth. Continuous monitoring and an external mixed-methods evaluation support learning and refinement throughout implementation.
Since its launch in 2024, SBEM has engaged all 48 public schools in the city of Aqaba, making it one of the most comprehensive district-wide school improvement efforts in the governorate. By 2025, hundreds of educators—including principals, assistant principals, teachers, counsellors, and educational supervisors—had participated in one or more SBEM programs, with many experiencing multiple integrated interventions.
Early findings indicate improved instructional leadership practices, increased use of student-centered instruction, stronger professional collaboration, enhanced attention to student wellbeing, and more positive and inclusive school environments. Schools with higher exposure demonstrate more coherent improvement efforts. Over the coming years, SBEM aims to strengthen sustainability, embed practices system-wide, and inform potential replication in other governorates.
SBEM has been continuously refined based on implementation experience and evaluation findings. Greater emphasis has been placed on instructional coaching, professional learning communities, and student wellbeing as a core pillar of school improvement. Program sequencing has been strengthened to better align leadership development with classroom practice and support systems, while maintaining coherence across all interventions.
Schools or education systems interested in adopting SBEM should begin with a needs assessment to determine readiness. Implementation is carried out in partnership with education authorities and school leadership and adapted to local contexts. Interested organizations may contact the implementing team to explore design, capacity building, and evaluation support.
