Implementing Recommendations at the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi (UoB): Action Research Methods to Enhance the Desired Reform Strategy

Abstract This associated research aims to obtain a greater understanding and awareness of the findings and recommendations resulting from the previously published field research paper entitled “Repercussions of the Continuous Instability for the Quality of Education in the State of Libya: An Investigational Study within the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi (UoB)” by Elabbar (2022), which broadly found profound impacts of the ongoing instability on the quality of the education process and knowledge management among students, teaching assistants (TAs), lecturers, and administrators at the Faculty of Education, UoB. The study exposed a "real educational deficiency in the temporal pool and the knowledge shares acquired by and granted to secondary education students in Benghazi who entered the Faculty of Education in recent years compared to what they should be" (Elabbar, 2022, pp. 4–5). As it went through various other findings, such as a lack of learning facilities, almost no professional development programs, and negative repercussions resulting from the faculty's transition from the annual system to the semester system "under force majeure conditions that the city of Benghazi passed through from 2014 to 2017" (Elabbar, 2022, p. 5), no bridge between the school system and the university system was found that could have enabled both systems to work together to overcome the problems of poor quality of education in the entire state of Libya, not just the university of Benghazi. Inaction by ministry policymakers and directors may result in the rapid collapse of the education system if the existing complications are not addressed. Thus, this action research aims to implement and reevaluate several of the proposed suggestions within the Faculty of Education, UoB, in general, Oray’s Publications Impact Factor: 6.67(SJIF) Research Journal Of English (RJOE)Vol-8, Issue-1, 2023 www.rjoe.org.in An International Peer-Reviewed English Journal ISSN: 2456-2696 Indexed in: International Citation Indexing (ICI), Cite factor, International Scientific Indexing (ISI), Directory of Research Journal Indexing (DRJI) Google Scholar, Cosmos and Internet Archives. __________________________________________________________________ Research Journal Of English (RJOE) Copyright Oray’s Publication Page 2 and the English Department, UoB, in particular. This will support the role of the Faculty of Education in advocating the desired gradual reform strategy for the entire education system in Libya by encouraging the transition from theory to practice. In addition, this research collects and analyzes action data using four methodological mechanisms. The first mechanism works with preservice teachers who are gaining teaching experience in five primary and secondary schools in Benghazi. The second mechanism works with seven higher education coordinators, including the researcher, who are currently working on launching MA (Master of Arts) and M Sc (Master of Sciences) programs at the Faculty of Education. The third mechanism works with six T.A.s in the English Department who are involved in a bridge program for first-semester students. The fourth mechanism works with an existing interactive idea developed by one of the English Department educators, Mrs. Jwaili, who has adopted a new method of presenting EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching and learning to preservice teachers. The study produced several recommendations to be incorporated into the projected gradual reform plan formulated by Elabbar (2017). It sustained until it reached its innovative form in 2022, entitled "Reforming the Libyan Education System: Seven Articulated Years Via a Strategic Planning Pyramid.” Additionally, this study suggests adopting action research as a model of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and employing corrective procedures to compensate for identified weaknesses within the Faculty of Education and among all its members.