Teacher Trajectories and Views on Inequality, Diversity and Collective Action

Hania Sobhy

This research project is a multi-sited study of teachers and educational transformation in Egypt, Lebanon and Tunisia. In particular, it inquires into: 1) patterns of precariousness, mobility and private provision in the trajectories of public school teachers, 2) teacher views and experiences of the management of diversity,  inequality and migrant integration in schools, and 2) teacher perceptions of and participation in collective action, protests and strikes. Fieldwork for this project was conducted in 2023 and 2024 with affiliations at Center for the Study of the Contemporary Maghreb (IRMC) in Tunis, Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB)- Max Weber Stiftung in Beirut and Centre d’Etudes et de Documentation Economiques, Juridique et Sociales (CEDEJ) in Cairo. Preliminary findings have been presented at IRMC and CEDEJ.

The first peer-reviewed output of this project is published in Globalisation Societies and Education: When do teachers strike: Between strong Unions, divergent preferences and political opportunity in Tunisia

A short article based on this research is published in University of California‘s global-e journal: Sobhy, H. (2025). We don’t have diversity here, but inequality, that’s in the design of the education system: Tunisian teachers, diversification and the defunding of education. global-e. Series: Diversifying Global Education, 16(1). Link