The challenges of policy borrowing: Exploring education faculty professional agency and CAEP accreditation in Oman and Qatar

Policy borrowing from other regions has presented significant obstacles for higher education faculty in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Specifically, accreditation for higher education institutions has become problematic. This study explored the perceptions of faculty in two colleges of education on the influence of the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) policies and procedures on their professional agency. As a form of policy borrowing, US-based CAEP accreditation has been adopted by several colleges of education in the GCC context. Using the framework of professional agency, findings from this qualitative comparative study revealed that seven participants from Oman and eight from Qatar enacted four forms of professional agency in response to accreditation, namely, (1) agency as advocacy, (2) agency as creative compliance, (3) agency as uncritical compliance, and (4) agency as upholding. These forms of agency were derived from analyzing participants’ actions, choices, and stances toward accreditation. They revealed the complex and dynamic interplay of participants’ professional identities and the structural and cultural conditions in each context. The study discusses the findings considering extant literature and offers insight into the judicious borrowing of accreditation in the GCC teacher education context.