School leadership
2.1. Leadership standards and roles
2.2. Selection and working conditions
2.3. Leadership preparation and training
3. Teachers, parents and students
3.1. School management committees and boards
4.1. Autonomy of school leaders
4.2. Assessment and accountability of school leaders
4.3. Teacher assessment by school leaders
1. Terminology
Law No. 2001-054 on the obligation of basic education uses the term director (directeur) or head of the establishment, person responsible for the establishment (le responsable de l’établissement).
2. School principals
2.1. Leadership standards and roles
Competency standards and leadership frameworks and guidelines
The roles for Directors and the teaching community are outlined in the Law Nº 2022-023.
The Pacte de Partenariat (2024) mentions an ongoing reform to strengthen the qualifications and skills of teachers in the service of a high-performance, equitable Mauritanian education system that promotes learning for all pupils.
Roles
Setting expectations/objectives: Each school must have an action plan, the school project, which is developed by the director, with support from the school management committee and after consultation with technical services. The action plan is then submitted to local authorities for approval.
The Law Nº 2022-023 states that in carrying out the missions of the establishments under their responsibility, school principals have authority over all staff placed at their disposal. Furthermore, the Directors may take any measures necessary to ensure normal operation of the establishment.
Developing teaching and learning: School directors manage teaching materials and equipment. They also provide support to the teachers.
Promoting collaboration: The school director ensures the screening and management of the school with the school management committee and an engaged and involved community.
According to Decree Nº 2016-040, the Director may delegate powers of personnel management to the Deputy or to a member of his staff.
Supporting staff development: School directors are not responsible for planning the training of teachers. Rather, Decree No. 078-2021 gives this responsibility to the regional directorate of resources. The directorate defines and implements the training policy for teaching staff.
Decree Nº 2016-040 mandates that the management of the staff of the school is the responsibility of the director.
Acting in accordance with the ethical principles of the profession: The Three-Year Education Sector Action Plan 2016–2018 sought to validate the professional ethics guide for education professions (charter of good conduct).
2.2. Selection and working conditions
Degree requirements and prior teaching experience
Degree requirements and prior teaching experience: According to Decree No. 078-2021, it is the responsibility of the Minister of National Education to set the teaching programs, and the certification procedures. The Recruitment and Initial Training Monitoring Department (Service des Recrutements et du Suivi de la Formation Initiale) within the General Resources Department, is responsible for implementing staff recruitment and training policy and organizing competitive recruitment competitions. The Direction of Exams and Entrance Competitions is responsible for organizing and supervising national exams and entrance examinations for educational establishments under the Ministry's authority.
Details on the requirements necessary to become a school director could not be found.
Appointment decision
According to Decree No. 078-2021, the movement of school directors is decided at the regional level in consultation with department inspectors. The Recruitment and Initial Training Monitoring Department is responsible for implementing the staff recruitment and training policy and organizing recruitment competitions.
Decree No. 2019-040 which establishes a strategic review for the evaluation of primary school teachers, stipulates that teachers ranked at the excellent level may have priority for promotion to director positions.
Employment equity measures
A 2020 World Bank report recommended the Ministry of Education to create a quota system for new woman school directors positions. While it is unclear if there is such a system, the Mauritania Basic Education Sector Support Project - Phase 2 does measure the percentage of female directors in public primary schools.
The gender strategy in the Pacte de Partenariat (2024) highlights the inadequate representation of female teachers and their limited access to leadership roles. The ongoing reform aims to increase leadership positions for women in education and improve working conditions and housing to attract more female teachers.
Working conditions
The status of education personnel is governed by Law No. 93-09 (1993) on the general status of civil servants and contractual agents of the state. The ministry sets up meetings between directors of educational institutions to examine educational difficulties facing the sector and find ways to remedy them.
Decree No. 69-218 sets the minimum weekly service for teaching staff in secondary establishments. The minimum of hours that directors must do varies depending on the grade level of the establishments and a number of classes. They are as follows: directors of first to fourth-grade establishments, 12 hours; directors of fifth to eighth-grade establishments, 8 hours; directors of establishments with more than eight classes and directors of studies, 6 hours.
2.3. Leadership preparation and training
Pre-service training
The General Resources Department , as described in Decree No. 078-2021, is responsible for defining the initial training needs of management staff.
Induction and in-service training
A UNESCO report on Mauritania in 2010 found that the training of school heads is not described within a legal framework. Rather it is done occasionally in a workshop, seminar, or on the job. Decree No. 95-035 establishes the organization and operating rules of the Normal Schools of Teachers (ENI).
According to Decree No. 078-2021, the General Resources Department is responsible for defining and implementing the training policy for management staff and for drawing up annual training plans. The Continuing Education Service (Service de Formation Continue) within the General Resources Department, defines staff training needs in consultation with relevant structures, proposes measures to improve performance, plans training courses, identifies training structures and trainers, and monitors the implementation and evaluation of training. They develop the expertise of staff members through the organization of training, seminars, and advanced training courses according to the needs expressed by the ministry. They also are responsible for the management of the professional careers of management staff and implementing continuing training plans.
The training of school directors is also a goal of the Three-Year Education Sector Action Plan 2016–2018. Directors of the largest basic schools must participate in training once every five years while directors of secondary schools must participate in training once every two years. The action plan additionally calls for school directors to be trained on “gender issues”.
The Pacte de Partenariat (2024) also suggests establishing a continuous training system that begins with defining a continuing education strategy integrated with teacher training, implemented at the regional and departmental levels, while ensuring leadership from intermediary structures (DREN and IDEN). One of the goals is that Directors will be trained as managers and pedagogical supervisors, with statuses to be reviewed and defined in line with their key roles as headteachers.
3. Teachers, parents and students
3.1. School management committees and boards
The Three-Year Education Sector Action Plan 2016–2018 mentions school management committees (Comités de gestion des écoles, or COGES). Decree No. 2019-039 establishing school management committees mandated that a school management committee be created for each public school, bringing together the territorial administration, municipalities, parents of students, and student representatives. According to the degree, the general objective of the COGES is to “contribute to improving the quality of learning, expanding access, combating disparities and the specific objective of establishing management based on a highly inclusive and community-based participatory approach”. The School Management Committee aims to defend, through its activities at school, the educational, socio-cultural and economic interests of the communities with a view to creating a climate favorable to improving the quality of learning in order to guarantee the success of all.
The School Management Committee comprises representatives from the school administration, teachers, students, the Parents' Office, the community, and local civil society. Specifically, members of the COGES include a president elected by the committee members by a simple majority, with the director's vote being predominant in the event of a tie; a general secretary (the school director); a manager; a representative of the municipality designated by the latter (preferably a member of the education committee); a representative of the parents' association designated by the latter (in good standing with an APE); two representatives of the teaching staff elected by this staff; a representative of locally active NGOs; and a representative of the students elected from among those in the 6th year.
The COGES have the responsibility to contribute to monitoring the attendance and regularity of teachers' presence; to contribute to the organization of activities to promote schooling in general and the schooling of girls in particular; to participate in all activities aimed at improving the overall living environment of the school, the security of schools and students and that of the quality of their learning; to participate in the development and execution of the school's action plan; to inquire about the school's allocation of inputs, manage the school's textbooks and school supplies; to monitor and contribute to the management and maintenance of the school's infrastructure and furniture; to monitor the management of food supplies for schools with canteens; and to contribute to improving health and hygiene in schools.
Since the publishing of the decree, the ministry has established a monitoring mechanism for COGES and helped launch 1,000 committees.
3.2. Middle leaders
No information was found.
3.3. Parents
The Law Nº 2022-023 states that parents, as members of the educational community, participate in school life and maintain regular relations with other stakeholders in education. They take part, through their representatives, in the various councils that govern school life. Legally constituted associations can make proposals to the Minister of National Education and to the education authority at the Wilaya level.
Law No. 2001-054 on the obligation of basic education, Decree No. 078-2021, and the Three-Year Education Sector Action Plan 2016–2018 all mention the associations of parents of students (associations de parents d’élèves (APE)). PTA are an essential partner of the education system which has been institutionalized through Decree 137-1999. According to this degree, APEs are legal entities that have financial autonomy. Their objectives are to mobilize and raise awareness among parents of students around educational action and to assist the administration and school authorities. They also represent the parents of students in educational bodies. The APEs help seek out pedagogical and material improvements for the school such as school construction, equipment, textbooks, and building maintenance.
The Ministry has helped to established circulars detailing APE’s establishment and monitoring committees. APEs should help correct inconsistencies and disparities due to the economic or social problems of parents. APEs exist at all levels. The National Federation of Parents’ Association (Fédération nationale des associations de parents d’élèves et étudiants) represents parents at the national level and has participated in national education reforms. There are also regional, departmental, communal and local associations.
3.4. Students
There is a National Student Union (Syndicat national des étudiants de Mauritanie), but they have not been active in recent years. No information was found in legislative documents regarding the creation of student associations.
4. Governance
4.1. Autonomy of school leaders
School leaders in Mauritania do not have much autonomy. Many of the management responsibilities are held at central or regional levels. According to Decree No. 078-2021, the directorates of education responsible for basic education and secondary education are responsible for decisions related to personnel, curriculum, school libraries and so on. Within the directorate, the teaching and supervision staff management department projects the movement of education personnel at the national level, according to the requests of the institutions concerned. Questions related to the management of personnel and financial resources are directed towards the regional human resources department.
The Three-Year Education Sector Action Plan 2016–2018 sought to promote greater decentralization of administrative and financial management.
4.2. Assessment and accountability of school leaders
The Law Nº 2022-023 states that schools are subject to self-evaluation and external evaluation, based on quantitative and qualitative indicators established for this purpose by the Ministry of Education, and periodically reviewed in the light of objectives set at national and school level. According to Decree No. 078-2021, the regional basic education service is responsible for the monitoring of educational supervision.
4.3. Teacher assessment by school leaders
The performance of educators is assessed against professional standards and indicators of educational quality and effectiveness according to the Law Nº 2022-023. The Ministry of Education is responsible for this evaluation. Periodic national assessments of teachers aim to evaluate skills and identify training needs for continuous improvement.
According to Decree No. 078-2021, the monitoring and educational supervision of school teachers is the responsibility of school inspectors. School inspectors also identify the continuing training needs of teachers and work to improve the performance of teachers. School directors are not required to assess teachers but they may act more as daily local supervisors who provide support to teachers in their practice.
