Recommendations for strengthening Qatar's K-12 Education

In the year 2001, the RAND Corporation was asked by the leadership of the State of Qatar to scrutinize the education system of kindergarten through Grade 12 that is K-12 and deliver a reform strategy. It is depending on the concerns the students were departing from the schools of the Ministry of Education without the academic expertise required for achieving victory in the post-secondary education, and the expansion of the labor market of Qatar.

RAND has presented three options; of which the leadership has chosen the Independent school Model. It is a system-wide structure reform plan that buoyed up the qualified people having unconventional ideas for applying for regulating the new Independent schools that are under contracts with the government. 

The particular model has concentrated on the growth and development of the curriculum standards that particularized the educational consequences in Arabic, Mathematics, English, and Science. The performance of the schools and the students will be tracked methodically through the national assessments that are aligned with the new standards. Even, a variety of professional development opportunities will be rendered for both the teachers and the administrators.

In 2004, the first generation of the 12 Independent schools was opened. By the fall in 2006, 46 Independent schools were operating on the same plane with the traditional Ministry of Education schools and private Arabic schools. 

The reform’s breakthrough:

In the year 2005, RAND was inquired to monitor, assess and report on the reform’s implementation in the Independent schools. From 2005’s November to 2007’s May, the team of RAND executed a case-study analysis of 12 Independent schools and 4 Ministry schools. 

For the execution, data were collected from ample classroom observations, conduction of interviews with the administrators and principals, focus groups with the educators, parents, and students. The team searched for evidence that the main school-level reform elements had been put into effect which involves the student-centered classroom instruction, attempts for promoting the critical thinking skills of the students, enactment of the curriculum standards in Mathematics, Arabic, and Science, use of English in the Science and Math classes; and assistance for the professional development of the teachers. 

The national survey data was used by the RAND for comparing the school characteristics, teacher attributes, and the instructional practices in both the Independent and the Ministry schools. RAND has done an analysis of the student performance data from the 2005-2006 Qatar Comprehensive Education Assessment. 

Recommendations for strengthening the Reform:

The K-12 education reform of Qatar has obtained significant success in the early years. 

Limitation of the policy changes’ frequency:

Frequent changes in the policy emanated in the climate of uncertainty that could have detrimental effects on innovation and motivation. RAND has suggested limiting the policy changes. 

Strengthening the support for the teachers and the schools:

The independent schools require help in the identification of the materials that come in the same line with the curriculum standards. The teachers need assistance to translate the standards into practice. For accomplishing it, the School Support Organizations could be entrusted with the new Independent Schools for longer than the usual tenure of 1-year. 

The independent schools will be merited if the incentives were developed to keep exceedingly competent rather than rewarding the experienced school teachers with administrative positions. 

Review and improvement of the policies linked to the assessment of the student:

The assessment of the Independent School students’ was done in English might have suffered due to the lack of proficiency in the language. It further came to the suggestion stating that the policies attaching the language of assessment to the language of instruction require reviewing. Again, the assessments might be revised so that the scores of the students affect their promotion and grade retention. 

Adoption of the approaches that motivate the parents to support high-quality education for their wards:

The initiative of school reform of Qatar has help the parents to make informed choices about the specific schools that can best serve the requirements of their kids. Ranking the schools as per the performance of the students and other valued results would be able to inform the choices and may encourage healthy competition among the Independent Schools.

It was observed that in spite of the positive effects, more change is required.

 

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