Abstract
Qatar’s massive education reform, Education for a New Era has dramatically shaped the educational landscape by implementing professional and curriculum standards and introducing best pedagogical practices at all levels. The current concern with Qatar’s educational reform is not so much the adopted policies but rather the implementation of these policies into classroom practices. This study examines several kindergartens in Qatar to explore the issues and concerns regarding the implementation of the Supreme Education Counsel’s The Early Years Education Good Practice Guide (GPG); a policy document providing evidence-based, needs based, culturally responsive appropriate early childhood teaching methods and materials. This research study includes focus groups with 22 kindergarten teachers/academic coordinators and classroom observations. By providing what Fullan (2000) terms an “inside, inside out and outside story”, we examine both the practices being utilized in kindergartens and obstacles that prevent teachers from implementing the GPG from the perspective of teachers and other early childhood school personnel. Finally, we provide possible recommendations regarding the implementation of the GPG.
Highlights
The development of Qatar’s Ministry of Education in the 1950’s has played a dominant role in developing and overseeing educational structure and policies including early childhood education (Althani & Romanowski, 2013)
The following sections of this article discuss the findings from the interviews and focused groups, classroom observations and school visits and our own personal reflections regarding the use of the Good Practice Guide (GPG) and kindergartens in Qatar
At the start of the Education for a New Era, the Supreme Education Council (SEC) took a decentralized approach to Early Childhood Education by providing teachers with a great deal of freedom and autonomy to develop curriculum and instruction for their schools and classes
Summary
The development of Qatar’s Ministry of Education in the 1950’s has played a dominant role in developing and overseeing educational structure and policies including early childhood education (Althani & Romanowski, 2013). The current system failed to provide a vision of quality education and the support structures needed for quality education were lacking. Any current reform would not be effective with incremental changes but rather reform in this context demanded a substantial system change and a well-developed and defined implementation plan. These findings led to four system-changing options and the Qatari government decided to develop a charter school model where education is decentralized and various Independent schools would be developed throughout Qatar. Education for a New Era (EFNE), a designed reform to transform Qatar’s schools into a world-class competitive education system began to take shape (Brewer et al, 2007)
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