Hiwar Symposium

SEC Hosts Lively Debate on Education Reform

International education experts joined with Qatari leaders recently for a dialogue on education reform in Qatar and around the world. Entitled “Hiwar: Supreme Education Council Annual Symposium,” the event was conducted at the Ritz-Carlton, Doha, on the first anniversary of the launch of Qatar’s education reform effort.

Qatari leaders started the discussion with a status report on the nationwide reform effort currently underway here. Sabah Al-Haidoos, Acting Director of the SEC Education Institute, provided a status report on the 12 innovative, child-focused Independent Schools established last September and plans to open 22 more this fall. She also discussed the teacher training programs that the Education Institute has developed to make sure that Independent School teachers are well-versed in the new curriculum standards and up to date on the latest teaching trends and methods.

Adel Al-Sayed, Director of the SEC Evaluation Institute, then presented an overview of the results of the spring 2004 assessment of all public and private Arabic school students, as well as the data gathered from the surveys distributed to students, parents, teachers, principals and school social workers (see separate press release on these results). These are tools developed by the Evaluation Institute and are respectively known as the Qatar Comprehensive Educational Assessment or QCEA, and the Qatar Comprehensive School Survey or QCSS.

Finally, Dr. Jehan Abdullah Al-Meer, Acting Director of the new SEC Higher Education Institute, gave an overview of the services to be offered by this Institute when it opens in the near future. The Institute is designed to provide counseling and advice to students about colleges and careers, administer eight scholarship programs, and qualify and monitor universities and programs around the world to ensure that Qatari graduates are attending quality institutions.

Following their remarks, the speakers then engaged in a dialogue with the audience, providing attendees the opportunity to ask specific questions about Qatar’s reform effort and the various elements of implementation.

International experts then took the stage for a more global discussion on education reform and student and school assessment around the world. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Alejandro Tiana Ferrer, the Secretary General of Education for Spain and a renowned expert on student assessment.

He was followed by a panel discussion with education experts from three continents:

• Dr. Barry McGaw, Director of Education, OECD - Paris
• Dr. Tom Loveless, Director, Brown Center, Brookings Institution - Washington
• Dr. Hisham El-Sherif, Chairman and CEO, IT Investments - Cairo

Following their remarks, a second dialogue was conducted with the audience to allow participants to ask questions about education reform efforts elsewhere, the status of education on the world scale, and the value of student assessment as a quality assurance tool.