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Stories of the Reform 2005 |
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 “Qatar is creating thinkers,” says Amani Ibrahim, a teacher at Al Duhail
Girls Independent Preparatory School. “Before, our students learned to simply
pour information onto a page. Now, they are learning for life.” Her colleague,
Fatma Ali Al Nuaimi, agrees. “We’ve transformed the learning process from a
destination into a journey.” What follows are some examples of how that journey
progressed in Qatar’s Independent Schools during 2005.
“He said, ‘Newton was right!’” One of reform’s most significant changes was doing away with a single, nationally prescribed textbook in the Independent Schools. As long as schools are accountable to the national curriculum standards in Arabic, English, science, and mathematics, each school can determine its own curriculum, and teachers can draw on whatever materials—in any media—that they feel will help them teach most effectively. Dispensing with a standard textbook that had been a fixture of Qatari education for two generations has required an adjustment for parents and teachers alike. At the beginning of the school year, “Where is the textbook?” and “How do I know my child is learning if he doesn’t bring home a textbook?” were questions frequently heard by the staff of Independent Schools. But as the year progressed, those fears were allayed. “Parents were afraid their children wouldn’t be prepared,” says Najlaa Hussain Al Mutawaa, a teacher at Al Wakra Girls Independent Preparatory School. “But then they hear good things from the children, and they see that the teachers are hard-working.”
At Khalifa Independent Primary School of Girls, teachers developed an exercise to help fourth graders understand the difference between fact and opinion—a skill that can be critical in later life, whether one is evaluating a business plan or choosing which candidate to vote for. The teachers asked the students to consider a mock advertisement that claimed their school had “the largest playground in Qatar.” The students debated what features might make a playground worthy of this status: Is it strictly a matter of size? Or does quality of equipment and layout come into play? Students agreed it was a difficult matter to settle. Then one student stood up and proposed that the class visit every playground in Qatar and take measurements. “It was a great victory for critical thinking,” says AbdulGabbar Al-Sharafi, English Curriculum Standards Specialist at the Education Institute, after observing the class during his regular visits to the school. Although every Independent School classroom bears the unique stamp of its teacher, most reflect an emphasis on encouraging a spirit of inquiry and hands-on learning. “We’re giving students more confidence about themselves, that they can do more,” says Ms. Mutawaa, the teacher at Al Wakra Girls Independent Preparatory School. And it’s this approach, she adds, that convinced her to become a teacher. “When I got my degree in Zoology, I didn’t want to be a teacher because I didn’t like the traditional ways of teaching. But I like this new way of teaching.”
“This is a five-senses education.” Field trips once meant a purely recreational excursion. But in 2005, excursions outside the classroom became an integral part of the learning experience. Now field trips provide opportunities for learning across the curriculum—a trip to the zoo becomes the basis for writing and art assignments. “This is a five-senses education,” says Ibtihal AbdulMohsen, a teacher at Moza bint Mohammed Elementary School for Girls. Teachers are finding that even visits to familiar places can be used to open up the world to students. For a group of second graders from Al Qadeseya Model Independent School for Boys, a trip to Pizza Hut became a lesson in the fundamentals of chemistry, as students learned how a group of materials—in this case, flour, water, and yeast—react under various conditions. When the members of the Science Club at the Activity Center in Al Duhail Girls Independent Preparatory School learned they were going to Semaisma Beach to collect crabs for a terrarium, they responded with a chorus of “Ick!” But the more the girls learned about the crabs, the more they gained respect for the creatures’ fragile complexity and their role in maintaining biodiversity. “These kinds of experiences really motivate students,” says Ms. Nuaimi, the teacher who led the trip. “Many girls were afraid of science. Now they think science is great.” “We share information.” Every study of effective education practice cites small class sizes as a key factor. In Qatar’s Independent Schools, where classes are kept to a maximum of 25 students, teachers are finding ways to make the learning environment feel even more intimate. In most Independent Schools, students are no longer arranged in rows with a teacher lecturing from the front of the class. Now, students often learn in groups, and the teacher moves around the room monitoring the progress of the students on both a collective and individual basis. Teachers believe a less rigid environment enables students to focus better on a more rigorous curriculum. Making effective use of group work requires new classroom management skills and a different approach to discipline—in fact, managing student work groups is one of the main focuses of professional development programs. But teachers are willing to learn new skills because it makes the classroom more collaborative and, in turn, more engaging. “We used to talk too much,” says Mohammed Yousef Rahahla, a mathematics teacher at AbuBaker Asedeeq Independent School. “Now we have seen the value in letting students teach one another, and in tailoring activities to students’ abilities.” “We share the information,” says Nasser, 15, a student at AbdulRahman Bin Jassim Boys Independent Preparatory School. “It helps us understand the lesson. If I don’t know a point, I ask my friends. And if I still don’t understand, the teacher will give me more information.” Group work is also proving a valuable tool in encouraging student maturity. “I had one student who was very naughty,” says Ms. AbdulMohsen, the teacher at Moza bint Mohammed Elementary School for Girls. “It came to my mind to make her a leader in her group. She changed completely. She respects herself, and she feels a sense of responsibility for her peers.” More accomplished students get a sense of satisfaction—and a greater intellectual challenge—when they’re asked to tutor other group members who may be struggling. “The teacher asked me to help another student who needed help in math,” says Ali, a student at Al-Yarmouk Independent Preparatory School for Boys. “That gave me courage.” “We want our teachers to feel at home here.” Reform has meant more meaningful learning experiences for teachers as well as students. In 2005, professional development programs, sponsored by the Education Institute, addressed curriculum standards, workshops on specific subjects (such as science), lesson planning, time management, behavior, learning styles, and other pedagogical issues. These system-wide programs, which are offered to teachers in both Independent Schools and Ministry of Education Schools, have encouraged a dialogue across grade levels, creating, for the first time, a sense of a Qatari educational continuum that all teachers can invest in. “Teachers used to be so isolated from one another,” says Dr. Al-Sharafi, the English Curriculum Standards Specialist at the Education Institute. “But teachers really want to know what’s going on in other schools. They want to talk to each other not only about what they are teaching but how they’re teaching it.” In addition to programs sponsored by the Office of Professional Development, every Independent School has its own professional development program. At Al Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys, staff training is preparing the school to join the rigorous and renowned International Baccalaureate program. “We’ve invested a lot in professional development,” says Bilal Abdul Sammie Osman Saber, the operator. “Teachers are telling us that they’ve learned in four or five months more than they’ve learned in the past ten years. It’s been like a marathon for the past few months.” In addition to building skills tailored to the unique needs of the school, on-site professional development also encourages teacher-to-teacher mentoring and a stronger esprit de corps. “If we want successful learners, we have to look after our teachers,” says Dr. Hayat Abdulla Ma’refia, operator of the Al Wajba Primary Independent Girls School. “We want our teachers to feel at home here.” Many teachers point to their principals as an important source of encouragement and inspiration in their professional development. Before the reform, the principal’s role mostly centered on compliance and enforcement. Now, principals are becoming true educational leaders in their schools—not just motivating staff, but catalyzing substantive discussion on pedagogical issues. “The principal has to feel, act, and live as if he is one of the teachers,” says Abdullah Ismaeel Al Emadi, principal at Abu Baker Asedeeq Independent School. “I believe both students and teachers benefit more when they work with the principal, who functions as a learning leader.” “I want them to want to learn.” Education is not just about mastering a body of information and a set of skills; it’s about becoming confident, creative, and articulate. One way Independent Schools nurture these qualities is by asking students to make presentations to their fellow students. At Al Duhail Girls Independent Preparatory School, several classes and grades embraced the idea of making PowerPoint presentations on cell structure. They devoted their lunchtime to learning the software, then incorporated graphics, English and independent research which, in many cases, went far beyond the scope of their class work. When her Arabic teacher asked Bedour, a ninth grader at Al Wakra Girls Independent Preparatory School, to make a presentation to the class, “I had some fears at first, of course,” Bedour says. “But it helps us understand what the teacher feels like every day when she teaches us. And if your future is in business or other fields, you have to know how to make presentations. It’s good for your future.” The election of class officers and student leadership councils is also developing important skills in students. Virtually unheard of before the reform, these councils are now a fixture of Independent School life. The student representatives, who are elected by their peers, are learning the value of identifying issues of importance to their constituencies, marshalling evidence (through methods such as polling) and making persuasive arguments. Students say having a voice makes them more invested in the life of the school. Bedour says she plans to run for president of her class. “I would like to make some changes so that all the girls love this school,” she says. “I want them to want to learn.” Many student leadership councils initially focused on lengthening playground time and the quality of food in school, but members are learning they can have an impact in many more ways. At Al Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys, students pointed out that computer labs were too crowded and asked for more access. It was granted. “We can’t give them everything they want, of course,” says the school operator, Mr. Saber. “But it shows that they are becoming independent thinkers who are worthy of being heard. That’s exactly the kind of people Qatar needs for the future.” “We respect our teachers. It is like father and son.” When teaching and learning change for the better, students’ behavior changes as well. “We have a more mature relationship with them,” says Ghassan Badwan, a teacher at Al Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys. Ali, the student at Al-Yarmouk Independent Preparatory School for Boys, agrees. “We respect our teachers a lot more. It is like father and son.” While discipline problems will always be a fact of life in schools everywhere, Qatar’s Independent School teachers say that they see students changing for the better. Smaller classes are perhaps the most significant factor. “When we had more than 25 students in our classes, no one could study,” says Ahmed, 15, a student at AbdulRahman Bin Jassim Boys Independent Preparatory School. Students say it also helps that they change classrooms over the course of a day, rather than sit in one place. “It helps us be fresh and ready to learn about the subjects,” says Bedour. One way schools are building greater respect for teachers is through teacher-led extracurricular activities. At Al Duhail Girls School, these activities are offered two days a week. “At first, many of us thought, ‘we will have to stay after school even longer?’” says Ms. Ibrahim. “But we found it was interesting—not only for the students, but for us.” Extracurriculars also give students an opportunity to see their teachers in a new light—in fact one of the science teachers, Ms. Ibrahim notes, is helping to lead the singing club. “That makes the girls feel closer to us, and the relationships are different,” she says. Teachers also laud the fact that behavior management has become a school-wide effort, not something that teachers must cope with on their own. What’s more, discipline policies are not strictly punitive, but rather reflect a balance of rewards and sanctions; the focus is not just catching students doing something bad, but also praising them when they do well. The new attitude on the part of staff and students is leading to some remarkable transformations. One example is Ali Bin Abdullah Independent Primary School for Boys, which is now one of the most sought-after Independent Schools in Doha, drawing bright students from far beyond its immediate proximity. “Our staff works hard, and with great zeal,” says Mohgat Al Kolob Kamel, the school principal. “We invest a great deal of time in planning and collaboration to instill in our students the knowledge, skills, and values which create future leaders—our ultimate goal.” “A good start.” Parental involvement continues to grow in Independent Schools. “I feel welcome in the school,” says Awad Mohsen Al Qahtani, the father of a seventh grader in Hamad Bin Abdullah Bin Jassim Independent Preparatory School for Boys. “They give us all the help we need, and if you ask for a report about your child’s progress, they respond quickly.” The newest formal opportunity for involvement came with the election of boards of trustees for each Independent School. Response was enthusiastic: at Hamad Bin Abdulla Bin Jassim Boys Preparatory School more than 100 fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and elder brothers turned up for the election meeting. Schools are also becoming more creative in reaching out to parents, going beyond meetings, a weekly report, or a newsletter. At Al Wajba Independent Primary School for Girls, parents can use a school hotline to get answers to any question. Staff members have also volunteered to teach English classes for parents and even create a fitness center. “We want school to feel like a familiar place to them,” says the operator. Qatari mothers tend to be more involved than fathers in school life (as is the case around the world), but Independent Schools are making a special effort to reach out to men. In Al Qadeseya Model Independent School for Boys, the staff addressed parent anxieties about the new curriculum with a meeting especially for fathers. Attendance far surpassed teachers’ expectations and generated a great deal of positive discussion in the school community—which the school hopes will lead to even greater attendance next time. Parents continue to express concerns about individual aspects of reform—as they are expected and encouraged to do. But misgivings are increasingly tempered by a sense that patience pays off and real progress is being made. At Moza bint Mohammed Elementary School for Girls, many parents initially worried that the English standards asked too much of their children. But as the school year progressed and students adjusted to the workload, parent opinion changed. Several parents made a point of crediting staff for their children’s newfound capabilities in English—and thanked teachers for persevering in the face of their initial skepticism. Above all, parents say they appreciate that Qatar is striving to give their children the best education possible. “We notice the change,” says Mr. Qahtani. “The students are thinking, they’re searching for information. This is a good start.” |
For teachers, especially those accustomed to lecturing and reading aloud from
a single book, the opportunity to design curriculum has been daunting and
time-consuming—but ultimately liberating. While they must devote many more hours
to researching materials and developing ways to integrate them into the
classroom, teachers also appreciate having the autonomy to be creative in
bringing concepts alive for their students. “I have many resources now—from the
school, from throughout the Middle East, from around the world,” says Khalid Al-Boainin,
a teacher at AdbulRahman Bin Jassim Boys Independent Preparatory School. “And I
have many more ideas now.”
For the sciences in particular, interactive experiences have proved
revelatory for everyone involved. Frias Couri, a teacher at the Omar bin Khattab
Education Complex for Boys, recalls a student’s reaction after conducting an
experiment to illustrate Newton’s first and second laws. “He turned to me and
said, ‘Newton was right!’” says Mr. Couri. “It’s the greatest comment I’ve heard
in my entire teaching career.”