EL Fellow Program
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Country Qatar
City Doha
Host Institution Supreme Education Council
Project Description
The SEC has requested an EL Fellow to work 20 hours a week with English teaching and classroom observations and 20 hours a week in pre-service and in-service training, curriculum development and testing (in the specific area of mathematics and sciences courses taught in English). The EL Fellow will have an office in the Education Institute of the Supreme Education Council, but will spend a majority of time visiting with the independent schools in Qatar to observe and advise on English language instruction. Qatar has a tremendously forward looking vision for the development of their independent schools, as well as the financial resources to provide for the material needs in their schools, but Qatari teachers are sorely lacking in training opportunities. This is further compounded by the fact that many of the teachers in Qatar are women, and culturally they do not tend to travel overseas for higher education or additional professional training opportunities. Having an EL Fellow work directly with the teachers and administrators in these schools is viewed as a way to elevate the standards of the teachers and classrooms in the Qatari independent schools. This is a new vision for K-12 education in the Middle East and particularly the Gulf region. An EL Fellow in Qatar has an opportunity to get involved with this grand educational experiment at the earliest of stage of curriculum development and play a key role in influencing the way that English is taught and learned in Qatari schools. Effective programs implemented at this early stage in the development of the independent schools will most certainly be copied in future independent schools (as all MOE schools are slated to become independent schools within the next 10 years).
Project Objectives
The primary objective of this program is to show American support in a tangible way for the admirable reforms occurring in the Qatari educational system. The teachers and administrators in the independent schools are some of the best in Qatar, but repeatedly request assistance from the American Embassy, British Council, Qatar University and other organizations with teacher training and curriculum development. Educational training opportunities in Qatar have always been tremendously successful on multiple levels. There have been a number of Fulbright Scholars and students working with the College of Education and Qatar University with tremendous results. There has not yet been an opportunity to assist the Supreme Education Council and K-12 education in a similarly broad fashion. The specific objectives of this program will be different for each of the independent schools, depending on their needs, but an assessment of their current curricula by an American expert, as well as recommended adjustments and training for the teachers and administrators will help to reach the broad objective which is a more effective and successful manner to teach the sciences and mathematics to students in Qatar's independent schools.
About the Host Institution Over the past several years, the government of Qatar has embarked on an ambitious mission to reform the education system of its country. Under the banner of Education for a New Era, this unprecedented initiative aims to comprehensively reform education from kindergarten through college. In 2002, an Amiri Decree established the Supreme Education Council, a new institution, parallel to the Ministry of Education, with a mission of designing, governing and coordinating the new educational policies in Qatar. The role of the Supreme Education Council is to oversee education reform, help it to grow and objectively monitor its progress. The Supreme Education Council is responsible for education policy in Qatar (no longer the Ministry of Education). At the heart of the education reform are autonomous, government-funded schools called Independent Schools akin to charter schools in the US. Currently, more than 50 independent schools offer new models for curriculum design, teaching methods and collaboration. Independent schools will ensure students acquire the skills they need to build a secure future, skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, creativity, and the ability to use technology and communicate effectively. The first group of schools opened in 2004, the first year, with twelve independent schools and each successive year has seen about 20 new schools added to the pool. All independent schools emphasize learning English. The schools teach math and science in English and English language studies begin at primary school. The Supreme Education Council has encountered difficulties in successfully reaching their goal of effectively teaching sciences and mathematics in English and they requested the assistance of an American expert to work with some of the newly formed independent schools to fully implement English language instruction in the science and mathematics departments.
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