Education City,Land of the Giants
This was the title of a recent Article by Qatari Columnist Faisal Al Marzoqi in which he resembles Eduction City with its Featured campuses & gigantic buildings to the famous late 60's SCI FI US TV series "Land of the Giants" in the eyes of ordinary Qataris who are resembled as dwarfs.
According to the article, the Many Centers & Institutes of EC have done very little for Qataris.
The conclusion according to the writer, Qatar Foundation established the foundations for a society to be raised to the ranks of advanced countries in Education, Science and Community Development.However, the reality is that the Qatari society and its citizens in particular, are far behind from benefits sought by this organization through these institutes and centers.
The article was highly acclaimed among most Qatari writers who also think the same of Qatar Foundation!
I wonder whether QF PR representatives would respond back,As this seemed to be the first featured article in a daily local to publicly criticize the organization.
Many Locals thinks that the EC universities administration policies are way above Eduction level offered by the government schools, which limits its programs to the elite Society
As everything in Qatar, they start the construction from the facade and leave the foundations to last.
How solid can a building be with no foundations?
Wait, don't they call it Qatar Foundation? O_o
The “Start Thinking” shouldn't be directed to the outside world, instead they should send the message within!
Until now, they have standards for everything, except what make a teacher a qualified one for the new system.
Chances are that many of those who are being "trained" today, will quit next year and never add to the workforce intended.
Very small effort is done to enhance the level of the teachers of today, simply because they cannot teach and be trained at the same time.
My point is, SEC must import ready, qualified arabic speaking teachers, who have a teaching certification of some sort.
http://www.english.education.gov.qa/content/resources/detail/8981
Salam
What worries me isn't QORLA, because identifying the problem you stated is part of the solution, it's the Qatarization approach taken in the field.
After the merge and restructuring under the new Minister, dozens of Qataris were stranded with a job title and pay, with no real daily job or even an office to sit in. If what I heard from my teacher friends is true, about where all those will be "squeezed" next year, I'd baldly and confidently say that Education is bound to subscribe to an indefinite setback.
Salam
in lay man terms,,, i have mentioned that QF and education city as world class.
Qatar university, a part of the government... who are the accusers here...
i appreciate your explicit knack of pointing mistakes rather than understanding wat actually the commenter means....
Happy Happy,
QORLA is doomed to fail, simply because there are no adequate number of qualified teachers in the country. Setting the par higher for a crippled athlete would not make him jump.
Fail them all, or most, then close the schools.
Solution, imports qualified arabic speaking teachers, males in particular.
Thalib, Qatar University is not part of Qatar Foundation and Education City.
Mandi
it is a very amusing accusation against the QF standards of being world class.
I am sure if anybody has seen the standards of Qatar University programs, you would know what the accusation is all about.
It was too soon for the EC, but over the past 3-5 years Qatar has been restructuring the Education sector for reform and has been stumbling, despite of all initiatives i.e from MOE to SEC, Teacher net, Teacher Self-Assessment tools...etc
But there is one hope coming, yet won't bear fruits until 6-9 years as of today, the QORLA initiative, this one I may rely on in monitoring and improving teachers' professional development and performance in independent schools, otherwise they would be denied the full license, if they fell short of meeting a certain % of National Professional Standards (NPSs). Teacher financial benefits should be tied with their improved proficiency level and experience.
Salam
nice architectural buildings in a dusty area that will serve a limited purpose, just like other projects in qatar... for the good of qatar, i hope that i am wrong!
somebody forgot to START THINKING!
I would have preferred if Qatar invested in establishing a solid educational foundation first, including Qatar University's, to pave the way for the EC, in terms of curricula, raising the students standards (QCEA currently shows that more the 60% of the students are below standards- Level 3), hiring qualified teachers…etc.
Now that the die is cast, I'd consider the EC a good initiative in the sense that it will:
1- Encourage students to work harder to enroll.
2- Bring the HUGE gap in the students' performance to officials' attention.
3- Provide a better chance for many Qataris who were restricted to travel abroad for education.
Salam
I couldn't have said it better than ummjake. The plan od RAND did not address the lack of qualified resources necessary to get the plan through.
Education is only as good as the teachers available, currently there are no teachers at all.
It is a puzzle to me why Qatar import skilled people from all spectrum of professions, but not teachers.
or even 20 for that matter. Unfortunately it is pretty common here for people to expect money to produce immediate results. Sadly, this is not only the attitude of some of the public but now even those higher up. For example, I have heard from top sources at EC that the Qatar Foundation is now expecting these esteemed undergraduate programs, along with their undergrad students and teaching faculty, to produce top flight research to fill up the QSTP. The result is a replacing the emphasis on strong teaching and establishing a solid educational instruction culture with research which cannot logically involve undergraduate students because they are not properly equipped and denies them access to excellent instruction.
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
and really has nothing to do with EC. I guess EC makes a better target though. One can focus on the Americans, instead of the (mostly) Arabs involved with the independent schools.
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
It's depressing to see such articles. I call them المرجفون في الأرض
Those short-sighted ppl who try to put down other people's ambitions. Do they really expect to see major changes in the society through EC in 5 or even 10 years?
As for independent schools, my guess as an outsider is that the person or team that put the plan on paper is not the same person or team that is supervising the execution.
When operators were first invited to join the initiative they were not chosen based on long educational experience but on leadership qualities and they were free to hire a principal of any nationality.
Obviously there was a clear distinction between the role of the school's leader and it's manager.
Now SEC insists that an operator has to have at least 10 year experience in education and HE/SHE has to manage the school. A leader and a manager in one! A big institution like a school needs both roles but separately. And the 10 year experience condition will only make schools the same as before with minor changes on the surface.
The result is that schools have managers but don't have leaders, and SEC acts as a leader to all schools.
It's true that all initiatives take time to bear fruit but the gap between the way independent schools were planned and the way the plans are executed is delaying the sucess indefinitely.
They should never have made all the indep, schools switch over to English. It happened too fast, with too little support. You have Arab teachers who themselves don't have command of English, trying to teach students in English. It's ridiculous... The inservice training that they offer to teachers there is insufficient, akin to a band-aid for a broken arm.
A much better model would have been to make them all bilingual schools (research support that model as being the best for student success in both languages). A second language is best acquired when one has already developed cognitively in one's mother/native tongue -- but even then it takes YEARS to achieve at the same level as native speakers.
Additionally, few locals will EVER leave Qatar to work. Realistically, these individuals will simply interface with outside groups (thus they need English for communication in these situations) -- so their ARABIC language skills really need to be paramount. But I don't think the current model reflects that aim.
I can never see them having a preponderance of local/Qatari teachers in these schools either. Men here won't lower themselves to take a job of so little stature, and women will do it until they start having a family, and then many don't want to work (so your staff turnover will be constant). And this presupposes that these local teachers would all be qualified, skilled teachers in their subject area -- another ginormous leap.
I also have to concur with PM's observation. Some local students will work and sweat to make something of themselves; others clearly have no interest in actually doing anything other than sticking it out for 4 years, doing the bare minimum required to get that piece of paper. I see the former group growing in number but they're still a minority IMHO (and they have an uphill struggle, battling all the stereotypes of Qataris as unqualified lazy a**es).
In short, a LOT of work remains to be done here. But I am hopeful that given time they can make the needed changes.
"Marriage is a wonderful institution...but who wants to live in an institution?" -- Groucho Marx
the reforms will take a generation to work it's way through the system.
If Qataris dont want to reform schooling here then they can not complain when that level of education is deemed insufficient for entry at EC universities.
This Rand nonsense is a smoke screen - these uni's in the west are not beholden to them, in fact there is no connection at all to them, they are just the normal entry requirements everywhere - not just the US.
Anyway, in the West it is often claimed that the entry requirements have been lowered significantly over the years - and Qatar still complains it's too difficult!
"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."
who because of political manipulation (implying that Rand is involved in a conspiracy here) prefer sub-standard education and complaining about any attempts to improve opportunities and outcomes. I guess if that is what the majority want, it is what you will get.
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
I have many relatives who have studied/graduated from EC universities. Yet, i have to admit that none have studied in government schools.
Government schools now are all under what they call as "independent schooling" which are all under trial phase. The Ministry of eduction was canceled & was replaced by what it's known know as the Supreme council of eduction. The Council role from what i understood is regulatory & doesn't really have a direct authority over the independent schools. Last August, it was announced that The council Offered All previous Government school staff intensive training to improve their skills & prepare them for teaching in independent schools. This was loathed by many, who consider it an attempt from RAND to westernize the eduction in Qatar!!!
Offcourse there is a problem, there are many opponent to reforms whether in Government schools , Qatar University or EC
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
Doha may have been but that is only the buildings.
Good universities come first in order for students to strive towards. That has been put in place by Qatar via QF. Now Qatar has to improve ITS high school programme in order to furnish these universities with local talent.
It is a Qatari problem ;in order to help Qataris it has to be solved by Qataris.(well equiped Qatari government schools with motivated, qualified and well renumerated Qatari teachers)
Unless these Qatari writers you mentioned have any better ideas?
"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."
here is the link
http://www.qanews.net/articles.php?action=show&id=616
the article is featured in local forum (qatarnews) which was shutdown by authorities for sometime for featuring what was called as spreading of rumors. The forum is back for the past few days only...
than raising the standards of Qatari schools? I'm always curious about what it is that Qataris actually want and think their country should be doing for them.
From what I have seen EC universities can only work with what they are given in terms of Qatari students. Those who want to make something of themselves to contribute to their society do and will. Those who just want to slide by on the promise of opportunity offered through Qatarization do and will. I have seen both examples coming out of EC.
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
It sounds interesting...
Not having read the article, this is simply my opinion...but I would agree that local government schools need to do a better job of preparing their students for the rigors of western universities (whether here at Education City or abroad).
I don't get the sense that many kids here are pushed hard enough, that they struggle for any length of time (and I use the word struggle here in a good way -- what I mean is most kids here give up too easily without really trying to figure things out themselves). These are generalizations, to be sure, but by and large they are what I have found to be true here over the past decade.
I think it is great that the universities and QF are here, but now the focus needs to move to the high schools and improving the quality of education that they provide.
"Marriage is a wonderful institution...but who wants to live in an institution?" -- Groucho Marx