Performance assessment in education for sustainable development: A case study of the Qatar education system

Abstract

Various studies show that sustainability and education are closely interdependent. Design and implementation of the right performance assessment for students’ skills acquisition and achievements is, therefore, critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article presents an in-depth analysis of the Qatar education system (K-12 level), focusing on the current assessment approaches and remaining challenges that hinder the development and implementation of proper performance-assessment methods aligned with SDGs. Based on a proposed theoretical framework influenced by the constructive alignment theory, this article examines the current performance assessment practices in Qatar and recommends potential improvement avenues with respect to SDGs and education goals (EGs). Using this framework as an analytical tool, results reveal a lack of alignment between the assessment practices, educational goals, and the SDGs. This work shows that tailored, contextually proper, and progressive assessment strategies need to be developed to accurately evaluate and guide the twenty-first-century skills of the students toward the achievement of SDGs. Further findings of this article concern presentation and discussion of the locally relevant and consistent recommendations for performance assessment methodologies that must be redesigned to be compatible, aligned, and supporting the SDGs and EGs.

The development and validation of environmental literacy instrument based on spirituality for prospective science teachers

“…The environmental literacy for the teachers and even prospective science teachers are crucial as a result or embodiment of environmental education and educational for sustainable development (McBride et al, 2013;Szczytko et al, 2019), as well as sustainable development (Boeve-de Pauw et al, 2022;Cebrián & Junyent, 2015;Ploum et al, 2018). Teachers and prospective teachers have a significant role in achieving sustainable development education targets and achieving sustainable development goals (Al-Kuwari et al, 2021;Chisingui & Costa, 2020;Fischer et al, 2022;Novidsa et al, 2020).…”

Education for Sustainable Development in Qatar

“…As briefly reviewed in the previous section, Qatar has been undertaking reforms and initiatives to modernize the educational system toward a world-class quality education and has been mobilizing its resources in this effort: in 2020, the government allocated QAR 22.1 billion for the education sector, representing 10.5% of its total budget (Qatar Development Bank, 2021, 5). As part of these efforts, increasing reference to the importance of aligning the curriculum with SDGs, integrating ESD into teaching and learning activities, and designing education programs which can serve to the purpose of raising awareness on sustainability challenges in especially locally critical issues such as water, food, energy, are in place at the discourse level (Al-Kuwari et al, 2021;Zguir et al, 2021). At the practice level, the implementation of ESD emerges as a complex sphere with a combination of official, top-down initiated efforts, diverging global frameworks and extracurricular school activities in the formal and non-formal forms.…”

“…Education policy has always been at the epicenter of major policy changes leading to structural reforms and reshufflings. The most immediate manifestation today is the lack of alignment between policy and implementation "between the assessment practices, educational goals, and the SDGs" (Al-Kuwari et al, 2021).…”

Global approaches and assessment of sustainable development: a case study of two districts in Russia and Laos

“…These needs include forest products and other services such as timber and timber products, water, food production, pharmaceutical goods, fuel, dwelling, recreation, habitats for wildlife animals, landscape diversity, absorbers and reservoirs of carbon etc. Therefore it is necessary to take measures regarding conservation in order to protect several aspects of forest [5,6,7]. Being renewable, forest resources have to be used according to sustainable basis, which directly corresponds to the purposes of conservation.…”