Qatar’s K-12 Education Reform - A review of the policy decisions and a look to the future

Abstract

The State of Qatar is a small, but wealth, state in the Arabian Gulf. Over the last 20 years the country has seen some extraordinary transformations. One sector that has possibly undergone the most radical changes and development is the education sector in Qatar. At the turn of the century, in order to improve their education system, Qatar’s K-12 public schooling system underwent comprehensive reforms. In 2001, the Qatari government appointed the Rand Corporation to analyze and offer recommendations to modernize the local K-12 system. The result of Rand’s assessment was the introduction of an independent school model and an educational reform initiative, Education for a New Era (EFNE). These reforms included implementing English as a medium of instruction at all K-12 public schools. This paper reviews these education policy reforms and offers commentary on the implications of the changes since the adoption of EFNE, the current state of the K-12 education system and suggests possible ways forward for the future development of the K-12 public schooling sector in the State of Qatar.

Teach for Qatar: Teachers’ Challenges and Resources in Qatar’s Government Schools

“…All of the above led to the steady re-centralization of government control of schools (Abou-El-Kheir 2017; Nolan 2012; Romanowski & Du, 2020). Overall, there was a lack of community confidence in the reform efforts, causing more control over schools and teachers by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE).…”