رؤية مستقبلية لرفع مستوى أداء طلاب المرحلة الابتدائية في الاختبارات الوطنية بدولة قطر

Abstract

The National Curricula Guidelines is considered the basis upon which the initiative of education reform in Qatar was built. These guidelines emphasize the student’s ability to learn, achieve and score well in the national standardized exams. This will subsequently lead to good results in admissions into international universities which will also facilitate comparisons between the performance of Qatari students and students from other nations. Examining the performance of this student sample in national exams in four main subject areas in recent years reveals a decline. Therefore, this research aims to identify the performance trends among students in primary schools in the following four main subjects: Arabic, English, Science and Math in the three advanced classes and examine whether or not the National Curricula Guidelines are being fulfilled in both school-based an national exams and identify the difficulties and reasons for this decline. The following step will be to suggest and identify methods and ways to solve the problem and improve the future of the academic operation in order for it to develop and achieve its goals. A descriptive and analytical approach in both its qualitative and quantitative features has been followed in order to identify the relationships that connect all the elements of this phenomenon and help shed the light on the most common practices. The studied sample consists of: 1- All independent primary schools in Doha 4th-6th grades from 2012-2013. In total, there are 79 schools (boys/girls); the study focused on only 35 schools with average 44.3% locals. The sample included 41 principals and assistant principals, and 90 academic coordinators in Arabic, English, Science and Math. It also included 321 teachers in these four subjects. As for parents, the overall number of parents covered in the study is 1750. For focus groups, it covered 56 teachers, 20 coordinators, 4 principals, 4 assistant principals, 8 specialists from the Center of Professional Developments in the College of Education at Qatar University. 2- Samples from the following academic material: 421 academic units in the four subjects; 417 tests, and 36 national exams. The study utilized the following tools: A- Surveys completed by principals, assistant principals, coordinators, teachers, and parents. B- Focus groups, which included it teachers, coordinators, principals, assistant principals, and specialists from the Center of Professional Developments in the College of Education at Qatar University. C- Evaluation data, which evaluated the academic units, schools tests, and the national exams. The tools used in this study were confirmed to be truthful and concrete. The study reached certain conclusions pertaining to: academic policies, action plans, teachers’ competencies, curricula content and guidelines, national exams, and the role of parents. In addition, the study shed the light on identifying in further details issues of statistical indicators for change on the learning experience in the context of the different studies academic subjects, classroom environment, school type, and the year of implementing the models. The study offered some recommendations for improving the performance of students in primary schools in the above-mentioned four academic subjects and in the three advanced grades.