Arab News reports a development that’s only overdue by a few decades. The Saudi Ministry of Education, responsible for education through secondary school (as well as programs like literacy and adult learning) is finally getting around to an assessment of the education system. For quality, unfortunately, and not content. Half a loaf is better than none, however, so congratulations for undertaking the effort.
Ministry Plans to Assess Quality of Education in Kingdom
Lulwa Shalhoub, Arab NewsJEDDAH — In an attempt to improve the quality of education in the Kingdom, the Ministry of Education is planning to assess the curriculums used in the system.
“The assessment has nothing to do with the students’ performance on a personal level and will not count in their GPAs,†said Saleh Al-Shamrani, the assessment’s project manager at the Ministry of Education. “They are not evaluated for the exams they take. We want to assess the quality of education in schools and thus in the Kingdom.â€
The assessment will review different sample groups of students: three grades in the first phase of the survey. The fourth, eighth and twelfth grades (boys and girls) will be assessed next year. The courses to be assessed are: Islamic studies, Arabic, mathematics and science. “These are the courses that are important for academic advancement,†Al-Shamrani said.
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February:16:2008 - 13:57
John,
The description of the study is not done well in the article. I came up with a different interpretation of the purpose than yours. They mentioned the different subjects that are being addressed in the study which may indicate content of curriculum. While that indicated they are not looking at exam results, which would make the study slant towards quality of teaching.
What is missing is a time line where actions can be taken. The ministry of education received a large budget this year, I was hoping they would start initiating plans for change, not just studies.
I also agree this is better than nothing. I hope this is just the first of a number of initiatives that we will hear about soon.