The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE), in collaboration with the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science and the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organisation (Alecso), organised a "Training Programme on Enhancing the Shift towards an Integrative Approach in Teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics in General Education" for the primary level.
The three-day programme targeted curriculum specialists, supervisors, and teachers in schools. It aimed to improve learning outcomes, enhance the competitiveness of education and its relevance to life and the reality of societies, and enable students to solve real-world problems and link them to various sciences to come up with innovations and solutions that contribute to achieving development and meeting the needs of the job market.
Moza al-Hamidi, an expert in international organisations at the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture, and Science, praised the efforts of Alecso in developing education in the Arab world. She emphasised the importance of the programme in exchanging pioneering experiences, opinions, ideas, knowledge, and scientific and training experiences in the field of sciences. She also emphasised the importance of co-operation between concerned entities to elevate it through activating development initiatives.
For his part, Director of Curriculum and Learning Resources Dr Abdullah al-Mari indicated that the MoEHE had launched an initiative to improve the teaching of sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This initiative includes developing the school curricula in science and mathematics to focus on inquiry-based learning and application through projects, training teachers to develop their skills in teaching science and mathematics, designing, implementing, and evaluating projects, and designing schools specialising in learning curricula in these subjects.
It also includes community partnerships with local and Arab educational institutions that contribute to the cognitive and academic building of students, enhancing research and projects based on the "STEM" approach, and training educational leaders and teachers within the ministry, all of which contribute to achieving the fourth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
Al-Hashemi al-Ardawi, a representative from Alecso, said that this training course aimed to contribute to strengthening the capabilities of those concerned with the development of science teaching in our Arab educational systems, in line with the rapid scientific and technical transformations. It helps students develop scientific thinking, innovation, and problem-solving skills and follow up on the recommendations of the Education Transformation Summit held in New York in September 2022.
