Dubai/ Sharjah , 26-28 September 2011
Curriculum evaluation is important for many reasons. It provides an opportunity for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a curriculum system that are analysed against an agreed curriculum vision and quality criteria. It also informs education agents and stakeholders with regard to the changes/reforms needed for enhancing the quality of education inputs, processes and outcomes. Moreover, curriculum evaluation points to the capacities to be developed for enhancing the quality of curriculum design, writing and implementation.
The forthcoming international workshop on “Curriculum Evaluation in the Gulf States” is jointly organized by UNESCO Doha Office and UNESCO IBE. Country teams of high-level curriculum specialists and decision makers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. and Yemen will share their experiences on curriculum evaluation in their respective countries and the Region, while also considering international cases and lessons learned.
Given that many Gulf States had embarked or will embark on comprehensive education and curriculum reforms, it is essential that such reforms be based on sound curriculum evaluation and related needs assessment.
The workshop will tackle conceptual issues with regard to curriculum evaluation (i.e. clarifying the concept of curriculum evaluation, its rationale and purposes), while also looking into effective curriculum evaluation strategies relevant to the Gulf States. It is important that Gulf States develop a common approach to curriculum evaluation based on commonly-agreed quality criteria and evaluation strategies/good practices. To this purpose, the workshop will facilitate taking stock of curriculum evaluation experiences in the Gulf Region, as a basis for developing a common Framework for curriculum evaluation in the Gulf States.
The workshop is the first one within a series of planned upcoming activities that will be devoted to finalizing and implementing the above-mentioned Framework. As a main result of the project, the Framework will constitute an important tool for both the capacity development of curriculum specialists, and for carrying out concrete processes of curriculum evaluation in the Gulf States. Other countries may also benefit from this tool, as well as from the processes that lead to its development and implementation.
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