03. Noor Hamwy: Mapping Curriculum Standards Under SDG 4: The Case of Qatar

Mapping Curriculum Standards Under SDG 4: The Case of Qatar (Joining virtually)

The Qatar National Vision 2030 lists an educated population as an outcome of its human development pillar. This includes its mission to sustainably meet the needs of this generation and future generations through improved educational curricula and programs that foster Qatari moral and ethical values and a sense of belonging and citizenship. This vision is guided by strong Islamic and family values, which are pivotal as Qatar identifies as an Arab and Islamic nation. Qatar is also a part of the global effort to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, which include similar concepts of global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity. These values are embedded in SDG 4, which aims to "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all". With Qatar’s efforts to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as its expressed commitment to the Qatar National Vision 2030, there is a need for an evaluation tool to ensure that these goals are materializing in the public school education curriculum.

Thus, the purpose of this paper is to localize an evaluation tool to the Qatari context and to examine the extent that the public school curriculum in Qatar overlaps with the UN’s SDGs, particularly SDG 4. This mapping activity is critical to ensure Qatar’s curriculum reflects its goals through monitoring and qualitative assessment.

We will adapt the University of Auckland SDG Keywords Dictionary Project word list in order to gauge curriculum quality in Qatar. The word list is based on Elsevier’s SDG search query. While the keywords are relatively holistic, we aim to further include keywords that are informed by national regulations including the Qatar National Vision 2030 that address Qatar’s specific concerns including the emphasis on enhancing Arab and Islamic values and identity. MAXQDA will be used to conduct a content analysis. Our analysis will be restricted to public schools as the curricula working under centrally determined guidelines would demonstrate the progress accrued towards sustainable development in Qatar. The curriculum will be found through published documents on Qatar’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education website as well as documents collected directly from schools. The analysis used would provide a means of assessing the current state of the educational curricula in Qatar, which can be reused and revised in the future as the documents get updated. We expect that the results will highlight sustainable practices in Qatar as well as any gaps that can be addressed. We expect this to facilitate policy makers in their efforts to embed sustainable development practices into Qatar’s public school curriculum in order to achieve SDG 4. The keywords used may also be used and adapted by other countries, especially emerging and Islamic countries.

Noor Hamwy is a research assistant at the Educational Research Ce (ERC) at Qatar University. Her research experience has been in international affairs, Islam, and education at various universities and organizations including the University of Washington Near Eastern Languages & Civilization Department and the World Affairs Council of Seattle. Noor graduated from the University of Washington where she received a double major in Economics and Public Health. She is a second-year MPP student at Hamad bin Khalifa University.