Children playing during a physical education session.
Doha: The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) affirmed its keenness to update the curriculum of physical education (PE), noting -in this context- its cooperation with the British Association for Physical Education (afPE), as well as the efforts of the team of PE experts and the ministry’s executive team.
The ministry said that these efforts have made a shift from a standards-based orientation to a competency-based orientation, in implementation of the general framework of the national educational curriculum of the State of Qatar, as it is the central reference point for making all decisions related to the curriculum to raise the levels of achievement in PE.
Director of the Public Relations and Communication Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Omar Al Yafei said that sport has become a well-established culture in Qatari society because it has many health benefits.
He said that Qatar has today turned into a wide sports space that includes all sports practitioners of all ages, due to the infrastructure that enabled Qatar to diversity its sports facilities such as stadiums, sports clubs and other playgrounds.
On the occasion of the country’s National Sports Day, which will be celebrated today, the ministry said in a statement that the PE curriculum is in pace with the remarkable development that took place in the general framework of the state’s national educational curriculum, pointing out that the subject of PE is mandatory for all students, and that it is carried out through the updated subject syllabus document, which is based on educational competencies.
The process of developing and implementing the educational curriculum is based on three main axes, including moving carefully, adopting healthy, safe and active lifestyles, building character, and learning outcomes for each educational stage achieved by the student at the end of each stage, through which students are provided with skills, knowledge and strategies, the ministry added.
The ministry indicated that the primary objective of the physical education curriculum is to develop student’ basic and physical competencies, work on building their personalities, commensurate with the importance of physical activity, regularly participate in a healthy and physically active lifestyle through physical education, and exercise regularly, emphasising the importance of its interest in discovering talents and supporting sports clubs with these cadres, given that it is one of the objectives of PE classes.
Regarding efforts to rehabilitate persons with disabilities, the ministry - represented by the PE department within its Department of Educational Guidance, stressed that curriculum for these students includes many strategies that help teachers to employ the different sports they find appropriate, based on the health status of the students, and adapt performance to suit their physical and health capabilities.
In a related context, the ministry affirmed its keenness to follow up with PE teachers through the Department of Educational Guidance and the mentors of the PE Department, with the aim of helping teachers develop and achieve professional growth, as well as solving educational problems that they may face.
It is providing technical services to improve teaching methods and direct the educational process, especially since this evaluation process is carried out on the basis of clear and thoroughly-studied criteria and foundations, in conjunction with school administrations, in addition to taking into account the reports of classroom visits to mentors.
The ministry explained that the number of PE teachers in all of the state’s schools is 763, of whom the percentage of Qatarisation is more than 50 percent, at a time when priority is given to employing Qatari cadres to teach PE - especially graduates of the College of Education at Qatar University, in order to highlight the competencies of those graduates in various fields.
The ministry pointed out the cooperation between the Physical Education Department on the one hand, and the Qatar Football Association (QFA) on the other, through the Koora Time program, in addition to its cooperation with the NOMAS Centre for popular games and the British Council in Doha, through activating the Youth Leadership Program, as well as its cooperation with Qatar Museums Authority, especially the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, to encourage positive sports values and sports awareness.
