Qatar’s English Education Policy in K-12 and Higher Education: Rapid Development, Radical Reform and Transition to a New Way Forward

Abstract

The State of Qatar is a small peninsula in the Arabian Gulf that remained relatively unknown outside the region from its independence from Britain in 1971 until the late 1990s. An ambitious education reform and development program, on a scale—and at a speed—rarely if ever seen before, has seen Qatar go from a few schools and no universities at independence to a comprehensive K-12 system, three technical colleges and 15 universities (at the time of writing), most housed Education City, that combine the best of foreign education with local institutions. Education reform at all levels is fraught with difficulty in every country and has a long record of failure in most jurisdictions. It is not surprising then, that Qatar’s English for a New Era reform (EFNE), launched in 2002, came under heavy local criticism for rapidly instituting English as the medium of instruction in the K-12 system and for a failure to deliver promised improvements. In 2012, as a result of these perceived failures the Rand Corporation, author of the reform, did not have its contract with Qatar renewed. At the same time, the medium of instruction at the K-12 level reverted to Arabic. Similarly, simmering discontent with the dominance of English in higher education—and the perceived primacy of the imported education institutions—resulted in Qatar University officially becoming Arabic medium of instruction in many subjects. Therefore, Qatar is now at a policy crossroads. Does the leadership maintain the remaining EFNE reforms in the K-12 system now that Arabic has been restored to prominence? Do the Education City universities continue their dominance of higher education while continuing to be fully funded by the State of Qatar? At present, it seems that Qatar intends to stay the course and concentrate on a reform of teacher education in order to boost the number of Qatari teachers and to further improve the school system. Given that EFNE was producing improvements, albeit more slowly than desired, this seems like the prudent course. However, the Supreme Education Council, the body that oversees all levels of education in Qatar is known for making massive changes or reversal of policy with extreme rapidity. Therefore, only time will answer the question: “Whither education policy in Qatar?”