Professional Development Opportunities for Teachers In Qatar

Okon Effiong, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

Teachers, especially language teachers, who wish to grow in the profession seek Continuous Professional Development (CPD) opportunities by engaging in various strands of CPD. Accessing such development opportunities may influence their attitudes and teaching approaches positively thereby contributing to the quality of the teaching process, and the ultimate beneficiaries are the learners in the classroom whose progress can be measured by the learning outcomes. CPD, as the name implies, is a continuous process with engaging activities aimed at enhancing the knowledge of the language teachers. This article will therefore share the various activities aimed at enhancing the skills of English language teachers in the State of Qatar.

Professional development for teachers is often an instrument to improve teaching, and consequently, student learning because it is a means of acquiring skills teachers need to support the increasingly complex needs of the students. According to Darling-Hammond, Hyler, and Gardner (2017), effective professional development is structured professional learning that brings about changes in teacher practices in addition to improvements in student learning outcomes. More often, teachers who wish to develop professionally do not achieve this in isolation but through collaborating with other colleagues. Learning in a community instils confidence and facilitates adoption and implementation of new practices in the classroom, and sustained CPD helps teachers to continue their learning in the classroom and collaborate with colleagues (Darling-Hammond et al, 2017). In other words, collaboration brings about improvements in teaching and learning, and consequently, student achievement. An alternative and more optimistic view about the virtues of collaboration is that it leads to capacity building, social capital growth and a stronger sense of teacher identity, efficacy and professionalism (Zeng & Day, 2019).

Qatar has various schools that cater to the needs of learners from different countries in the world. For example, at the primary and secondary level, there are schools branded as American, British, French, Indian, Philippine, Pakistani etc. With the diverse nature of student needs, it is imperative for CPD to be context specific if teachers must address the needs of their learners in their teaching contexts. However, as far as English language teaching is concerned, the goal should be to provide the proficiency the learners need to function in theQatari society and beyond.

Qatar is gradually establishing itself as a leading education centre particularly in the Gulf region and the Middle East at large. Data on the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in the State of Qatar (MOEHE) website suggest that the State of Qatar has 10 public, 5 military, 9 private tertiary institutions and 8 more affiliated to Qatar Foundation. As of 2023, there were 214 public secondary schools and 65 pre-schools. These figures do not include numerous private preschools, primary and secondary schools. As far as English language teaching is concerned, the Ministry also stresses the need to develop student competencies such as critical thinking, complex problem-solving, effective communication, and collaboration. It has an educational supervision process that provides multiple and varied options for teachers’ professional growth. The Ministry has a Teacher Education Development Center, primarily responsible for providing training for public school teachers in the country.

Several opportunities abound for English teachers in Qatar to grow and learn professionally and be able to impact the learners in their respective classrooms. However, many CPDs are diverse in their contents, purposes and approaches, and implementation. For example, in 2023, the Ministry partnered with the United States embassy in Doha to equip English teachers with valuable skills in a Comprehensive Education Strategies for English Language Teaching training program. In addition to this, the Ministry employs English language specialists to support and conduct regular workshops for secondary school English teachers in the country.

There are options for tertiary teachers as well which could be inhouse or open to external participation. For example, the Foundation Program Unit which is part of the Foundation Program and Foreign Languages Division at the Community College of Qatar had in the past hosted annual symposia on English Language Learning and Teaching, which in the past two years, has been renamed English Language Day. It offers several sessions including workshops, research findings, and innovative teaching approaches, and the presenters and attendees are drawn from the tertiary institutions in the country. Similarly, the Language Center in Doha Institute of Graduate Studies organizes English Language Seminars on an annual basis and invites presenters and attendees from other tertiary institutions in the country. These two examples are by no means the exclusive events available to teachers in tertiary institutions but are representative of what colleges in Qatar do to promote professional development of their teachers.

Qatar University, the largest public university in the State of Qatar has a Foundation Program that provides a variety of CPDs for its faculty members and the larger professional community in Qatar (see Effiong, 2023). In that publication, the author highlights the efforts of the Foundation Program in providing CPDs, not only for its faculty members but schoolteachers and tertiary teachers in the country. For example, in addition to its regular inhouse seminars, the Foundation Program has hosted eight successive and successful international conferences since 2016 that annually attracts presenters and attendees from over 50 countries. The Foundation Program collaborates with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to award credit hours to school teachers who attend and present at these conferences. By organizing these annual conferences since 2016, Qatar University Foundation Program has played a pivotal role in filling the void left by the defunct Qatar TESOL in ensuring that English teachers in the country have an avenue to network with colleagues from within and outside Qatar and consequently improve their teaching.

In conclusion, teachers participate in CPDs to gain new insights and apply these new knowledge and skills to improve their performance on the job. Therefore, to offer effective support to learners, teachers need to continually expand their knowledge and skills to implement the best teaching practices in their different classrooms. CPD ultimately offers teachers the support they need to collaboratively develop the professional knowledge relevant to their teaching context, and Qatar provides several opportunities teachers can avail.

References

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.

Effiong, O. (2023). Continuing professional development in the Foundation Program at a national university in the State of Qatar. In A. Cirocki, R. Farrelly, & H. Buchanan (Eds.), Continuing Professional Development of TESOL Practitioners: A Global Landscape (pp. 57-76). Springer.

MOEHE (2024). https://www.edu.gov.qa/en/Pages/AboutMinistry/AboutMinistry.aspx?ItemID=70

Zeng, Y. & Day, C. (2019). Collaborative teacher professional development in schools in England (UK) and Shanghai (China): cultures, contexts and tensions. Teachers and Teaching, 25(3), 379-397, DOI: 10.1080/13540602.2019.1593822

Dr. Okon Effiong teaches in the Foundation Program Department of English, Qatar University. He served on TESOL Board of Directors (2020-2023) and was TESOL Treasurer (2022/23). Okon is the Founder of Africa ELTA and is interested in how teachers’ associations support professional development.