Updating Qatar’s Physical Education Curriculum

By Ola Diab

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 Sport Day, which was celebrated on 8 February 2022, the ministry stated that the PE curriculum is in pace with the remarkable development that took place in the general framework of the country’s national educational curriculum. PE is a mandatory subject for all students, and it is carried out through the updated subject syllabus, 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. MoEHE 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 people with disabilities, MoEHE's PE department in the Department of Educational Guidance stressed that curriculums includes many strategies that help teachers to employ different sports, which

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education aims to update the curriculum of physical education (PE).

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) affirmed its keenness to update the curriculum of physical education (PE), noting 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. According to the ministry, 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. According to the Director of the Public Relations and Communication Department at the MoEHE, Omar Al Yafei, sports have 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

they find appropriate based on each student's physical and health capabilities. In addition, the ministry affirmed its keenness of the the mentors of the PE department to follow up with PE teachers with the aim of helping teachers develop and achieve professional growth, as well as solving any educational problems that they may face. In addition, this provides technical services to improve teaching methods and administer 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. According to the ministry, the number of PE teachers in all of the state’s schools is 763, of whom the percentage of Qatarisation is more than 50%, at a time when priority is given to employing Qatari cadres to teach PE especially graduates of the College of Education at Qatar University (QU), in order to highlight the competencies of those graduates in various fields. The ministry’s cooperation with the PE Department and Qatar Football Association (QFA) through the Koora Time programme, NOMAS Centre for popular games, the British Council for activating the Youth Leadership Program, as well as Qatar Museums, and the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum encourages positive sports values and sports awareness. As Qatar is preparing to host the much-awaited FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM at the end of the year, the country has been focusing on sports in all aspects of life. School's out! As Qatar prepares to host the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM at the end of the year, schools are also preparing for the event. Schools will have to readjust their calendars as they will close during the tournament, MoEHE has announced. In a new ministerial decision, the minister stated that the mid-year holidays for all public schools in Qatar will start on 20 November 2022 and end on 22 December 2022 — 10 days before the World Cup starts and four days after it concludes. The second semester, according to the new academic calendar, will begin on 25 December 2022. Although it was widely expected, as schools cause heavy road traffic, many schools especially private schools will face a challenge to balance between these latest amendments to their calendars and other dates they must accommodate including Easter, Eid and the summer vacation. Usually, during December, there is only a two-week break for Christmas and the New Year – however, this is only at private international schools. Qatar’s most-awaited tournament will kick off on 21 November 2022 at Al Bayt Stadium. The final match will be played on 18 December 2022 at Lusail Stadium — coinciding with Qatar National Day. The tournament will be played during the winter season for the first time due to extreme humidity and heat levels in the summer months in Qatar.