AT the closing ceremony last evening, the Education and 21st century Competencies Symposium comes out with a number of visions related to promotion and development of the educational system, where the contents of the working papers and discussion sessions made clear a group of pillars. Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Hinai, Chairman of the Organising Committee of the symposium, gave details of the most important pillars. First the educational development is an ongoing process imposed by rapid changes in all walks of life. Therefore, the applications of the learner's competencies change as his needs, as well as the community, are changing.
Secondly the competencies are not built in isolation from the various aspects of the education system. So we need to reinforce organisational structures and practices that can establish a suitable learning environment and build a pioneer system that include teacher's competencies, position and roles and a learning environment covering school design, resources and facilities that ensure provision of appropriate pedagogical environment.
Thirdly educational development is participatory process where all government, private and civil institutions contribute. The role of the families is crucial to reinforce their children's capacity to deal with 21st competencies. Fourthly the importance to keep an eye on any development in job market locally and internationally and to make sure that learning programmes are producing outcomes in line with these developments. Fifthly the world today is expanding in knowledge. The education system has to develop the curricula in terms that learning experiences are planned to accommodate learning situations in or out of school. Sixth: Rapid changes in technology are significant source to support learning and improve school functions in 21st Century. Seventh: Pride in cultural heritage and national identity is a key component of teaching and learning. So, the school has to pay much attention to reinforce citizenship values within the students. Eighth: The learner to acquire the 21st century competencies requires focusing on the learner as an active element who is able to plan, apply and assess the learning experiences.
Ninth: The education evaluation is a key element to achieve 21st competencies. We need to develop its tools and approaches to be one of learning resources and help in developing learning experiences.
Tenth: The teacher is a major component in educational development. The educational institutions have to develop pre-service and in-service qualification programmes for teachers in line with 21st competencies.
Finally entrepreneurship is one of the factors that assist to construct knowledge and sustainable development. So, introducing entrepreneurship curriculum into educational system is very important to maintain entrepreneurs and preparing them for competitiveness in labour market.
Based on these pillars, the symposium concluded with important outcomes; First at the field of planning and educational policies,It is a must to establish a general national competencies framework in accordance with community and labour market's requirements in present and future.
Developing integrated developmental plans including students, teachers, school culture, curricula, evaluation in accordance with intended competencies.
Build effective community partnership to support development plans. Initiating a national evaluation system in all stages based on national competencies framework.
Second in Learning and teaching aspect; Linking curricula to technology became one of the bases in education systems. Orientation toward designing curricula in accordance with the standards and incorporate the 21st competencies in addition to ensuring curricula integration.
Developing the learning experiences related to promoting citizenship values and instilling them within students. Developing and activating continuous assessment tools to help students acquire 21st competencies. Activating teaching methods that promote 21st century competencies.
Activating the activities that depend on practice which help to achieve 21st century competencies. Reinforce teaching and learning applied courses (Science, Maths, IT and languages). Develop professional standards to select teachers and deliver in-service training to promote performance. The teacher needs to get training to understand and know intended competencies and the strategies of teaching and assessing those competencies. The school and teacher need to take advantage of the statistical indictors of student performance and improving school building.
Motivating school administrations to solve problems and face the challenges that take place in classes and school in general. Third: Technology aspect, it is important to prepare the electronic content of the curriculums and publicise it to be made available to all beneficiaries. Linking curricula to e-Learning resources to be made available for students, teachers and parents. Training teachers on how to employ technology in teaching.
Finally; relevance of education outcomes with labor market, Accurate identification of Omani job market requirements and directions to make use of them in building standards of curriculum and evaluation and in international researches related to international competitiveness.
Establish database of job market needs in terms of jobs, relevant skills based on economic development plans. Reinforce the partnership with private sector to enable the learners to see the learning environments in realty. Working environments in private sector are considered as learning resources. Promote learners' professional trends to initiate own business. Develop career guidance at all levels in education system. Instill the culture of Entrepreneurship to be key components of curriculum. Develop learners' capabilities in regards of linking learning experiences with job market and its future directions.
Confirm instilling values and ethics of work within learners. Promote innovation skills and provide human and material facilities.
The symposium in its last day included presenting several working papers. The keynote speaker Dr Shahram Paksima presented the first paper, which is "Developing 21st Century Competencies for Oman's Future Development Needs".
Developing 21st century competencies for Oman's future development needs will require careful, continuous attention to at least four factors: 1) clearly identifying and focusing on appropriate outcomes and goals for the education system; 2) selection of relevant and sufficiently rich competencies for Oman's particular development needs; 3) re-organisation and tighter integration of the elements of the education system at the policy, management, and service-delivery (or school) levels; and 4) re-orientation of educational cultures at all levels of the education system to better match intended educational outcomes -- such as a focus on innovation, adaptation, and lifelong learning. The paper showed a number of facets of each of four factors, attempt to situate them in an Omani context, and identify tentative implications for policymakers, practitioners, and members of the public at large.
Then Dr Amar al Ojaili presented the paper on "The experience of the pioneers of Takatuf Programme in the implementation of 21st Century Competencies".
This programme is an initiative of the social programme of the Petroleum Development Oman Company (PDO). It has been launched in 2012 when 57 male and female grade eleven students from different governorate of Oman were admitted to the programme.
The students came from both public and private schools. Activities of the programme included a summer course for three weeks followed by self-learning session lasted for one semester. During this session students implemented a set of assignments. The programme focuses on the implementation of the 21st century competencies to enable students to become continuous self-learners and pioneers in different fields to meet the ever changing requirements of this century. The paper explains the experience of the programme in the implementation of the competencies and presents the conclusions of the programme at the end of its first year.
After that Raoul Mario presented a working paper about Omani job market and competencies of the 21st century. The objective of the paper was to outline some of the challenges facing Oman in terms of producing a competitive and competent workforce fit for the 21st century and suggesting possible solutions to improve the vocational competencies of Omanis by drawing on the lessons learned by PDO, as the company is in a unique position to see where some of the most pressing skills gaps are.
In addition, the paper focus on the need for a comprehensive In-Country Value strategy to provide a general framework for future vocational development in the Sultanate.
At the second session, Dr Said Mohammed al Saqri started with his paper "Natural Resource Abundance and the Role of Innovation in Economic Development". The paper discussed that there is a several economic theories have been proposed to explain the development experience of oil dependent economies such as Oman. Did oil promote economic growth and development? Or did it hinder economic growth and development? To answer these questions and to place the Omani case in historical and theoretical contexts, at least five economic theories can be identified. The production function theory. Export instability and terms of trade theory. The Dutch disease theory. The stable linkage theory. The re-inter state theory. The stage is set, to activate the role of innovation (technology) to lead development and economic growth in Oman. The paper looked into how this can be done.
Then Salim Nasair al Hadrami presented the paper of"connection between technology and 21st century skills for K-12 students". The paper discussed the competencies needed by the Omani job market in the 21st century through several themes, including the future vision of the Omani economy (Oman 2020). The paper also talked about the results the employment of national manpower seminars and the distribution of the labour force by skill levels. In addition, it shed light on the technical education and vocational training sector and the provision of appropriate supply of national manpower to work in the private sector.
Finally, this paper discussed the increase in the numbers of the workforce in the private sector and the current and future employment opportunities for specialists in the labor market in this sector.
The following paper was "Entrepreneurship and the Education system I Oman, presented by Ishaq Hilal al Shryani. The paper addresses the role of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship in participating in building the knowledge-based economy and sustainable development through the introduction of an entrepreneurship curriculum within the education system. The role of education today is not limited to teaching and educating only, but extends to contributing to GDP and laying the foundations for sustainable options in building a knowledge-based society of the future. In the last decade, there has been a dramatic shift in the organisational culture and administration of education to cope with the globalisation and international stature of educational institutions and the partial withdrawal from full government support. Local knowledge investment and international marketing has become common.
Dr Younis Khalfan al Akhzami presented a working paper about linking Educational outcomes to job market needs. This paper attempted to explore the size of this problem in the Sultanate of Oman and to find suitable solutions. The paper concluded that development and improvement of education is the main effort to be made to fill in the gap between the changing needs of the job market and the educational outcomes in Oman. It is well known that it is difficult to accurately predict the future of the labour market and its needs since these needs are always changing in developing countries which are still in the phase of construction of their infrastructures. Providing students with scientific knowledge and basic skills as well as acquiring abilities to analyse problems and finding solutions are the main elements to produce educational outcomes who can be relied upon to meet the needs of the labor market of national manpower.
At last Dr Abdullah al Sarmi, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education, presented the last working paper titled "Relevance of the Omani Education System Outcomes to the Labor Market Needs: A global Issue and Local Context". The issue of relevance of education systems outcomes to the job market needs, a global issue and local context are given a wide international concern due to its social and economic impacts.
However, it shouldn't be dealt with as the essential challenge to reduce the unemployment rates. There are other impacts specifically for the Omani context that could be factors in making the employment process going slow and reducing the impact of the education systems success- if it succeeded- in the relevance of its outcomes to the Omani labor market need.
Dr Esther Care, PhD, International Research Coordinator, Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills said: Given the global interest in the assessment, teaching and learning of 21st century skills, it is important that each country reviews seriously their own educational goals, and decides what is valued in terms of their educational outcomes. Given that education is about preparing students for the future, for their contribution to their country through their work and lives, decisions about equipping these students with the skills needed a world changed by pace of progress, and global digitisation, must be made consciously. It seems to me that Oman is doing precisely this, of taking a serious look at the imperatives for the country, ensuring that the process includes the education stakeholders, and looking at the perspectives of other countries which are having to make the same decisions. This symposium is a signal to the country, and internationally, that its leaders are deliberately and methodically looking to the future of its country, and the role that education plays in this.
She added: The most important competency for all students is that they can understand what they are taught in such a way that they can apply their learning. This will not be seen as a skill or competency unique to the 21st century, but is, in my view, the primary goal of education. If students graduate from their education knowing how to navigate their modern world, how to use its tools and resources, and can do this mindful of the values of their country, a 21st century individual will emerge.
She concluded her speech: the necessary requirements to achieve these competencies is essential to understand the total interdependence between curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning. These are all different aspects of the one mission -- education. Assessment can drive teaching in a focused, targeted manner which will help all students progress in their learning. Assessment needs to be seen in this functional way -- as "assessment for teaching". It is a tool for teachers, and should not be seen as merely a way of ranking students. The curriculum needs to be written in such a way that teachers, students, and parents understand the progression of learning over time, rather than seeing education as a series of clearly demarcated steps. This latter view is not a reflection of reality. We are all moving along a learning progression, and our assessment and teaching needs to reflect this if the education system is to provide the optimal support for students. In terms of what is necessary to achieve such an outcome, teacher pre-service education and teacher professional development is essential. Teachers need to understand what the 21st century skills (or capabilities, competencies) are; they need to understand how to teach these through the subject or discipline areas in which they are already expert; and they need to understand how to use assessment information to drive their selection of teaching strategies and resources in a manner responsive to the needs of the students.
Educators express their thought regarding the significance of holding this symposium. Nabilah bint Abdullah al Shehiyah, Director of Human Resource Development Department in the directorate of Musandam, said: holding this symposium Is a real opportunity to know more about other experiences and their contributions in developing the education system and therefore provide our decision makers with the points that can be followed to review our education system and assessing it in order to result in high quality outcomes that cope with the rapid progress in both technical and knowledge aspects, meet the labour market regionally and internationally and build a generation equipped with the needed qualification and competencies. In another word, build an Omani generation with global specifications. She added the presented paper works were good and discussed various aspects. The recommendations of the symposium will be a beginning for a qualitative shift in our educational system, yet we should understand that there is no defect in our current system but we always should be updated and renovation is a demand that we should always seek, yet we should always be proud of our culture and identity and these should present in our educational system.
Education systems and successful experiences:
Dr Ali bin Nasser al Harrasi, Director-General of the Directorate-General of Education, Al Sharqiyah North, the symposium is very significant because it attracts government and private institutions to introduce their systems and success they have made in terms of teaching methods and curricula to meet the next stage requirements and keep pace with rapidly changing technology and globalisation challenges. That is why we need decision makers in the Ministry of Education to continuously review the educational policies and programmes in a regular basis in addition to considering the development issues and preparing the young people to be able to compete in labor market and to achieve the social harmony.
Al Harrasi hopes that this symposium will come up with a clear vision that draws a path to develop the educational process to be compatible with 21st Century requirements and achieves the Royal directives to improve education since this symposium brought together a group of leaders, educators and experts.
Al Harrasi indicated that the most important competencies the student must own and that keep pace with labour markets needs are ability to operate new technology, individual learning, life- long learning and utilising open learning resources. To achieve that the student has to be conversant in reading and writing, research and analysis. He or she has to be able to interact well with others and possess coping and concord skills while retaining the values of citizenship and national identity.
Curriculum development
Faisal bin Nasser al Hosni, talking about the importance of the symposium, said that this symposium set a clear strategy for educational outcomes that Comply with the requirements of the local and global job market in the current era. He added, " We are going to benefit from national and international experiences to improve our education system."
He believes that all the competencies of effective interaction with others, using modern technology, self-confidence, taking responsibility, citizenship, producing innovative and inventors are what the education system needs in the Sultanate. He hopes that this symposium is going to conclude with a decision to change the curricula in accordance with the requirements of the (21st century and the development of the educational system in the Sultanate in line with the goal of learning outcomes that are able to meet the requirements of the 21st century and linking education outcomes to the job market.
National plan
Ali bin Salim al Harthi thinks that the symposium came as the ministry is eager to instill the life-long learning principle within its students. This symposium, as he thinks, offers experts thoughts at the level of the world. He said," As educators, we can oversee what has been accomplished and move steadily and confidently to future and sweep all barriers."
He added, "Competencies are capabilities acquired by the learner to applied in daily life."
He believes that the most important competence for students is correct building of understanding which should be positively updated. He focused on integrated intellectual, psychological and healthy competencies to construct a renewable personality. Regarding the worksheets, Al Harthi declared that they ranged between theory and practice. So, they really introduced applicable experiences, especially if we believe that 21st century competencies are not limited to a certain region or country. He added that hopefully the stakeholders in the Ministry will be able to align educational functions in the Sultanate with what the symposium recommends. The benefit from this symposium is in our hand from day 1 ,but we need to broaden it through national plan set collaboratively by the Ministry and other relevant institutions.
Alternatives and strategies
Dr Said al Badi, researcher in National Centre for Career Guidance, said that this symposium aims at seeking for alternatives and strategies to develop education through several inputs: curricula development, educational evaluation, teachers, learning environment, and information technology and their compatibility with 21st century competencies.
He added that the symposium covers international experiences and the extent to which education in Oman can take advantage of those experiences.
Dr Said added," There are several necessary competencies for Oman: (1)quality competencies that are related to the curriculum and courses (2) general competencies such as critical thinking, problem-solving and decision making (3) systematic competencies acquired through training and qualification (4) cultural competencies.
Hopefully, this symposium will come up with recommendations that help to improve education system in the Sultanate and we take advantage of experiences in other countries regarding the inclusion of 21st competencies in the curricula and supplying the labour market with those competencies which are significant for economical plans and employment opportunities."
Abdullah al Nuaimi from Al Buraimi Directorate, said," This symposium is attributed to the Ministry's vision to improve education and keep up with the latest findings of modern education, curricula, evaluation and refine students' abilities and talents, e-learning, distance education, the most modern methods of teaching and study of the student's requirements and needs of the potential to raise the level of achievement.
He thinks that the most important competencies are to provide the suitable school building and refining the skills of all educators inside or outside the school and providing technical facilities to enable good teaching process. Al Nuaimi hopes that international experiences introduced in the symposium will be studied in addition to setting adequate education frameworks, studying advantages and disadvantages of current education system and the points of weakness to be addressed for the sake of improving education in Oman.
Shaikhah bint Khalfan al Mamari, IT Senior Supervisor, Dhofar Directorate, said that this symposium helps to transfer expertise and experiences from different educational environments abroad to Oman. These experiences give target groups training doses for advancement in teaching methods, present experiences applied all over the world and raise the teaching and learning process to commensurate with the national goals.
She added, "the most important competencies are: To pay the attention to human resources and develop their abilities in the art of teaching and learning, focusing on intended goal of learning and methods of communication between the student and the teacher, curriculum development to allow students learning in new ways without restrictions of time, and clearly include the objectives pursued in active learning ways in the curricula of Oman."
Al Mamari said," Hopefully we can see decisions that benefit the educational field such as linking technology to education at all levels, application of experiences presented in the symposium with the ministry support.
Add to this the introduction of the most important recommendations and working to be applied by all teachers, paying attention to the environment of the learner in all school districts and linking it to what the student should learn : knowledge and skills to help him respond to the requirements of the labor market, the development of electronic content in the curricula of Oman, and develop the teachers skills ."
Success in life
Zahwah bint Saif al Habsi, Curriculums Member in the Directorate General of Curriculum Development, said, "This symposium is a professional development for educators especially those who incorporate curricula and educational standards. It is also beneficial for those who want to integrate curricula with 21st century requirements."
Al Habsi thinks that the symposium as a breakthrough that will be good during the drafting of curricula of Life Skills in its five axes. Al Habsi declared that required competencies for education in the Sultanate saying, "It should be our thinking skills of all kinds of monetary, creativity and innovation that we focus on and include them in the curriculum so that the learning we have is based on solving problems."
She adds, "We must possess the skills to use modern technology and the use of social networks, skills of values and participation, empowerment and responsibility, social interaction, communication, and paying attention to the skills of reading, writing and numeracy."
She hopes that the symposium will introduce integration of 21st century skills in the curriculum and the integration of curricula in addition to development of students capacity to use the language and competencies and skills for success in life not to pass examinations, contribute to the learning in and outside the classroom and lastly the connection between what student is learning and what is going on in his present and future life.
Promising future
Muna bint Hilal al Maawaliyah, a Technical Member at the Examination and Students' Affairs Department at the directorate of educational evaluation, spoke about the importance of the symposium: This symposium gathers participants from different countries and it gives them the opportunity to exchange experiences and knowledge and acquire the audience with the needed 21st century competencies. Muna believe that we should take the same steps that other countries are taking to cope with the modern world, regarding the evaluative aspects, curricula, teaching and learning environments, implementing new techniques, teaching methods and professional development for teachers. She named competencies needed in the Omani education; using ICT to communicate and integrate with the other culture, focusing on investing on teachers and teaching methods that are suitable and appropriate for this century, teaching the century's demanded competencies and skills as it should include all educational practical aspects and build a generation that is ready and capable of encountering global changes. Regarding the outcomes that we expect from holding this symposium, she hopes that the symposium will come up with an educational impact on educators and decision makers in Oman as we should be able of seeing the bright and promising future of Oman. We should work harder regarding the educational reform to cope with the 21st century competencies. We also should make further efforts to develop the learning process and we should work together to achieve the goal and to come up with a unique educational impact and build a generation that is ready and prepared to live in this world.
Shamsa bint Hamed al Hajri, a Career Guidance Supervisor from Al Sharqiya North, said: The significance of this symposium is to identify the learning environment that the Omani educational system should provide so as to achieve the 21st century competencies, and the experience of some foreign countries in identifying those competencies and ways and means followed to include them in the education system. She continued: "I believe that training teachers and prepare them to cope with the this time, time of technology, we also should equipped them with the latest teaching method. Regarding students, we should work on developing their creative and critical thinking, teach them to rely on self-learning and teachers' role should be more of a monitor or a guide more than as a teacher. We should prepare the learning environment in our schools so that we can implement those competencies.
Salah Bin Rashid al Ghraibi, Students Activities Department, said: This symposium short-cuts time and distance between educators in order to obtain the needed information to develop education so that it goes along with the development of its tools as new technology requires completely new formulations for the curricula, school buildings and school timing. The value of this symposium is great and the names of presenters and their experiences are as great as this symposium. I believe that this symposium will response to a great deal of educators' need locally (in Oman). He added: "I believe that we need to work harder in teaching both languages Arabic and English. We also need to identify education trucks away from the framework of the current school curricula. Moreover, we should never forget the importance of teaching cultural -- social communication through Internet and learning via new technology.
Zamzam bint Mubark al Farsiyah, Graphic Designer at Al Sharqiyah South, expressed her thoughts and said that this symposium is significant because it shows the truck that the other countries reach educationally and it gives the opportunity for us to exchange experiences. The whole world is witnessing an increasing interest in the subject of the demanded learners' 21st century competencies.
Another participant, Hilal bin Yahya Alismaili from Al Sharqiyah North, believes in the importance of holding such symposium and he explained that it is important because it touches different aspects firstly, it shows that we should take the main competencies into consideration when it comes to building and developing curriculum. In terms of teachers, we should focus on competencies-based teaching methods and through educational supervision and follow ups and visits, the extends to which those competencies with the teachers can be monitored.
He believes that main and complementary practical and learning skills, search, scientific projects implementations and ICT are the main competencies that we need to acquire for our students.
He concluded his statement saying that we hope that we really benefit for others' experiences in this matter and try to adopt what is appropriate for our Omani students.
© Oman Daily Observer 2013
