Introduction

Education is one of the vital sectors that developed countries have taken into consideration as a basis for their renaissance and development. Hence, the center’s studies are put to participate in the development of education and its components in the Arab countries. Education issues are still critical for many Arab countries to find innovative solutions help in making a qualitative shift that may qualify them to keep pace with these developed countries. Among the main components of education are the curriculum and its related policies and systems. Curriculum constitutes the basis on which other intertwined components are built. Therefore, the current study came to try to improve it and provide innovative solutions may help develop it in Arab countries.

The development of the curriculum and the policies and systems associated with it is an area in which many complexities are intertwined. One of these complexities is the development of education as well as its international and local initiatives and concepts over time. Another important pillar that have affected the development of curriculum is the diversity and succession of learning theories such as the constructive, cognitive, behavioral or social. Furthermore, distance education has come as a strong competitor to traditional education, all of this haven’t been making the development of curriculum policies processes easy. Curriculum policies and systems in public education have also developed in many countries and have clear trends and issues worthy of research and analysis.

High-performance educational institutions have developed trends such as inclusivity in curricular frameworks (meaning setting a framework that guarantees equality and justice in educational opportunities among all members of society) versus individualizing curriculum with the needs of each learner. Another important trend is building curriculum around big ideas instead of dividing into traditional subjects. One important trend is the teacher-based design of curriculum. Moreover many central systems (similar to the Arab systems) have succeeded in developing curriculum and educational systems such as Singapore, as well as countries shifting to take advantage of centralized systems in curriculum development such as Australia. There is also a trend advocating reducing content while focusing on practice and experience. The emergence of concepts such as lifelong education and learning communities played a fundamental role in the educational systems’ view of their policies and systems (Popescu, 2011). In response to this, many trends have emerged for the design of curriculum, some of which are based on competencies (Emanuel, 2015), others centered around the learner, or problems (Tuncer, etal, 2019), or on standards (UNESCO-IBE, 2013).

Curriculum is an essential element of the educational process, if not its core. It represents the mind that drives educational visions and philosophies, through which those visions and philosophies are implemented on the ground. In order to succeed in fulfilling its roles and desired goals, it must be developed with the same mechanisms for developing education as a whole in terms of its philosophical, social, psychological and cognitive foundations. its development must be guided in a comprehensive and systematic manner, which is critical to ensuring effectiveness and sustainability (Kabita, & Ji, 2017).

The current study is based upon the vision of the UNESCO Regional Center for Quality and Excellence in Education (RCQE) as “reference center in promoting quality and excellence in education in the Arab region”; its mission “to provide innovative services to improve the quality and excellence of education in the Arab countries, to create a pioneering impact… through innovative systems, standards and measures, sustainable regional and international relations to spread knowledge and best educational practices; supporting and preparing high-quality research on issues of quality and excellence in education to meet the needs of Arab countries; and responding to support the targets and indicators of the fourth goal of SDG 2030 in the Arab countries.
The current study entitled (Policies and Systems for Curriculum Development in Public Education in the Arab Countries) has been supervised by the Center. It aims to enhance policies and systems of curriculum in public education in the Arab countries

To achieve this goal, the study took three main tracks. The first of which is: defining and analyzing the best global practices within four dimensions derived from the literature, reports, models and theoretical and applied frameworks. These dimensions included the policies and systems of planning, design, implementation and evaluation that are practiced in curriculum in some countries. These countries – which were selected according to precise criteria – included Scotland, Australia and Canada (British Columbia), Singapore and South Africa. The second: the status quo in some Arab countries, including defining practices and challenges. These countries – which also were selected according to precise criteria – included the Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco. The third: providing an easy-to-apply and flexible framework suits different systems of education. This framework was built upon an analysis of a gap between best practices and the status of education in the Arab countries.

Building on the above, this regional workshop is held in cooperation with the Ministry of Education in the Republic of Tunisia under the patronage of His Excellency the Minister, Prof. Dr. Fathi Salouti to review the outputs of the project and to discuss the recommendations and suggestions that may help decision makers to take actions appropriate to their countries in their different circumstances affecting education policy. The importance of this project comes from its methodology which upon a comparative framework, status quo, gap analysis, and a unique and flexible framework for development. This may help Arab countries depend on its results in improving the policies and systems of curriculum, and in overcoming its challenges. In turn, this study paves the way for other scholars and institutions to provide more innovative solutions and prospective to develop education in line with 21st century competencies.

Objective

The study aimed mainly at providing suggestions that may improve policies and systems of curriculum in public education in the Arab countries via the following:

• Defining the best practices in curriculum development policies and systems in a number of developed countries.
• Defining the current situation in some Arab countries in the field of curriculum policies and systems.
• Proposing a developmental framework for curriculum policies and systems suits the Arab countries.
• Supporting the dissemination of education quality culture regionally and internationally.

Topics

1. Presenting the results of the study related to the policies and systems of curriculum in public education in terms of planning, design, implementation, and evaluation.
2. Presenting the best global practices and trends in curriculum policies and systems in public education in terms of planning, design, implementation, and evaluation.
3. Presenting The proposed framework for developing curriculum policies and systems in public education in Arab countries and the recommendations. This topic will focus on the basic advantage of this framework which is “balance”, balance between balance between focusing on developing curricular policies and systems, and giving other relevant factors a priority in development in terms of the role of the teacher, learner, school and funding, etc.

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcomes of this workshop can be classified below:

1. Defining the current situation of the policies and system of curriculum in the Arab countries.
2. Defining the best practices in curriculum development policies and systems in a number of developed countries.
3. Understanding the proposed framework for developing curriculum policies and systems in public education in Arab countries and the recommendations that would develop them in accordance with the international best practices.

Workshop Strategy

The 6th meeting will be attended virtually (via ZOOM) by several managers and staff of UNESCO Centers, institutes and offices. It will be held virtually for one day in a form of dialogue sessions in addition to a roundtable discussion. Participants will have the opportunity to communicate and share best practices.

Working language

The working language of the workshop will be Arabic and English.

 

Participants

• Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).
• Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).
• UNESCO Regional Centers and Offices.
• Regional and international organizations.
• The Association of Arab Universities (AarU).
• The Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States.
• Ministries of Education in the Arab countries.
• National Committees for Education, Culture and Science.
• Education evaluation authorities in the Arab countries.
• Experts, specialists and those interested.