4.1 Diversity
4.1.a Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences
The commitment of the unit to diversity is evident in its conceptual framework and infused throughout its programs. One of the unit’s learning outcomes states: “Foster successful learning experiences for all students by addressing individual differences.” The unit believes that expert educators understand the vital roles of diversity and culturally responsive pedagogies in supporting positive development of all K-12 students and school reform and is committed to ensuring that all candidates are able to foster instructional opportunities that are adaptive to students from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds and students with exceptionalities. In recognition of the concept “together” as defined in the unit conceptual framework, candidates are expected to establish professional bonds and work successfully in educational settings with faculty members, mentors, peers, parents, and community members diverse in cultural heritage, gender, exceptionality, language, geographical area and ethnicity. They are expected to develop curriculum and learning experiences that are related to the cultural references of the students, to create safe and secure learning environments that recognize student uniqueness, and to understand and plan for individual learning needs. Although the cultural context of Qatar University necessitates the physical separation of students by gender in most educational environments, candidates are expected to recognize the equality of the genders and to plan instruction accordingly.
The unit incorporates the study of diversity into many of its courses and field experiences so that candidates become aware of the issues related to diversity, develop the knowledge and skills needed to address these issues, and apply the pedagogical knowledge and skills required to establish an environment in which all students can learn. For example, all candidates in initial programs take a course in either child or human development (EDUC 315 and EDUC 501) where they design instruction appropriate to students’ developmental stages, learning styles, strengths and needs. With the exception of Arabic/Islamic Studies/Social Studies concentration in the Primary Diploma program, candidates in initial preparation programs take at least one course in addressing the needs of second language learners (EDUC 311, EDSE 332, and EDUC 520) where candidates implement micro teach by incorporating language that is intelligible, correct, and appropriate. A key assignment from these courses used in assessing Unit Learning Outcomes (ULOs) and in assessing the outcomes of the specialized professional associations (SPAs) for each program is the classroom management plan, which requires candidates to design and defend a physical, organizational, and emotional environment that supports the learning of all students. The special education courses require candidates to develop an IEP for students with special learning needs; write lesson plans that include modifications to meet students’ needs; evaluate authentic situations related to ethical implications; and investigate and reflect on issues related to inclusion. The courses in second language acquisition require candidates to describe common challenges for the second language learner and effective strategies. B.Ed. candidates write reflective papers related to addressing the needs of second language learners.
Candidates enrolled in the master’s program in Special Education (MSPED) are required to complete SPED 602 where candidates are trained to effectively teach a range of students found in the typical, general education classroom as well as serve in a pre-referral process during a child’s eligibility for special education. During the course SPED 611, candidates are expected to write a case study of a child with exceptionalities in a field placement for a pre-referral process, describe the educational status of the child and design an IEP.
All lessons that candidates prepare and teach during their field experiences and clinical practice require modifications for students with exceptionalities. Since Qatar schools follow a full inclusion model, candidates have experience in the schools during their field placements with different kinds of exceptionalities. Other school professionals, such as candidates enrolled in the Masters of Education in Educational Leadership (MEDEL), are required to take two courses that directly include addressing the needs of all students. In EDEL 604, Candidates are required to develop and try lessons, units, and assessments; all require the candidate to describe and carry out appropriate modifications for students with exceptionalities in K-12 schools. In EDEL 603, candidates study the potential means of collaborating with families and other community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources. In addition to candidate grades in the courses that specifically address diversity, which may be found in Exhibit 4.3.a_2, there are specific items on the Professional Dispositions Indicators (PDI) and Classroom Performance Assessment (CPA) instruments related to diversity. These instruments are completed by the designated course instructors at Checkpoints two, and twice during clinical experience by the college supervisor at Checkpoint three, and by the candidate’s mentor teacher twice during clinical experience, so that candidates’ level and growth may be tracked. Exhibit 4.3.a_3. shows aggregated data on statements related to diversity using PDI and CPA. Aggregated data on proficiencies related to diversity that candidates are expected to demonstrate are shown in Exhibit 4.3.a_1.
The Diversity Standard Committee has designed a Diversity Survey (DS) based on rubric criteria for diversity (2008 NCATE UNIT STANDARDS: A Summary of the NCATE Unit Standards Rubrics at the Acceptable Level). The purpose is to administer the DS to initial and advanced candidates at checkpoint three to determine how well their overall experiences, from the onset of their studies to the end, match the curricular, pedagogical and assessment practices of our programs in the context of the Diversity Standard.
Essentially, the self-report DS asks candidates to what extent they agreed or disagreed with statements using five point scale. Analysis of the DS indicated that most of the respondents agreed that they did meet these diversity statements that may be found in Exhibit 4.3.c_1, with a few areas that warranted special attention. Areas of concern for programs included gender, diversity among school and unit faculty and staff, student diversity, and sensitivity to cultural differences. As a results, The unit strengthened many of the rubrics in all programs to include criteria for diversity on key assignments to respond to the low results on "sensitivity to diversity". Strengthened diversity in the newly designed CEES; worked with the field training office to make sure candidates have placements with as much diversity as the culture allows.
CEES Surveys
According to Qatar’s current educational policies, only females can teach at the primary level, thus the B.Ed. Primary program admits only female candidates. The program, however, provides a rich opportunity for candidates in primary education to work with both male and female students in primary schools. On secondary level, only males teach in boys' schools and only females teach in girls' schools so although our programs admit both males and females, the field training office cannot place them in gender-diverse settings in the schools. The office is attempting to increase diversity by considering new field placements, Exhibit 4.3.f_1.
As diversity is also a ULO, all candidates are required to submit evidence and reflections related to their proficiency in the area of diversity, assessed by a rubric for the overall reflection on the final portfolio.
4.1.b Experiences Working with Diverse Faculty
Candidates in unit programs have an opportunity to interact with professional education faculty and faculty of other units within QU from a broad range of diverse groups. Unit faculty are composed of individuals from eight nations. Exhibit 4.3.d_1 shows that 54.4% of the unit faculty members are Qatari and 45.6% non-Qatari. All programs have faculty members from different nations represented among the teaching staff.
The faculty of the university is also very diverse. The 2013-2014 University Fact-book (the latest figures available) gives the university faculty members and teaching staff statistics as follows; 161 faculty members from Qatar, 282 faculty members from Arab countries (17 countries), 176 faculty members from North America (3 countries), one faculty member from Latin America/ Caribbean (1 country), 6 faculty members from Africa (4 countries), 87 faculty members from Europe (22 countries), 70 faculty members from Asia (12 countries) and 34 faculty members from Australia and New Zealand.
In addition, there is linguistic diversity within the unit’s faculty. Of faculty involved in teaching the candidates, 82% participate in scholarly activities in both Arabic and English, including seminars, training workshops, publications, conference presentations and/or teaching. Geographic diversity is illustrated by the diverse countries of origin: three unit faculty members from North America, and 24 faculty members from Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, and the UK.
In terms of collaborations to support diversity, unit faculty have served as reviewers in international conferences and as organizers for the hosted annual College of Education (CED) conference. Further, unit faculty work with the Supreme Education Council (which administers all national schools in Qatar) and other stakeholders in education to create policies that better enhance students’ diversity focusing mainly on students with exceptionalities. Many of faculty members have notable experience working with K-12 and have taught in diverse classrooms.
The unit has a long-standing non-discrimination policy related to hiring, programs also attract and retain qualified faculty members who are committed to university and college missions in order to continuously improve maintain a high quality education for candidates.
Documents that further support this section may be found at http://www.qu.edu.qa/education/accreditation/2014
They include the following:
4.1.c Experiences Working with Diverse Candidates
Candidates in the unit have several opportunities to learn and work with other candidates from diverse nationalities. Also, with the exception of the B.Ed. program, candidates in the unit programs are diverse in gender. Because of Qatar’s current educational policies, the B.Ed. program admits only females. According the current education policy in Qatar, females may teach in either boys’ or girls’ primary schools; however, males may only teach in boys’ schools. Many females who would be seeking a teaching degree will not attend mixed gender classes because of religious and/or cultural constraints. For these reasons, at this time the B.Ed. program is only for female candidates. In this program only, therefore, gender diversity is not present. All programs, however, can have male and female professors on the classroom and they are rich also in diversity related to nationality but cannot have university supervisor from the opposite gender. The unit’s candidates in 2013-2014 represented 31 nationalities.
Recently the unit welcomed a new group of students to its Master of Education programs in Educational Leadership and Special Education. The forty students from Qatar, Algeria, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Sudan, Nigeria, India, France, Brazil, Canada, and the US are of varying professional backgrounds in education, health and research, with experience in, independent and private schools, the Supreme Education Council, Al-Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs and Al Awsaj Institute for students with exceptionalities, the Audio Education Complex that caters the educational needs of children with hearing impairment, and Rumailah Hospital which provides therapeutic and Rehabilitation Services for in- and outpatients.
Extensive and substantive field experiences and clinical practices are designed to encourage candidates to interact with exceptional K-12 students and students from a broad range of diverse groups. The course assessments and field experiences help candidates confront issues of diversity that affect teaching and student learning and develop strategies for improving student learning and candidates’ effectiveness as teachers.
In an effort to increase gender diversity among the unit’s candidate population, a study has been conducted to investigate candidates’ attitudes toward teaching as a future profession for them to be a teacher. On average, 83% of the unit candidates had positive attitudes towards the teaching profession. Findings also indicated that education candidates’ attitudes towards the teaching profession were affected by their academic achievement where the lower the GPA, the lower the perception of teaching as a potential profession. Also, because of cultural and socialization practices in the region, females tend to be more interested than males in the teaching profession, especially in the areas of primary education. Males seem to be less interested in considering a career in teaching and seem to hold negative attitudes towards the profession. It may be important to note that more than 80% of students in all institutions of higher education in Qatar are females in contrast with 57% of females in K-12 independent schools.
While there is only speculation and anecdotal evidence about some of the reasons that male university students shy away from becoming education majors, the Diversity Standard Committee will continue efforts to investigate reasons that male students are uninterested in teaching as a future profession. A previous study conducted at the College determined some factors that contribute to the negative attitudes that male students have about the teaching profession:
- Value of teaching: Benefits and advantages.
- Demands and suitability of being a teacher.
- Limited opportunities for growth and job security.
- Social status and reputation.
- Past negative experiences at school.
In response to the need of attracting more males to the programs, the Office of Student Academic Support in collaboration with the Diversity Standard Committee in the College has recruited five distinguished male students who will participate in an outreach, recruiting campaign in two schools during the Spring 2015 semester. The goal is to have these five students talk about their positive experiences at the College of Education, encourage their juniors to consider teaching as their future profession, hold a Q & A session at the end of the event, and maintain an open communication paths between the schools and the College of Education. Results will enable the unit to determine more reasons for gender differences in teacher education programs as well as to continue designing innovative and more effective recruitment strategies.
Documents that further support this section may be found at http://www.qu.edu.qa/education/accreditation/2014
They include the following:
4.1.d Experiences Working with Diverse Students in K-12 Schools
In addition to course assignments related to diversity, candidates are required to demonstrate appropriate performances and dispositions while working with diverse groups of students during field experiences and student teaching. Assessment of performance and disposition are included in clinical experience evaluation surveys (CEES). Assessment of performance and disposition are included in field experience evaluation surveys (CEES) completed by college supervisors and mentor teachers at the mid and end points of the clinical experience. Data for the diversity items on the CEES may be seen in Exhibit 4.3.a_3. The unit strives to select schools for field experiences that reflect the conceptual framework and provide opportunities for candidates to develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions related to diversity.
Field experiences are implemented in the independent schools as these schools include diverse student populations. Field experience visits begin early as candidates start taking Education courses. In the Primary B.Ed. program, candidates observe and do micro-teaching in classrooms at various schools for grades 1-6 and Secondary B. Ed. candidates observe and do micro-teach at various schools for grades 7-12 both under the supervision of an in-service mentor teacher. Candidates have the opportunity to work with male and female students, Qatari and non-Qatari students, students with exceptionalities and gifted students, and students of diverse ages within the candidates’ developmental level in the program.
Each of the programs requires a minimum of three hundred hours in a classroom under the mentorship of an experienced in-service teacher including student teaching and field training experiences. During the final clinical experience, candidates in initial programs are in schools for six hours per day for ten weeks. Each candidate is also required to attend Internship Seminar in two sections: an orientation of 20 hours before the classroom placement and twenty hours over the ten weeks of the classroom experience. Among the requirements of the internship are the following:
Development of a curriculum unit that includes multiple lessons, each of which indicates modifications for students with exceptionalities. (Note: Candidates are required to teach as much of the unit as school policy allows). Successful completion of an electronic portfolio—a collection of artifacts and their supporting rationales and an overall reflection that include a section in which the candidate must demonstrate his/her proficiencies in addressing diversity with actual students in classrooms. Positive evaluations from both mentor teacher and college supervisor at both the mid-point and final evaluations using instruments for classroom performance, professional practices, and professional dispositions (the CEES), which include items specifically related to diversity (these may be found in Exhibit 4.3.a_3).
Currently, candidates in most of the Diploma Programs are placed in Independent Schools (the national schools). Candidates in the Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Special Education or MSPED may be placed in institutions for persons with special needs such as Al Noor Institute for the Blind and Shafallah Centre for students with autism or intellectual disabilities. Many candidates are working so they were mostly connected to their place of employment during field experiences. Centers and independent schools have the diversity of learners with additional educational support needs that attach the candidate’s site. MEDEL candidates are also frequently placed in private or international schools. The factor of importance is the quality of the school mentor and the richness of the experience.
Documents that further support this section may be found at http://www.qu.edu.qa/education/accreditation/2014
They include the following:
4.2 Moving Toward Target or Continuous Improvement
4.2.a Standard on which the unit is moving to the target level
4a. Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Curriculum and Experiences
- The elements of diversity are concretely delineated in the coursework and experiences for all programs. The unit incorporates diversity into courses and field experiences so that candidates become aware of the issues related to diversity, develop the knowledge and skills needed to address these issues, and apply the pedagogical knowledge and skills required to establish an environment in which all students can learn.
- All lessons that candidates prepare and present during their field experiences and clinical practice require modifications for students with exceptionalities. Since Qatar follows a full inclusion model, candidates have experience in the schools with different kinds of exceptionalities.
- The Diversity Standard Committee has designed a Diversity Survey based on the NCATE rubric criteria for diversity. The data were used to change many of the rubrics in all program to include criteria for diversity on key assignments to respond to the low results on "sensitivity to diversity". In addition to strengthening diversity in the newly designed CEES and worked with the field training office to make sure candidates have placements with as much diversity as the culture allows.
4b. Experiences Working with Diverse Faculty
Unit faculty are composed of individuals from eight nations with nearly half of the faculty members are Qatari and almost the other half is non-Qatari. The gender of faculty show 68.1% representing females and 31.9% representing males. There is linguistic diversity within the unit’s faculty. 82% participate in scholarly activities in both Arabic and English. Many of faculty members have substantial experience working with K-12 students as they taught in diverse classrooms and used differentiated teaching strategies. The unit has a long-standing non-discrimination policy related to hiring and it attracts and retains qualified faculty members who are committed to university and college missions in order to continuously improve and maintain a high quality education for candidates. The unit has a diverse and well-qualified faculty in all areas of Science Education, Mathematics Education, Arabic & Islamic Studies, Early Childhood Education, Special Education, Social Studies Education, English Teaching Methods, Foundation of Education, Technology Education, Educational Leadership, and Educational Psychology. Faculty academic rank reflects that 17.5% are full professors, 38.6% associate professors, 29.8% assistant professors and 14.0% lecturers from fifty full time faculty members (87.7%) and seven part time faculty members (12.3%).
4c. Experience Working with Diverse Candidates
All programs are rich in diversity related to candidates’ nationality. The unit’s candidates in 2013-2014 represented 31 nationalities. The unit put forth efforts to increase gender equality among the unit’s candidate population. A study has been conducted to investigate students’ attitudes toward teaching as a possible profession. Also, the diversity Standard Committee will continue efforts to investigate reasons that male students are uninterested in teaching as a future profession. Extensive and substantive field experiences and clinical practices are designed to encourage candidates to interact with exceptional students and students from a broad range of diverse groups on K-12 schools.
4d. Experience Working with Diverse Students in K-12 Schools
The Field Training unit affords candidates with opportunities prior to their student teaching or internships to observe and micro-teach the K-12 students from diverse populations including: male and female students, Qatari and non-Qatari students, students with exceptionalities and gifted students, and students of diverse ages within the candidates’ program range. Student teaching experiences and internships are organized so that candidates are placed in different Independent Schools (the national schools) for B.Ed. and all diploma programs with the exception of the Diploma in Special Education. These candidates, or candidates in MSPED, are placed in multiple institutions for persons with special needs such as Al Noor Institute for the Blind (Shafallah Centre). MEDEL candidates are placed in private or international schools. During their internship or student teaching, all initial certification candidates are required to develop a curriculum unit that includes multiple lessons, each of which indicates modifications for students with exceptionalities; to compile f an electronic portfolio that include a section in which the candidate must demonstrate his/her proficiencies in addressing diversity; and to achieve positive evaluations from both mentor teacher and college supervisor by the final evaluation using instruments for classroom performance, professional practices, and professional dispositions (the CEES), which include items specifically related to diversity.
4.3 Exhibits for Standard 4