َQuestion One
Heading the Early Years Project, a major project conducted by the SEC throughout the current year, could you please brief the readers on the latest news related to the hand over of KG buildings. How many buildings have been handed over to the SEC, how many are still on the list and what are the main and major challenges in that aspect.

The completion of the new Kindergarten (KG) school buildings has involved many months of intensive planning and construction. In mid-September 2008, four of the new KG buildings were approved for occupancy. Three additional buildings are now completed and are awaiting final SEC approval, pending electrical work. It is expected that three to four additional new KG buildings will be completed and approved for occupancy in October. In total there are plans for up to 30 new KG buildings to be constructed. Many of these buildings will be ready for occupancy at the beginning of the 2009 school year. By 2012 the SEC has proposed that there will be purpose-built early years buildings for all Independent Primary Schools.

Question Two
After having been provided the needed brick and mortar comes the second step of providing these buildings with furniture, resources and facilities. Could you please tell us what has been done in that aspect? And what are the major challenges facing the team in that aspect.

The Shared Services Department of the SEC, in collaboration with the Early Years team at the Education Institute has awarded purchase contracts to several furniture companies to supply each new KG building with administrative and classroom furniture and equipment. Once each new building is completed, and approved for occupancy, the Shared Services will arrange for delivery of the furniture to the building so that teachers and staff can prepare the learning environments. The Early Years Team at the Education Institute provides ongoing guidance and consultation for school leadership regarding additional resources that must be purchased with individual school budgets. Some of the challenges involve timely ordering and delivery of specialized resources, although each school has a per pupil school budget that is sufficient to purchase adequate materials each year. Many high quality resources can be purchased in Doha and the gulf region. A major challenge is locating sufficient children’s literature and books in Arabic that support language and literacy development. The Early Years team can provide schools with a list of websites and bookshops where they can purchase literacy materials.

Question Three
What about all the safety measurements? Who is going to take care of that? And what about the future, did you give Health and Safety policies within schools, your attention?

In February 2008 the Early Years team developed a set of health and safety guidelines for Early Years programmes. This document was approved by the Education Institute in April, 2008. Currently, all principals of primary schools, as well as the Shared Services Department of the SEC, have received copies. During the 2008-2009 school year the Early Years Advisory teacher in each primary school and KG building will assist the school leadership in monitoring the health and safety of the learning environments, conduct risk assessments and make recommendations for improvements. Included in the recommendations are sample lessons for young children regarding fire, water and traffic safety. It is expected that school leadership will use these guidelines to ensure a high standard of health and safety of their facilities.

Question Four
How are you going to deal with the challenge of not having enough qualified KG teachers for all the new KGs within Doha. What are the plans to enhance teachers' knowledge and skills in the field of Early Years.

Recruiting and retaining qualified teachers who have early years experience and credentials is a significant challenge for principals in the Independent Schools. At present there are no university programs in Qatar that provide a degree program in Early Childhood Education. Therefore many of the teachers in the Kindergarten classrooms have bachelor’s degrees in areas other than education. For this reason, the Education Institute has contracted with two companies, Education Queensland from Australia and Nord Anglia from the UK, to provide each primary school and Kindergarten building with an early childhood advisory teacher for the 2008-2009 school year. This SEC contracted advisory teacher will work in the school four days each week with teachers and school leadership to provide guidance and ongoing professional development to enhance the knowledge and skills of teachers in Kindergarten and Grade One and Two.

The Education Institute has designed a career workforce strategy to develop Early Childhood teachers following graduation from secondary school and continuing through to a baccalaureate level and beyond with continuing education and professional development opportunities. Qatar University has received approval to offer an Early Childhood strand within their new Teacher Education programme in the near future. The Early Years team and the Education Institute is currently consulting with the Social Development Center and the College of the North Atlantic- Qatar to conduct a feasibility study for the development of an Early Years Teacher Training Center in Doha. With the support of the Education Institute and the SEC there will be a substantial increase in the number of qualified Early Childhood teachers in the next few years.

Question Five
There is an agreement between the SEC and Qatar University regarding the 'The Teacher Assistant Certificate programme' and it is your team that is going to follow up with this issue on behalf of the SEC. Can you give us a brief overview about the objectives of the programme, the expected outcomes and the procedures that have been taken place till now.

Due to a successful first year, The Education Institute and Qatar University have agreed to continue the Early Years Teacher Assistant Certificate program for a second year. In June 2008, there were 32 participants who completed the one-year certificate program, which was funded by the Education Institute of the SEC. The programme included courses at the University and practicum experiences in the schools during the 2007-2008 school year. Thirty of these teacher assistants continue to be employed in the Independent Schools.

Currently there are 100 participants enrolled in the one year Early Years Teacher Assistant Certificate program at Qatar University. This program is now full time, five days a week and includes courses in English and Technology for all participants. Qatari participants in the program receive a monthly stipend of 3000QAR for attendance. The Education Institute and the Early Years team interviewed all applicants for this program and will support the University in arranging classroom observation experiences in the Independent Schools throughout the year. It is expected that the participants will develop a strong foundation in early years education and will be employed as Teacher Assistants in the Independent Schools following completion of the certificate programme. It is also expected that many of the participants will continue their education and pursue the bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education once the programme is available at Qatar Univeristy.