Having taught and managed educational programmes in Oman for almost five years now, I have seen a staggering amount of institutional change. This has included several great leaps forward at national level, some of which have been successful even despite the “change fatigue” that afflicts education here following roughly thirty years of constant reform. A landmark of progress in higher education in Oman, in my humble opinion, is the Oman Academic Standards for General Foundation Programs, which holds all Foundation Programs across the country to a set of principled standards.
While this document is the road map for the work of the bulk of foreign English language teachers in this country, it is surprising (or shocking) that few are aware of its existence. Having closely observed and participated in its development between 2007 and 2009, I am delighted that such a coherent and educationally sound policy document has emerged as the yardstick by which all national higher education institutions will be measured for accreditation purposes. Yet, although I am one of the many teachers who is responsible for my current institution’s successful accreditation, I am positively stunned that among the barrage of largely irrelevant accreditation data that has been thrown our way, this key document was omitted.
This is particularly relevant to me, since I am working on an article that questions the assessment techniques used in the Foundation Programme nationally. My reasoning is that summative written assessments (aka exams) neither support student learning nor address the unique strengths and weaknesses of Omani students, and are, moreover, not an appropriate measure of attaining the national learning objectives. Since the colleges adhere so fiendishly to these exams, I had thought I would have to take on the national policy document. Not so. According to the Foundation Standards document, formative, continuous assessment using a variety of assessment mechanisms is desirable. In fact, it would seem that the colleges are in grave violation of national policy. Especially if we dig deeper to find that these hallowed written exams not only have limited validity and reliability, but that instances of guessing and cheating inevitably slip through the cracks… and after all that, students have been “helped through” in marginal cases – so-called – with marks as low as 36%. By the local powers that be.
Rediscovering the Foundation Standards that are intended to light our way, I was gravely disappointed by its underground status. Although the professionalization of teachers is a goal of the local accreditation process (Carroll et al., 2009), the withholding of core policy documents, whether through omission or commission, the current situation is a further de-skilling of drones.
And I never did make a good drone.
References:
Carroll, M., Razvi, S. & Goodliffe, T. (2009). Using Foundation Program academic standards as a quality enhancement tool. International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education Conference 2009. Retrieved from http://www.inqaahe.org
Oman Accreditation Council. (2009). Oman academic standards for national foundation programs. Muscat: OAC.
Image: The Oman Coat of Arms. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Official_Coat_of_Arms_of_Oman.png
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