Muscat: The Ministry of Education has issued a clarification on reports regarding the application of the Cambridge curricula for science and mathematics students in the Sultanate of Oman.
The Ministry said that the application of these curricula was in response to the goals and priorities of Oman’s Vision 2040, the requirements of the labour market, keeping pace with global developments, raising the education standards of students in science and mathematics on par at the international level and improving their competencies to enable them to compete with counterparts in international competitions and studies.
These international curricula are selected based on a clear vision and precise criteria and as per statistics, more than 160 countries apply these curricula at the rate of 10,000 schools.
Around 93 percent of the graduates have been accepted into universities, of whom 70% have been accepted into the top 500 universities in the world that recognize Cambridge qualifications.
Globally, more than 2,000 educational institutions, including the 20 best universities in the world recognize the Cambridge curricula, which relies on scientific investigation and problem-solving methods.
These curricula follow the spiral principle in presenting topics, where learning is spread out over time rather than being concentrated in shorter periods.
The application of this experiment has gone through a number of steps:
Studying the experiences of bilingual private schools globally, in which the high level of achievement of their students and their excellence in two subjects (science and mathematics) in particular was evident.
Forming the main committee of curricula specialists, educational supervisors, and experts.
Preparing the educational field and the local community by launching awareness campaigns in the period (2017-2019).
Forming technical teams of Omani competencies specialized in this field to carry out the work of harmonizing these curricula in line with the Omani identity, national and culture, customs, traditions, and principles of the Islamic religion.
It has been subjected to extensive stages of harmonization, revision, and scrutiny.
Training supervisors and teachers on the philosophy of the Cambridge curricula and appropriate teaching methods and lesson planning.
Evaluation of the project through field visits conducted by curricula specialists and the supervisors in the Directorate General of Education Supervision between 2018 and 2020.
The international study Timss2019 that provides the best policy-relevant information to help improve mathematics and science teaching and learning, showed a significant improvement in results for the fourth grade compared to the Timss2015 session.
TIMSS 2019 included student, teacher, and school questionnaires and the Early Learning Survey (also called the “home questionnaire”) completed by students' parents or caregivers.
As for the sub-division of science subjects in the ninth and tenth grades, this was done after a study and based on the observations and opinions of the educational field that confirmed the need for a scientific approach with a specialized teacher in each branch.
It was also in response to the demands of specialists from the members of the community who believed that giving the student a deeper understanding of the science can only be achieved by subdividing this subject into its basic disciplines (physics, chemistry, and biology).
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