The Nature of School-Based Management in Independent Schools in the State of Qatar: An Analytical Study

ABSTRACT

In 2003, Qatar launched the initiative for Developing Education, called Education for New Era Reform, based on four principles: independence, accountability, diversity, and choice. Public schools were therefore converted to “Independent Schools” and provided with more resources. We examined the reform’s effectiveness using an interpretive paradigm, employing mixed qualitative methods, and interviewing 28 principals and deputy principals. The results show that the reform gained the most support from top politicians, thus leading to rapid implementation, which led to the schools’ workforce inefficiency in adapting to these changes. Consequently, those responsible for the implementation retreated and diverted from school independence.

KEYWORDS:

• Qatari schools
• school-based management (SBM)
• independent schools
• school reform

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).