English abstract
The study aimed at identifying the reality of pre-university educational policies
in the Sultanate of Oman through the premises of those policies, as well as its
dimensions in light of the Fourth Goal of Sustainable Development 2030 (compulsory
and free education, justice in education, quality of education, skills necessary to
support sustainable development), indicators of its goals. It also aimed at identifying
areas of those policies that need to be developed, revealing of the challenges which
face them, and finally, building a Proposed Conception for the aim of developing those
policies.
The mixed studies approach has been applied in this study through combining
quantitative and qualitative research using three tools: (questionnaire, document
analysis and interviews) that were utilized in a sequential explanatory approach.
Moreover, The study relied on a sample of documents while collecting its data, which
represented in (The Philosophy of Education in the Sultanate of Oman, The National
Strategy for Education 2040, and The Ministry of Education's Ninth Five-year Plan
for the Education Program for the years (2016-2020). In addition, the data of the field
study were collected from an intended sample of decision-makers, specialists in
educational policies, and some of those who implement them. The number of (111)
members were applied to the questionnaire. On the other hand, (11) of the Ministry of
Education's officials were included in the study interviews.
The questionnaire sample showed that (the premises of educational policies for
pre-university education) ranged between (2.46) and (1.71) with a degree between
"high" and "medium", and that the reality of educational policies for pre-university
education in the Sultanate of Oman in light of the dimensions of the study was between high" and "medium". The dimension of (Justice in education) came at the top, ranking
with a "high" degree, then the dimension of (quality in education) came in the second
place with a "medium degree", whereas the dimension of (skills to support sustainable
development) came in the third place with a "medium degree", and finally came the
dimension of (Education is compulsory and free of charge) with a medium degree.
The results of document analysis showed that the dimension of (skills needed
to support the sustainable development) was the most visible dimension in these
documents. This dimension came first in terms of its inclusion of educational policies,
and the dimension of (fairness in education) came last. According to the fields of
study, the field related to (public school education policies (basic and post-basic) came
first in terms of the interest of educational policymakers and educational decision
makers in the Sultanate of Oman with a "high" degree, while the field of (pre-school
education policies) ranked last with a "medium" degree. The areas of (adult education
and literacy policies) and (special education policies) came second and third,
respectively.The challenges facing pre-university educational policies in the Sultanate
of Oman in order to achieve the Fourth Goal of Sustainable Development 2030, from
the perspective of the questionnaire sample, ranged between "high" and "low".
The results of the interviews showed that (compulsory and free education,
clarity of policies, and educational justice,) are the most important premises of the
educational policies for pre-university education. Also, it represented that the
relationship between the international agenda comes within the framework of
implementing the international commitments for the sustainable development and its
requirements, which is a (cooperation and guidance) relationship. However, the
community partnership still needs more empowerment and activation. In addition, the
interviews provided a number of explanatory responses to the lack of interest in pre school and special education. Moreover, the responses of the interview sample
involved a number of challenges that were divided in the study into three types
according to the subjects of the study. The study ended with a Proposed conception
that was built according to the findings based on the close relationship between
educational policies and the fourth goal of sustainable development, the challenges
facing those policies and the aspirations and needs of the Omani context, with the
inclusion of a number of proposed mechanisms related to the dimensions of the study
and proposed detailed procedures to implement the indicators of the fourth goal for
sustainable development according to fields of study.
