Around 25 public education officials and policy-makers focusing on learning assessments, TIMSS, and educational quality; principals and managers from boys and girls schools (participants in the study), curriculum developers, Science, Mathematics and Arabic teachers; civil society representatives, Qatar University experts on education, representatives of foundations participating in the study, MOE officials and experts for TIMSS (Science and Mathematics), PISA and on quality and experts on teacher’s assessment attended and participated in the focused group discussion.  

The objectives of the Focused Group discussion were to:

(1) Present and discuss the findings of the Qatar Case Study and identify missing gaps and information;

(2) Conduct working groups to gather additional information on pending questions about the Qatar Case Study;

(3) Report findings of working groups in plenary session and

(4) Propose recommendations to enhance the performance of education systems in Qatar and the GCC countries. 

The expected outputs for the focused group discussions were:

• Data gathered to address missing gaps and information on Qatar Case Study.
• Triangulation of existing data presented
• Policy and strategic recommendations to improve learning outcomes in Qatar and the GCC.

The participants were divided into three working groups: national context, curricula and outcomes, assessment and testing procedures. The participants answered additional questions related to the study to triangulate the quantitative data gathered from the schools.

The working groups also identified the challenges that need to be addressed to improve the performance of students in Qatar and policy and strategic recommendations to improve learning outcomes in Qatar.