Challenges in Education System Affecting Teacher Professional Development in Oman

Challenges and Recent Developments 
A small scale interview study targeted on lecturers from College of 
Education, College of Art and the Language Centre at Sultan Qaboos University 
lists several areas of development in curriculum, teaching methods and 
assessment: 1. the major problem that school curriculum is facing is in its 
application in the schools. The curriculum does not satisfy the society's needs. 
There are good reasons to shift from the theoretical curriculum to a practical 
one. 2. Teachers do not apply the teaching methods they are taught and trained 
to apply in initial preparation. So, the effective methods are not actually used in 
teaching. Teachers should use methods that better fit the students' individual 
levels of performance and abilities. 3. The methods used to evaluate the students' 
performance have a direct effect on their performance. Tests and exams are not 
the best way to evaluate students’ performance. There are good reasons to 
implement continuous assessment effectively. (Al-Maskri, Al-Mukhini, & Amzat, 
2012.)