Curriculum Innovation in Selected Saudi Arabia Public Secondary Schools: The Multi-Stakeholder Experience of the Tatweer Project

The development and implementation of innovative curriculum projects continues to be a prominent feature in the education enterprise. The primary aim of this qualitative study was to develop an in-depth understanding of the implementation of the Tatweer Project in five selected public secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. The project is an innovative education reform initiative that aimed to improve the quality of teaching and learning in public secondary schools across the country. Under the Tatweer Project, reforms were made in the following areas: school curriculum development, teacher training, learning environments and extra-curriculum activities.
The study made use of a combination of semi-structured interviews and focus-group discussions to elicit the views and experiences of teachers, students, school heads and policy-makers who participated in the implementation of the project. Data were analysed manually using the thematic analysis method (Braun and Clarke, 2006; Wellington, 2015).
The study findings indicate that the implementation of the Tatweer Project took place in two phases and each phase was affected by a number of problems and challenges, which made it difficult for the innovation to get institutionalised. The study explores the factors that affected the implementation of the curriculum innovation and suggests changes that may help to achieve a successful implementation of similar projects in future. In particular, the study confirmed the need to engage all stakeholders in the curriculum design and implementation process as well as the need for the provision of effective leadership, training and adequate technical support to the primary implementers, that is, the teachers and school heads. Although the study findings cannot be generalised widely due to the scope of the study, it is important to appreciate that some useful insights that could be useful in terms of guiding effective curriculum implementation are discussed. The study recommends, among other things, the need to ensure that all key stakeholders should be involved in the whole process of planning and implementing a curriculum innovation given that effective curriculum change should be viewed as a shared responsibility. In the same vein, adequate funding should be made available.