Establishing a new national examination board in Bahrain

The challenge

In 2008, Bahrain launched Vision 2030, a long-term plan to reduce dependency on energy revenues by building a more diversified, knowledge-based economy.  This demanded major educational reform, and Bahrain Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA) defined the need for a new system of national examinations to drive improvements through Bahrain’s school system. 
Long-term, BQA wanted to develop and deliver assessments locally, so needed a partner with expertise in both assessment and capacity building. 

What we did

• Working with BQA, we established a new and independent exam board, the Directorate of National Examinations (DNE), defining its organisational structure and key roles, documenting procedures, and providing wide-ranging capacity development and training. 
• We created a bespoke assessment model based on Bahrain Ministry of Education curriculum. From 2008 (the pilot stage) to 2015, new exams were introduced into grades 3, 6, 9 and 12 in a phased process. Students study core subjects, such as maths, and innovative syllabuses, such as problem solving, in both Arabic and English. 

The results

The DNE now runs a secure and effective examinations process, maintains standards over time, and has the skills required to manage an awarding body, with Cambridge remaining as a ‘critical friend’.

Testimonial

I have been working with Cambridge since the inception of the Bahraini National Examinations project. They worked closely with us to set up the project, train our staff, and set up its processes. Personally, I have great admiration and respect for the professionalism and experience of Cambridge. I have learned a lot from working closely with their team and benefitted from their deep understanding of the examinations. 

Wafa Alyaqoobi, Director, Directorate of National Examinations, BQA, Bahrain