About

Mawhiba Classes Program is implemented by the General Directorate of School Partnership and is one of the programs sanctioned by Mawhiba as part of its plan to achieve its strategic vision by 1444 H. This program targets several public and private schools with distinct qualifications in terms of infrastructure, teaching, assessment and learning methods, and teacher qualifications and training. The execution of this program entailed a cooperation with the best educational expertise in the targeted stages (from the fourth elementary grade to the third secondary grade).

In addition to the curriculum adopted by the Ministry of Education, students study Mawhiba Advanced Supplementary Curriculum (ASC).

This program was initiated in 2010/2009 H in the fourth elementary grade, first intermediate grade, and first secondary grade. In the following years, it was expanded to include the remaining grades.

Program Components

Mawhiba Classes Program is based on five main pillars

First: Schools’ Selection

This pillar revolves around developing appropriate methods, standards, and tools for selecting distinguished (public and private) schools that meet Mawhiba’s partnership standards. This includes evaluating schools who wish to join the Mawhiba Classes program through a process of several mechanisms and stages for assessment. Following the evaluation of candidate schools, recommendations of schools that are qualified to join the program are issued by a team of evaluators. The team is selected locally and is trained to utilize Mawhiba’s evaluation methods and standards in the schools’ selection, the development of tools and mechanisms to improve the performance of selected schools, as well as the coordination between selected schools for the training and professional development of their employees.

Second: Training and Professional Development

This pillar aims to raise awareness regarding giftedness and creativity, including the characteristics of gifted students and how to work with them. It also aims to provide a rich educational environment that nurtures gifted students in their classrooms, schools, and the communities to which they belong. Furthermore, it aims to provide teachers with strategies to implement Mawhiba Advanced Supplementary Curriculum (ASC) in integration with the curriculum of the Ministry of Education, which includes training teachers of gifted student specifically to deepen their understanding of the activities within Mawhiba’s Advanced Supplementary Curriculum (ASC). This training involves the participation of the following groups: city coordinators, school coordinators and principals, teachers of gifted student and all other teachers, the team of school evaluators, and parents of gifted students.

Third: Curriculums

This pillar aims to develop, prepare, follow-up, and implement the Advanced Supplementary Curriculum (ASC) for gifted and creative students in the following subjects: sciences, mathematics, English, and Information Technology. The Advanced Supplementary Curriculum (ASC) textbooks consist of numerous advanced activities which are aligned with the Ministry's curriculum but are not an alternative to them. The ASC focuses on developing several aspects of the gifted students' personalities, including the knowledge and advanced understanding of the concepts and topics presented. This is achieved through enriching students with up-to-date and in-depth information, which becomes visible in the advanced skills acquired by students for these subjects. These skills include: the insight into underlying structure and big ideas within the subject, conceptual clarity and the depth of the structured knowledge built in relation to the academic topics offered in the Curriculum. Other such skills include: generalization, reasoning, thinking skills, self-reflection, communication, and dialogue. In addition, the Curriculum aims to develop values, attitudes, and attributes in students, including their inquiry, risk-taking, creativity, trust, mental-openness, and collaboration.

Fourth: Assessment

This pillar aims to follow-up with and monitor the success of the Mawhiba Classes Program, to foster a culture of student-centered learning, which includes systems of assessment for learning, not just assessment in learning. It also aims to prepare training programs targeting all participating teachers, providing them with different assessment methods such as performance assessment, peer review, self-assessment, assessment through projects, and building a student portfolio. To achieve these aims, the Annual Test has been conducted at the end of every academic year since 2011-2012 for gifted students in the subjects of mathematics and sciences from Mawhiba’s Advanced Supplementary Curriculum. The Annual Test focuses on the standards that Mawhiba’s Curriculum seeks to achieve in the performance of gifted students in partnership schools and assists in measuring their progress later on.

Fifth: Supporting Parents

This pillar aims to involve parents in the academic and educational process. This is achieved through hosting regular and recurrent meetings that introduce Mawhiba’s Curriculum, its assessment methods, and the importance of a parent’s role in a gifted student’s education. In addition, a mentoring program is developed to encourage the role of parents in achieving the Program’s goals. Furthermore, the activities within the Curriculum are supported through communication with parents.