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| Prof Sheikha al-Misnad speaking at a forum as Dr Sadiq and another official look on |
“One of the aims of the NCED is to build local capacity to provide professional development to independent schools,” he said.
It was the first such event for the NCED since its launch in January 2011 with the objective to provide a resource for the development of teaching personnel based on the needs of independent schools in Qatar and in line with the country’s goals towards education reform.
The forum drew the participation of representatives from the Supreme Education Council (SEC) and leaders and teachers of six independent schools in Doha, such as Al-Israa Independent Primary School for Girls, Al Ahnaf Preparatory Independent School for Boys, Khalifa Independent Secondary School for Boys, Rabea Al Adawiya Secondary Independent School for Boys, Moza bint Mohammed Preparatory School for Girls, and Umm Ul-Qura Model Independent School for Boys.
Also participating in the discussion were QU president Prof Sheikha Abdulla al-Misnad, College of Education (CED) dean Dr Hissa Sadiq, NCED personnel and CED students.
SEC official Ibrahim al-Mannai noted QU’s support of education processes in Qatar and its partnership with the council in advancing the development of education professionals and effective teaching/learning environments through the work of the NCED.
“We will all learn a lot from the centre which is closely aligned with the objectives of the council, and we can expect very fruitful outcomes,” he said.
The participating schools presented details of their implementation of strategies and initiatives formulated with support from the centre’s PD programme facilitators.
They highlighted the measures they employed, based on the results of the centre’s evaluation and needs assessment studies, to address gaps in their schools’ curricula and professional development of their teaching staff.
Discussing Al-Israa School’s experience, vice-principal Seham al-Saadi voiced appreciation of the guidance and support the school received from the centre in preparing and formalising its strategic plan
Al Ahnaf School co-ordinator Sameer Jamal shared the success of the school’s Arabic language department following the process of evaluation and feedback of the centre’s PD facilitators.
