Dubai: International Baccalaureate (IB) schools from all over the Middle East came together for a two-day conference in Dubai to share and discuss best practices in education.
“From the start of the event participants were engaged to develop a new strategy. We are updating people in terms of the latest IB developments and we are also looking at core areas in terms of what are the issues around Arabic language and Islamic education and how these can be addressed,” said Adrian Kearney, Regional Director, Africa, Europe and Middle East at IB.
Other issues also discussed in terms of the Middle East included how to improve government recognition at university level, accessibility of professional development and how to improve services to schools and educators.
The event was attended by more than 200 delegates from over 50 international IB Schools in the Middle East, who got the chance to collaborate and explore challenges and opportunities available in digital literacy and independent learning.
The theme for the first day of the conference was titled “Connecting, Strengthening, Developing the IB Community in the Middle East” and the second day was titled “21st Century Learning” where a broad range of sessions were led by external providers and practitioners from Middle East International Baccalaureate Association (MEIBA) schools.
One of the second day’s speakers Abdul Aziz Chohan, Director of ESSA Academy, UK, told Gulf News about how he managed to improve his school’s quality of education by providing students with an iPod touch for personal learning. “I believe that technology should be centred on learning instead of having educational events centred around technology. It is about how technology can service and be used to better improve students\ day to day studying.”
Noor Nazzal is a trainee at Gulf News
