Jordan to host regional forum for teachers

AMMAN — The Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) is organising a regional “Teacher Skills Forum” in early December, the academy said in a statement released Saturday.

The two-day forum, which will be held under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania, opens on December 6 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre, Dead Sea. 

It will focus on “equipping teachers with the best teaching methods and practices that they can apply in their classrooms”. 

The forum will also be “a platform for teachers and educators to meet and exchange experiences as well as attend workshops delivered by world renowned experts”, the statement said.

More than 700 educators from various Arab countries participating in the forum will discuss new and developed teaching techniques that can address the Arab world’s need to enhance student’s literacy and their scores in maths and science.

“Attendees will also come up with new ideas on how to support teachers and enable them to equip their students with the 21st century skills needed to compete in a knowledge-driven economy,” QRTA said.

The forum will focus on teachers, who are the “most impactful pillar in the educational process”, providing them with opportunities to learn new teaching strategies and integrate different technologies into their classrooms.

Held in partnership with the International Baccalaureate and Texas Instruments, the forum will feature several plenary sessions, workshops, teacher and professional-led activities, exhibitions and reflective sessions all structured along five major academic strands: mathematics, sciences, literacy in Arabic, literacy in English, technology in education and general pedagogies.

“The forum is the first of its kind in the region, bringing together some of the strongest international educational institutes for the region’s benefit,” the statement quoted QRTA CEO Haif Bannayan as saying.

“It will be focusing on the practicalities of teaching and experiential learning: for teachers to learn by doing, to learn through hands-on experiences and to learn from one another,” he added. 

Launched in June 2009, the QRTA “promotes excellence in teacher education and policy deliberation in Jordan and the region”.