Professor Mel Ainscow
Doha: Identifying how to make learning sustainable amid a global landscape that is set to look radically different after COVID-19 will be the focus for educators and school leaders from around the world when Qatar Foundation stages a unique edition of its Teaching and Learning Forum next week.
The virtual event, organised by the Education Development Institute (EDI) — part of Qatar Foundation’s Pre-University Education is bringing together the local and international education community to discuss a series of issues that will be vital for both safeguarding and disrupting learning into the future.
Among the areas coming under the spotlight at the Teaching and Learning Forum 2020, which will take place on October 11, are personalising teaching and learning; building inclusive, accessible learning communities; fostering wellbeing and a sense of community within education; and globalising school curricula so that they blend global issues and local contexts. Educators will also discuss topic streams based around creatively identifying and solving problems, and the role of communication in learning.
“While COVID-19 has brought so much uncertainty to our world, it has also united people from different nations, cultures, and areas of expertise in seeking to find solutions to the challenges it has brought to us, and the field of education is no different,” said President of Pre-University Education at QF Buthaina Ali Al Nuaimi.
“Schools, educators, children, and parents around the world have shown tremendous adaptability and fortitude in responding to the incredible demands that the pandemic has placed on education. However, this merely brushes the surface of what we must collectively do to sustain education for the generations to follow, making it robust and resilient while recognising and acting on the urgency of disrupting the way we teach and the way our children learn.
“Through our Teaching and Learning Forum 2020, Qatar Foundation aims not just to start a conversation about how we can ensure learning emerges stronger from its COVID-19 experience, but to set in motion a collaborative search for tangible, practical, and actionable solutions that help to protect and transform one of the pillars of every society.”
The forum’s keynote speaker will be Professor Mel Ainscow, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, and an internationally-recognised authority on inclusion and equity in education, which he will say should be a central feature in any education system — particularly in difficult times.
The event will also include a Qatar Heads Summit, where more than 50 directors of schools from across Qatar will discuss challenges and opportunities around school management and share their views on the forum’s six topic streams. It will be followed by a learning event on November 29 when EDI will gather together the education community to develop practical approaches to making learning more sustainable, and learning systems less fragile.
The Teaching & Learning Forum 2020, is open to anyone connected to the education sector. To register, visit https://cvent.me/ebDVkV
