Qatar-based teachers at the WISE Doha gathering.
The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) recently hosted a day of presentations and a ‘World Café’ workshop for local educators to explore ways to support and improve Early Childhood Education in Qatar.
WISE teamed up with the University of Cambridge, UK; local WISE partners from the Qatar Ministry of Education and Higher Education; Qatar Academy; Qatar University’s Early Childhood Center; and the Education Development Institute (EDI) at Qatar Foundation for the gathering at Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU) in Education City, which attracted 140 local educators.
In his welcome to participants, Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO, WISE, said: “The early years are perhaps the most critical time in a person’s life, when we can prepare them for success not just in education, but in all other spheres of life.”
He said the gathering was an opportunity for participants to understand the science behind Early Childhood Education, and the policies that can make that success a reality. The WISE Doha gathering took place following the publication of the comprehensive WISE Research Report: ‘Quality in Early Childhood Education: an International Review and Guide for Policy Makers’ last year. Prof David Whitebread, University of Cambridge, the chief author of the report and a distinguished authority in the field, presented a thorough review of the lastest and most significant research in the field.
His address was followed by a panel of education authorities including Aisha Al Khelaifi, Director of the Early Years Education Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education; Dr Chris Diane Coughlin, Associate Professor of Child Development and Early Childhood Education at Qatar University; and Ghulam Bhatti, Primary School Assistant Principal, Qatar Academy Sidra.
