Education is pivotal to the development and progression of society, and in cultivating the leaders of the future. And for education to have an impact, it requires dedicated, skilled, and innovative teachers who can guide young people toward realizing their potential, and their goals.

This is why Qatar Foundation (QF) invests in teachers, and in the methodologies, training opportunities, development programs, and leadership pathways that support them to advance, just as they in turn nurture the talents of those they teach.

Ten years ago, the Education Development Institute (EDI) was established under QF’s Pre-University Education as a response to a national need for high-quality training avenues for educators. As Sara Al-Kuwari, Director of EDI, explains: “The institute provides various training programs across a full year for teachers wishing to join QF schools, enabling them to be qualified to do so while also familiarizing them with aspects of Qatari culture and traditions, and our QF model of pre-university education.

“Over the past 10 years, EDI has trained more than 33,000 educators from 82 countries, and formed many partnerships with universities and educational institutions from countries around the world. Through these partnerships, some universities provide master’s degrees through EDI and provide accreditation for teaching STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] curricula.”

As EDI marks its 10^th anniversary, a reflection of QF’s focus on training, developing, and empowering teachers came this week with the ninth edition of its Teaching and Learning Forum. held under the theme ‘Transforming Education for the Future’. “It is just one demonstration of QF’s continued commitment to advancing education by bringing together educators and experts in education to discuss ideas and developments in this field,” says Al-Kuwari.

“At QF, our schools are responsible for their strategies and their operations, and for addressing their own individual requirements. For EDI, our role is not to direct these schools, but rather to support them, such as by developing the competencies of teachers.

“We identify where training needs exist, and source the experts and trainers who can meet these needs, in a way that contributes to improving the educational offer within each school and that aligns with their strategy.”

The institute's role, Al-Kuwari adds, is also based on supporting QF schools’ action plans regarding Artificial Intelligence and sustainability in education, and weaving these topics into their programs and curricula. “There are profound changes affecting education on a global scale, especially in terms of the advancement of Artificial Intelligence technologies,” she says. “We must be ready to address these.

“EDI supervises the various training programs within QF schools, and has become a leading and vital platform for training. Ultimately, our role is to enhance the capabilities of teachers and support them, through the partnerships we have established with schools, universities, and other institutions that we work with.

“We seek to create a lifelong culture of training among teachers and school administrators, so they can travel along a path that allows them to keep pace with the constant developments taking place within education. The training we offer has a wide spectrum, because QF schools are very diverse – they have international standards but root the learning experience in our cultural heritage, place global themes in a local context, and offer progressive, STEM, and vocational education as well as catering for those with special educational needs.

“And this training of educators is an important aspect of the pioneering educational system that QF has established.”

Ali Khaled Al-Samhari is a mathematics teacher at Qatar Leadership Academy (QLA), part of QF’s Pre-University Education, and someone who has benefited from the training pathways provided by EDI (which are made available in both Arabic and English). “They make a significant contribution to improving teachers’ skills, from both a professional and personal perspective,” he says.

“What also benefits teachers within QF’s education system is that, in QF schools, teachers are actively encouraged to participate alongside students, such as in international competitions, debates, robotics, and math programs. This leads to interaction that allows the teacher both to recognize students’ individual characteristics, while also developing the teacher’s skills and ability to advance the learning experience for those they teach.”

According to Al-Samhari, the development of teachers within QLA – as at all QF schools – is underpinned by the environment within which they work. “There is a focus on ensuring teachers have the right conditions to engage with learners, evaluate students’ behaviors, and nurture their adoption of strong values and morals,” he says. “And teachers also develop through having the ability to organize educational trips and extracurricular activities, which creates a harmony between the framework of education and the engagement of the learner.

“There are core skills that any teacher, regardless of their specialization, must master  – from administrative abilities to recognizing the best approach to address students’ behaviors. And the personal wellbeing of teachers also needs to be taken into consideration. What we find within QF is that this balance between the professional and the personal is met, and that we are qualified and supported to make the fullest, most positive contribution to our students’ learning experience.”