Fadia Alkhadra (left) discusses the training program with Suhair Al-Qurashi (centre), and Ghadah Fakieh, vice dean of institutional advancement at Dar Al Hekma College. — Courtesy photo Sana Abdul Salam Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — In order to continue working on revamping the public education system in the nation, The King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Public Education Development Project (Tatweer) is beginning a program to train principals of public schools all over the Kingdom. Titled “School leadership,” in its first ring, about 3,000 principals from different schools will undergo training in aspects such as developing analytical skills, quality assurance and leading community partnership.
Fadia Adel Alkhadra, a consultant for Tatweer, said: “Our goal from this program is to empower the school principals and give them authority and tools that are needed to lead the planning, lead the learning and teaching in the school, and to consequently fulfill the mission and vision of the school.” Tatweer believes that if the highest ring of the school, the principal, is provided with the necessary tools for improvement, then the effect will trickle down to the teachers and students as well. Using their experience in the field of higher education, Dar Al Hekma College will be working with Tatweer in implementing the program by acting as the social partner. This will involve providing the venue for training the school principals, as well as communication and social media support. At a later stage, the college's qualified faculty members could also help in leading the workshops for the participants. “Dar Al Hekma College is known to be a strategic partner with different universities in KSA, and we want to make use of this experience to really benefit the education sector as a whole. Hence, one of our roles will be to improve communication between the (school) education and higher education sectors,” said Suhair Qureshi, dean of Dar Al-Hekma College. She added that their involvement with the school leadership program is in keeping with the college's policy on social involvement and responsibility. In addition to developing professional standards for leadership, the leadership program will also work toward creating a professional learning community. Alkhadra said: “Creating a professional learning community will work toward taking away the concept of rigid hierarchy within a school, where the teacher is the absolute authority, and the student is a mere receiver of information. “In such an environment, everyone, including principals, teachers and students, is expected to learn and teach at the same time.” “Even the teachers can learn from each other, taking benefit from each other's strengths while working on weaknesses,” Alkhadra added. The program structure involves ten days of initial training for the participating school principals. In a three-year period that will follow, groups of five participants each will work with assigned supervisors to implement the training in their schools. They will also receive blended learning, which will involve both direct (face-to-face) interaction as well as online learning. In keeping with upgrading the use of technology in education, the training will also focus on the use of social media in education. The principals will also be provided with tablet computers, which will contain all the training materials required. While Tatweer is the primary designer of the program, the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore is providing advice and consultation services to help in developing it. After completing the initial three-year training, the first batch of 3,000 school principals will move on to more advance training programs, while a new batch will be taken on for initial training.
