JEDDAH — Dar Al-Hekma University launched the fourth “Ideal Teacher” program in the presence of the President of Education in Jeddah, Abdullah Al-Thagafi, at the university campus. The opening of the program that will last for the next four months was scheduled with the celebration of the World Teachers' Day. “Dar Al-Hekma University's vision builds strategic plans in education in a way that goes with the vision of the Ministry of Education in delivering education that competes globally and contributes to building a educational society. It is Dar Al-Hekma University's belief, teachers play a key role for the success of this strategy. The university sought the latest theories of successful education, to enable teachers to graduate community leaders and entrepreneurs,” said Dr. Suhair Hassan Al-Qurashi, the president of Dar Al-Hekma University. She added, “Dar Al-Hekma University's successful program “Ideal Teacher” was set in the university's first decade to achieve its educational vision. According to the survey, the program has contributed positively in the teachers' developments in the past. Today, midway in our second decade the university has launched “Teacher” Center which seeks to prepare the teachers and develop them while addressing the educational problems that they face.” “The teacher is the first to introduce ideas to her/his students, and Dar Al-Hekma's program prepares these modern teachers to give promising education for a promising generation,” said Dr. Muna Karim the director of the “Teacher Leadership” Center in Dar Al-Hekma University. During the opening ceremony, the panel discussion titled “Towards a Promising Education” was led by Dr. Ghadah Fakieh, vice president for Institutional Advancement in the university. The discussion highlighted the problems faced by the pillars of the educational process which are: the teacher, the student, and the principal. Also, these main pillars will be the focus of the sessions and workshops this year in order to activate their roles and achieve the goals of the educational journey. The university attracted some of the most influential specialists locally to the panel discussion like: Nusseibeh Mutawa, Faridah Farsi, Dr. Dia'a Mudawi, and Bakri Abdulghader. The fourth “Ideal Teacher” program runs from October 2015 until January 2016 with eight sessions and workshops that are scheduled from five to ten p.m. to serve 400 male and 1,200 female teachers. During the first session, Nusseibeh Mutawa will give a lecture on mobilizing the spiritual, religious, and ethical sides and on elevating oneself based on religious values and ethics to achieve productive and stimulating educational environment for promising education. The second workshop on the same day is by Dr. Walid Fitaihi on Ummat Egra'a (Reading Nation). The program includes distinct educational courses and programs for teachers. The foundation for building this center came from the success of “Ideal Teacher” program that was launched by the university in 2006; around 1,500 female teachers benefited from the program since then. The survey conducted by “Educational Supervision Management” measured the positive impact of the program on the teachers' performance; 98% shared that the program was enabling and stimulating educationally and helped in the effective and efficient interaction with the students. Also, the teachers demanded this program should continue in the future. The center in Dar Al-Hekma University seeks the latest studies and programs in the educational arena in terms of qualification and training, and then presented to the teachers. The “Teacher Leadership” Center is the first non-profit university center which is concerned with the development and training of school leaders (principals and superintendent). The center aims to contribute to the professional development of teachers and principals of schools, and it does that through providing an established development and training environment that uses the latest programs and means of training in the education and leadership fields both in theory and practice, while keeping up with the lasted of these programs to adapted, in an effort to enable the trainees to performance their mission with high efficiency and professionalism and to prepare a generation capable of building its society while preserving their values religious and cultural identity.
