The Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE) has announced the results of the Education First Insights Report, a main outcome of the Education First Forum, that aims to shape strategies for educators in advancing the education sector in the UAE in line with its Centennial 2071.
The report identified ideas, values and development tracks that should be focused on, including immersive learning, lifelong learning, wellbeing, optimism, resilience and sense of belonging.
Dr May Al Taee, Vice Chancellor of Emirates College for Advanced Education said: “Through the Education First Insights Report, we seek to drive the college’s strategy forward, developing national competencies in the education sector, shaping the future and sustainability of education to ensure high quality modern education. These reports contribute to developing educational strategies and identifying relevant trends in cooperation with all partners in the government and private sectors, as well as ensuring that work plans and programmes are aligned with new developments to enhance the contribution of educators in our journey towards the future.
“The positive results of the report, based on seven creative and interactive workshops, showed that educators in the UAE keep pace with global developments, and have a strong presence and competitiveness. They also highlight some challenges that educators must consider and turn into opportunities to enhance their role in adapting to a sustainable future that meets our needs for continuous and interactive education and considers our values and traditions in the UAE.”
The results were derived from the creative workshops that were held at the forum and based on the principle of design, with the participation of 183 educators and staff including 46% teachers and 15% school leaders. The design workshops were based on the human dimension in education development, with a focus on the importance of continuous learning within the educational sector.
The forum also had seven interactive workshops with more than 2,196 participations from various categories including school principals, senior teachers, section heads, teachers and ECAE students, who presented more than 128 creative ideas aimed at developing the educational sector and ensuring its growth.
The attendees went through the personal testing experiment, which focuses on monitoring the mental awareness of the participant and uses an innovative pulse sticker to know their mood and feelings. The experiment contributed to measuring happiness and change in feelings and verifying the impact of experiments on the individuals after participating in several experiments and workshops at the forum, in addition to the main session.
The attendees performed an experiment on the values of educators, in which the participant examines the most important factors and values that they must take into account during 2023. The results showed that the vast majority aspire to create a positive environment at work and pay special attention to responsibility and flexibility in the educational sector.
With the participation of 38% of teachers, followed by 28% of school VPs, the Interactive Survey experiment offered insights into the strategy for increasing the number and efficiency of educators in the UAE. In this experiment, the participants emphasised the importance of improving the well-being of educators, and developing their skills, in addition to improving the professional image, and providing continuous support to develop the educational environment.
In the Inspiration Board experiment, 183 participants focused on the key areas that educators wish to focus on during the next five years. Immersive and lifelong learning came at the forefront of these areas, followed by innovation and research, diverse academic programmes, partnerships and community engagement.
During the growth experiment, participants learned about the main factors that contribute to the growth and development of educators. In this experiment, 46 per cent of the participants felt the need for a sense of belonging, 33 per cent felt the need for sense of priority, while 21 per cent felt the need for pedagogical knowledge.
To define the vision and goals in the process of developing educational work, the participants in the Vision Drawing experiment chose a number of colours representing interests that they aspire to focus on to develop education in 2023. This experiment showed that 38 per cent of the participants have great interest in improving wellbeing, while 37 per cent expressed interest in developing future skills and 25 per cent expressed interest in innovation.
Lastly, the participants did the Creative Ideas experiment, in which they presented a number of creative ideas that can contribute to the development of educational strategies in the UAE. The ideas were listed and submitted to ECAE, as the entity concerned with leading the development of educational skills and ensuring the application of best international practices in education in the UAE, in a way that contributes to preparing future generations through commitment to academic excellence.
The Education First forum embodies the ECAE's approach to planning the future of educators, the educational process and reimagining the future of this profession through cooperation with all strategic partners and allowing them to present their creative ideas to enrich the future strategy for education.
