Budget Education
Impact of Adult-Child Relationships on Development and Learning
A pledge to impart Excellence
TeachME 2009
UNRWA - Budget Education
You’re sitting in a rather small room with no enthusiasm either toward the day’s lesson on the workings of the human body’s immune system or the teacher’s account of how graduates in the field of medicine have made great strides in the treatment of immune disorders. You shake your head and gaze outside, where it’s already getting dark. After all, you’re among the portion of students who has to attend the afternoon school because there aren’t enough school buildings to go around for all 35,000 thousand Palestinian students in Lebanon. Your biology teacher notices your inattention and admonishes you. You look around at your 50 or so fellow “class” mates, who all look equally jaded and apathetic, huddled in a small classroom that in fact is merely a room in a rented apartment, has no playground and, if you’re lucky, a semblance of a library.
Education is a fundamental right of every child and forms one of, if not the most important cornerstone of our modern age. The primary purpose of education is geared toward equipping students with skills so they can move forward in life, make a living and contribute to their societies, possibly contributing to mankind as whole, yet this is the reality of a Palestinian student in Lebanon: overcrowded classrooms, double school shifts, insufficient premises and minimal funding. For over 60 years The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has almost singlehandedly taken on the task of providing Palestinian refugees with places to live, clinics in which to receive health care, schools in which to learn, and a myriad of essential social services, and all the while relying upon a source of funding that is entirely voluntary, completely arbitrary, and totally unreliable. At the beginning of 2009, the agency’s conservatively estimated budget for the year – for UNRWA’s entire area of operations and all its services – stood at just over $541 million, with a projected income of $416.3 million, meaning that the agency, at the onset of 2009, faced a deficit of over $125 million in the principal budget line, which covers salaries for its staff who form the backbone of UNRWA’s humanitarian and human development work. These include the doctors and other professionals who make certain that basic health-care requirements are met, the teachers and staff who run UNRWA schools, the social workers who deal with refugees made vulnerable by poverty, and the experts who ensure that refugee homes and infrastructure are constructed and maintained according to international standards. If that shortfall wasn’t enough, receiving pledges isn’t the same as receiving funding. Not all pledges are honored, forcing the UNRWA to abandon planned projects and essential repairs, or diverting available funds to more essential needs.
Furthermore, with the global economic meltdown which began late in 2007, there was a sharp increase in the cost of living across the areas in which UNRWA operates, and in accordance with local wage policies, the agency was forced to raise staff salaries, which make up over 76 percent of UNRWA’s expenditures. In simpler terms, there’s less money to go around, and education is among the deficit’s many victims. However, being at the mercy of donors is just the beginning. The agency is also vulnerable to other financial developments. For example, the recovery of the US dollar, which for many marks a positive development, was a disaster for the UNRWA. While the agency tends to pay in dollars in the areas it operates, and prepares its budget accordingly, most of its funding comes in euros, and the appreciating dollar translates into hefty losses in the exchange rate. According to Roger Davies, Lebanon’s Deputy Director for the UNRWA, the agency, due to the shifting euro-dollar exchange rate, has already recorded losses of up to $52 million, over 10 percent of the year’s projected income. It is also unfortunately the case, explains Afaf Younis, head of UNRWA’s Field Education
Program, that like any other UN body, the agency has to compete for its funding. It’s not a very pleasant thought to think that as a new crisis appears, attention toward an already longstanding problem can wane and the recipients of these essential services will inevitably suffer as a consequence. Speaking about the recent Gaza donor’s conference, Davies leaves an ominous question hanging in the air: “Does that mean there will be less money available for other things?” What all this means is that Palestinian students continue to find themselves squeezed in confined classes with teacher-pupil ratios as high as 50. The schools, Younis admits are not always fit for their intended purpose; some of the schools are lacking in facilities like playgrounds, libraries, computer facilities, labs and the like. The other “devil” as she described it is that UNRWA has to run a relatively high proportion of double-shift schools where a single building is shared throughout the day for the purposes of teaching two student bodies or two “schools.” When UNRWA cites 82 as the number of schools it operates, it actually means 59 facilities, of which 23 are used in double, albeit shorter-than-normal shifts throughout the day. The implication of this last feature is that the students are deprived of 25 percent of the time needed in order to be educated in the Lebanese curriculum.
Once a Palestinian has graduated his or her options for further education are also rather limited in Lebanon. High tuition fees means that a great many Palestinians can only dream about getting into a private university, and so a large proportion will turn to the government-funded Lebanese University, which is already overcrowded and where competition in the hard sciences is particularly fierce. The Palestinians end up taking on courses in the Arts and Humanities partly because the tuition fees for these degrees are more affordable and partly due to the language of instruction. But overcrowded and often-inadequate facilities, harried classes, and narrow university options are not the only factors discouraging Palestinian students in Lebanon from taking education seriously. Who can blame them when they show no interest and their eyes glaze over in classes such as the lesson in biology mentioned earlier when they are barred from applying what they learned professionally in as many as 72 different fields, including medicine, engineering and law – in fact anything that requires membership in a syndicate in Lebanon. It’s like expecting enthusiasm from a desert dweller about learning to fish. Although the Lebanese government has opened up since 2005 and is willing to work in a more positive spirit with the UNRWA, Younis still highlights some of the pending problems. To date the Lebanese government has yet to formally issue any kind of signal to local schools to accept Palestinian students, which provides some confusion – even this writer was led to believe that government schools operated at a 10-percent quota system for foreign students. A related issue is that despite the lack of a ban on Palestinian students attending local government schools, the uptake by these schools tends to be very low, a situation that is hard to ascertain due very poor dissemination of statistics of those who are in the schools. Despite these various challenges, however, the agency has responded time and again to the needs of the Palestinian refugees, sometimes even going beyond its mandate of providing basic education. When Lebanon was failing to provide places for students in secondary schools, UNRWA stepped forward and since 1993 the agency has provided seven secondary schools with a minimum of one secondary school in each of the five geographical areas in which the agency operates. The latest, Al-Jarmaq Secondary School in Taalabaya in the Bekaa Valley, which was funded by the European Union in the context of a 15 million euro educational project aimed at improving the quality of the agency’s education system, was inaugurated on February 12, 2009, and marks the first of six facilities expected to be completed by year end. Its construction helps UNRWA provide single-shift education to Palestinian students in the Bekaa, at the same time affording the students three additional hours to more conform to the norm. UNRWA is also working to substantially reduce the number of double-shift schools it runs by the next scholastic year as well as seeking new and more suitable premises in order to revert to single-shift schools. The agency does adapt itself and responds wherever it can. But there is a limit to its capabilities and many Palestinian students are still not getting the opportunities they deserve. The issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is sometimes a thorny one and people would rather not venture too far into the problems. Yousef Ahmad, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine who is involved in student affairs, put it this way: There are always some members in the Lebanese community who fear that if Palestinians were given the right to join syndicates there would either be competition in the labor market and/or this would be interpreted as a form of naturalization.
But, added Ahmad, all that Palestinians are requesting is for their basic rights, and the stalemate on the issue of employment does impact a student’s decision to pursue higher education. Money has always been and always will be the number one problem for UNRWA, explained Davies. With the world going through an economic recession, and focus on donations shifting to the devastation in Gaza, and before that to Nahr al-Bared (five UNRWA schools were rendered useless during the conflict in Northern Lebanon), it would be easy to chalk off the shortcomings of education for Palestinians on the global economic meltdown and reconstruction needs. But double shift schools were in play and Palestinian kids were sitting in overcrowded classrooms even when oil was selling at $147 a barrel, General Motors was still purring smoothly, Europe’s top banks were solvent, Nahr al-Bared was bustling with commercial activity and Gaza was, well, not in the state that it’s in currently, and not much was being done by the international community to address these shortcomings in the quality of education afforded to the Palestinian students. The easiest avenue to follow is to assign fault to one or a combination of the parties mentioned, whether it’s the Lebanese government, the UNRWA, the donors, or the fates that be. But while we won’t subscribe to the blame game, neither will we stomach the excuses of the day. There are serious issues that need to be addressed, and the key is money and collaboration.
A pledge is a promise, and its time to step up to the plate. More than once, and we won’t mention names, donors have claimed pledges made on separate instances were in fact one and the same. If donors are looking for photo-opportunities, there are a number of publications we’d be happy to suggest which can accommodate them. But we’re talking about the welfare and future of children, youngsters who could one day become members of the next Palestinian leadership, and a generation that can produce the next Mahmoud Darwiche, so its time this smoke and-mirrors business ceased and donors began to treat this matter with serious compassion. And money isn’t the only way to make a difference. UNRWA is always open to partnerships, twinning or linking-up schemes which allow the exchange of information, skills, expertise and experiences. The agency has some 60 years of experience in the delivery of a multitude of services and often in the hardest and most challenging circumstances. UNRWA schools have developed and put into practice a number of programs in addition to their regular curriculum including meticulous auditing, teacher training, research/statistics, quality assurance reviews, career guidance for their vocational department, a human rights program and many other services that are conducive and that go hand in hand in the provision of education, and the agency is open to sharing its expertise and benefiting from others.
After all this is the UN; it belongs to all of us, and the more we engage with it the more we can help the agency, our neighbors and ourselves. The UNRWA has been working tirelessly for the past 60 years, trying to make ends meet with the horribly inadequate funding it receives. So the question that must be asked, the one no one wants to think about, is what if it had been our children being deprived of an essential right like education? Would we only then feel the twinge of remorse for turning a blind eye while countless youngsters were subjected to such conditions? UNRWA has been doing its part, isn’t it time for everyone else to step up?
TeachME 2009-International Conference in Dubai raises the Bar
It seems that the further we get into the 21st century, the challenges that educators face seem to grow harder to overcome: Thorny issues continue to emerge, leaving educators with few options that will appease all parties; limited resources increasingly frustrate their ability to offer comprehensive and quality education; advances in technology as well as the evolving interests of students themselves constantly require that educators adopt new skill sets; all the while, these same educators need to find novel ways to motivate their students, spark their curiosity and keep them interested in essential topics.
Rearden Educational understands these difficulties well, and with years of consulting experience in education as well as its solid grasp of the values, traditions, mindset and customs of the region, its team is ideally positioned to meet these challenges head on. And true to form, Rearden took those challenges by the horns, in line with its primary mission which is to advance education in the Middle East region.
Enter TeachME 2009, a first-of-its-kind convention whose aim, rather than to enrich the organizers, create networking opportunities for the participants or promote a new product, was in fact geared toward helping academic institutions and educators overcome a great many of the hurdles and conundrums they face.
This help came in the form of the speakers and presenters at TeachME 2009, the true champions of the conference, which was held at the Media Rotana Hotel in Al-Barsha, Dubai, on January 14-15 under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Education. These heavyweights in education from around the globe gathered in Dubai and took on the task of knocking these barriers down one after another through their keen insight, inspiring teaching strategies and the pearls of wisdom they shared with the participants.
The speakers, which included established names such as Stephen R. Sroka, the keynote speaker for TeacheMe 2009, Anthony Cody, Kate
Shuster, Trae Stewart, Alison Schofield, Kay Allen, Glen O-Grady, and Peter Pappas as well as regional experts including Kamel Salim Dallal, Adel al-Dabaa, Hanadi Dayyeh and Sultan Nasr el-Dine to name but a few, expertly put their fingers on the core of the problems and offered unique insights on best practices to handle seemingly insurmountable dilemmas with ease.
The convention featured a series of talks and workshops in English, French and Arabic addressing a diverse range of topics, including the power of one to make a difference (Sroka), essential debating skills (Shuster), inclusive educational programs (Schofield), parental involvement in education (Allen), enabling innovation in education (O’Grady), podcasting in the classroom (Stewart) as well as many other topics of equal caliber.
Over a period of two days, participants, which included representatives of various public and private schools, international schools and ministries from various countries, were presented with no fewer than 60 different talks and workshops running simultaneously in seven different halls. And quite a few were interactive and illuminating, such as a live debate between two opposing student teams which explored the pros and cons of making teachers’ records public, a touchy subject if ever there was one.
But more importantly, the nature of the conference itself was a landmark in education workshops. TeachME 2009 sought to shatter the traditional mindset that educators were accustomed to, namely attending a linear event. For the first time in a conference on education in the region, participants were able to select subjects of interest to them from the array of talks being presented at any one time over the course of the conference.
Furthermore, while the subjects being addressed were all issues of concern to today’s educators, and presented by experts in the respective fields, TeachME 2009 sought to create a platform where educators from the region could explore strategies to adapt these insights so that they would conform to the Middle Eastern culture, thereby becoming far more effective tools in conquering barriers or bridging divides between educator and student.
TeachME 2009 also pulled off the unprecedented accomplishment of gathering a number of school operators around the same table, providing an opportunity for these organizations to compare notes on their early childhood education programs, the level of technology introduced into their schools, their focus on the quality of teachers they employ, as well as to share ideas and acknowledge their shortcomings and failures, all under the watchful eyes of the audience.
For the most part, and in the opinions of participants themselves, the Rearden team excelled in organizing this monumental event, the first in what will surely become a series of conferences that nudge the education sector in the Middle East until it reaches the forefront of the field in a global context, and hopefully joins the ranks of pioneers in education methods.
But while the Rearden team hit this one out of the ballpark, and they certainly deserve a hearty pat on the back for a job well done, there’s certainly some room for improvement. As a magazine that prides itself in being brutally honest in its criticism of other organizations, we would be culpable were we to turn a blind eye to our own team’s shortcomings.
While the speakers were flawless in the execution of their respective presentations, the organizers’ achievement was just shy of perfect. The taxing endeavor could have been far smoother with tasks being addressed further in advance, and speakers and attendees being provided with crucial information in a more timely manner, and attendees having access to more facilities.
But as a rule, conventions such as this have a habit of throwing the unexpected at you even after you take every conceivable precaution, and in hindsight, the Rearden team’s ability to handle these unforeseen challenges are a further testimony to their proficiency. Yes the convention could have done better.
But that’s okay because, after all, the TeachME concept is geared toward gleaning insight into education, and if the very organization of the conference becomes a learning experience for us, then Rearden is the better for it, and more importantly, better prepared to offer its loyal participants a superior event next time around.
A Pledge to Impart Excellence
Of all the professional fields out there, the one that has a far more significant impact than any other on the future of our society is
education. Teachers are the ones that mold our children into self-sufficient adults, produce the next generation of doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers, and spark the ambition that leads toward becoming a future president. Teachers elicit the business acumen that produces the next generation of commercial wizards, and they nurture the creativity that results in masterpieces in literature, film, art, and music. And they are the ones that instill the sense of loyalty, honor and courage that comprise the qualities of soldiers and officers that defend our nation. Ironically, teachers also happen to be the most downtrodden, unappreciated, underpaid, overworked, and for all practical purposes, neglected facet of the professional community. The logic in this state of affairs is as baffling as it is unjust, and for some like Rania Tony Kassab, Managing Director of Rearden Educational and an American University of Beirut alumni of the Education Department, simply unacceptable.
Ten years ago, ahead of their own graduation ceremony, Kassab and fellow education student Jessy Tadros decided that change had to begin somewhere, and where better than at the very beginning of the journey as an educator? Recognizing that transformation must start from within, they persevered until they achieved their goal, and the Educator’s Pledge was born. Though only a few lines, it had a simple yet clear purpose: to instill in educators the gravity of the task with which they were being entrusted. “Teaching is a complex profession, guarded with ethics, devotion, values and commitment. This is when we thought of giving the education department at AUB a graduation ceremony in which graduating students give an oath in acknowledgment of their commitment and responsibility to this great profession,” said Kassab, who was the keynote speaker at the AUB graduation ceremony on June 25, 2008.
Pledges are used by doctors and lawyers to remind them of why they chose their professions, and “one has to remember why they chose teaching. We give them our children so it’s not enough that they have information to impart. They are in fact entrusted in making new citizenry,” said Khalil Bitar, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AUB. Ten years on, the Pledge continues to instill a sense of pride in fresh education graduates, but the mastermind of the oath is unwilling to let her innovation grow stale. Kassab has introduced a cash award – aimed at injecting renewed enthusiasm into the profession – for student-teachers who excel.
Dr. Saouma Boujaoude, Chair of the Education department at AUB, says the pledge and the award are some of the ways to materialize dedication to education. “And it’s only the beginning because the commitment to the award is important to AUB and its students. Those are our values and it was done by our students.”
Each graduating year, an education student will win $1000 for his/her zest in meeting certain achievement criteria, but this year two students, Dima Zeidan and Maya Dayya split the award, both winning with distinction.
The winner is selected on the strength of three criteria: innovation, community service and an average of 75 and above in education courses. “The award candidates would need to demonstrate a high commitment to community service, identify and meet community needs and apply skills and knowledge to not only positively impact society but also help their careers in the process. In terms of creativity, these students developed new products such as portfolios, lesson plans, activities, presentations and workshops which have enhanced learning for students,” said Dr. Amal Bou Zeineddine, a full-time faculty member in AUB’s education department, adding: “The students that won fulfilled those criteria beyond our best expectations.” But Kassab is keen to ensure that the award continues to be a beacon for excellence, and as such is determined to raise an endowment of $25,000 which, without interruption, will each year supply the $1,000 needed for the award. “We are going to knock on every single door we know and contact educators, alumni, businessmen and women and any person who believes in and cares about the educational field,” she vowed.
While Kassab’s brainchild is a source of encouragement for graduating educators, her commitment to keeping it alive and fresh is a reminder to those graduates to keep from growing complacent, and to make sure that even after their formal education, they remain apprised of the evolution of their own students’ interests in order to best reach them.
Impact of Adult-Child Relationships on Development and Learning
Round Table Discussion
No one can argue that education needs a serious makeover, particularly in our little
corner of the world where the common ground between teachers and students
is shrinking at an alarming rate, quality educators are growing more scarce than
fossil fuel, and compensation for their labors has been something of a joke. Cleary,
changing the “time-honored” foundations of education, as flawed as they may be, is not
something that can be accomplished overnight, but we have to start somewhere, irrespective of
how minute the changes we spur may appear to be. Sufficient drops of water, cast by a sufficient
number of people for long enough will eventually form a pond, then a lake, and finally a sea.
The Middle East Educator has always aspired to be the magazine which stimulates such
change in education rather than simply being an observer on the sidelines of the domain. And
in that regard, we have decided to cast the first drop – in the form of a series of three-stage
roundtable debates, each of which will focus on a specific aspect of education that has had a
significant impact in the sector in the Middle East as well as the world at large.
For every subsequent issue of the Middle East Educator, our aim is to organize in various
locales in the region three separate debate sessions, the first among students, the second among
instructors, and the third among heads of schools. The purpose of the endeavor is to explore
and analyze various issues of interest or of concern, thus uncovering sound and effective
practices while at the same identifying flaws and shortcomings in different approaches to
education. More importantly, however, the scheme will help identify differences in perception
among the three groups regarding effective and attractive methods of learning.
Recognizing these flaws and differences will bring about further exploration into these
controversial issues, and we aim to collaborate with experts in the field in order to propose
strategies that can help overcome these hurdles and assist us in our drive to take the Middle
East to the forefront of education.
In that regard, starting with the next issue of the Middle East Educator, in which our participants
will spar over the merits of technology in education, we invite our readers to join us as we
embark on our interactive quest to change the face of education as we know it. Your insight,
suggestions and encouragement will prove invaluable in this task that is certain to evolve and
grow more complex and challenging as we progress.
Emotional Rooms-Part 4
How can consequences support young people when learning about how to behave?
Many people view consequences as a form of penalty or price to pay for infracting rules, in other words, an unpleasant outcome for a particular course of action. That is certainly the case for say, driving over the speed limit. Theoretically, the possibility of copping a hit to the back pocket reduces each driver’s willingness to speed. It seems to work, at least moderately well. Imagine a society without checks for speeding! I expect that would be a nightmare. On the other hand, is a fine the most logical way to reduce speeding?
A fine of $200 has minimal impact on a high-wage earner but enormous impact on a person earning the minimum wage. Surely, there’s an equity issue. Of course, one could argue, if you don’t speed you don’t cop a fine, so why bother with looking at the issue from an equity perspective. It is hard to imagine a society of motorists where no one speeds.
Governments who depend on the revenue raised by catching motorists would suffer. Maybe that’s why we don’t see speed cameras on every corner and attached to every set of traffic lights (is this the cynic in me?). The point of the speeding example is to highlight that education alone is insufficient to sway people’s driving behaviour, even when the natural consequence of speeding could cost lives. Punitive consequences do not necessarily deter kids from using unhealthy behaviour, nor do threat, impositions, isolation or exclusion.
Yet, these practices are the most commonly used consequences in schools. A one-size-fits-all policy for the use of consequences in classrooms simply does not work. As in the speeding example mentioned above, complex issues require multiple, case-by-case analysis. We can apply Blue Room creative thinking to the dilemma of consequences, followed by Green Room analysis. This type of thinking opens minds to new possibilities.
To break the common interpretation of linking consequences with pain, I propose a new definition. I define consequences as repercussions, or side effects of an event. Under such a definition, consequences need not necessarily lead to an unpleasant outcome.
In schools, consequences enable teachers and their students to:
• Identify the limits of behaviour within
a particular set of circumstances
• Generate a course of action to repair, replace or rebuild whatever was damaged
• Impose sanctions
• Restore relationships
• Replay events with a different outcome in mind
• Accept responsibility for one’s actions by following up one’s actions
I classify consequences under three headings:
Punitive consequences – imposed externally with the purpose of generating pain
Characteristics of punitive consequences:
• Based upon personal authority
• Blame-oriented
• Arbitrary, subjective and illogical
• Judgemental
• Often emphasises the past
• Aims to instil pain-based Orange and Red Room reactions
• Generates anxiety, anger and fear cycles
• Demands compliance
• Builds resentment
• Removes responsibility by focusing on retribution (do the crime and do the time)
• When behaviour does not change, the consequence gets harsher
Natural consequences – behaviour is largely ignored. Nature will take its course
Characteristics of natural consequences:
• Based on other people taking responsibility
• The ‘law of the jungle’ operates
• Illogical
• Judgemental
• Can escalate into unsafe situations
• Strongest personalities take control
• Creates insecurity
Logical consequences – based on restitution not retribution
Characteristics of logical consequences
• Emphasises relationships and respect for others
• Relates directly to the behaviour in question
• Non-judgemental
• Concerned with present and future
• Builds respect
• Presents choices
• Builds self-responsibility and individual accountability (do the crime, fix up your mess)
Logical consequences do not have “hurt” as their centrepiece, as do punitive consequences. They have “fix it” as their
centrepiece. As such, a vastly different set of actions apply for each.
How do kids learn about consequences?
Ultimately, when children learn how to recognise and manage their own behaviour, the dependency on the teacher wanes and young people grow into independent adults. In the good old days, kids did everything asked of them, or paid the consequences with a good belting – at least that’s what some people believe. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was the catch phrase. Well, it hardly makes sense to apply the very tactics we educate kids against. Times have changed.
Models and frameworks are our essential tools and guides. Avoid excellence. Mediocrity is a fine starting point. Incremental steps forward, not massive leaps are the stepping stones for young people’s growth and development. Questions and explanations, logical consequences based on restoration and restitution, understanding how emotions can affect behaviour, developing intervention plans and providing coaching rather than punishment are the emerging new benchmarks for teachers when dealing with students’ behaviour. Are you ready to give it a go? Could your own behaviour stand up to the analysis we apply to our kids? Does your behaviour truly reflect the behaviour you seek from the young people you teach? The table below has some examples of consequences assigned to classroom behaviour. In my workshop sessions with young people, we examine behaviour that irritates adults and then consider a range of consequences.
Kids have a load of fun considering the logical, natural and punitive consequences. Use the lists of “Unpleasant
Incidents” (from the last article) and go through these with your kids. Add you own Orange Room, pain-based triggers as well to make it as relevant as possible.
In the long run, some of the greatest treasures in life can be found in the actions we undertook to fix the problems we created.
Show young people, by example, how to resolve their issues without degrading to pain-based behaviour. The least I need to know Understanding behaviour in biological terms has emerged as one of the central challenges for teachers. The “old-days” where kids should be seen and not heard are gone. There is no point in lamenting.
Rather, imbued with new knowledge about how the brain works, teachers can turn to loftier goals than management and examine, in genuine partnerships with their students the nature of behaviour and consequences. More significantly, we can learn how to apply that knowledge to manage one’s own behaviour.
Talks we like on TED,
Scott Kim takes apart the art of puzzles
We post this talk in tribute to the late Martin Gardner
Press Release,
Teach for Lebanon Looks to Axe Educational Inequality
In August 2008, and following two years of feasibility studies, Teach For Lebanon, a Lebanese non-governmental organization, was finally launched. The organization aims to eliminate educational inequality while fostering youth leadership and promoting civic engagement by working in three major phases. The first is the rigorous recruitment campaign of the top graduates coming from different academic backgrounds. To date, the organization has received more than 150 online applications and is still in the process of screening them. Following recruitment, the selected graduates will be trained at a six-week intensive summer institute, focusing on teaching methods and building skills to become full-time teachers or “TFL fellows.”
By the end of August 2009, Teach For Lebanon will be placing fellows to teach for two consecutive academic years in selected underprivileged schools in remote locations across the country. They will be integrated within the community and make sure that their students are receiving the best possible quality education. The Beeatoona organization, as part of itsBattery Recycling Awareness Programme,organized on March 12 its First Annual Conference aimed to praise the winners of the EcoBatt competition on raising awareness on battery recycling which mobilized around 12,000 students from 65schools across Lebanon. Some 600 students from across Lebanon flocked to The UNESCO Palace in Beirut, where the conference took place The conference kicked off with a speech by Beeatoona President Maroun Charabati, who launched the MEPI-funded project and its goal to promote battery recycling in 170 schools in Lebanon, Jordan and Teach for Lebanon Looks to Axe Educational Inequality The program does not stop at this stage but rather extends to a follow-up phase in which the organization will help Teach For Lebanon alumni to build their careers and/or achieve goals of higher education, with the help of business partners and academic institutions of higher education. Unlike the stereotypical NGO which functions in an informal atmosphere, Teach For Lebanon follows a business model, and this has been made possible with the help of a number of business partners.
It is worth noting that Teach For Lebanon is part of a global network, Teach For All, which includes 11 countries including Lebanon, that share the same mission. The United States of America, the United Kingdom, Chile, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, South Africa, India, Australia, and Lebanon are the members of the growing global network.
Local News,
Sex education book ruffles UAE feathers
Emirati social worker Wedad Lootah has spurred heated debates in the UAE
online community with her book on sexual education. “The Secrets of Sexual
Congress Between Married Couples,” a 221-page work by Lootah, a counselor at
the Dubai Family Court, is a first of its kind and covers topics such as marriage
in Islam, the fiqh of cohabitation, marriage and sex, nutrition and sex, solutions
to sexual problems, as well as some real life stories. The book’s opponents
insist that the topic is taboo and should not be discussed publicly. Supporters,
however, welcome the book, which was published at the author’s own expense,
saying there is a dire need for such educative literature, and point out that Arab
societies are ignoring problems resulting from ignorance of sexual issues.
Local News,
Education Ministry helpline to tackle education complaints
The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Education, with the help of a new
call center, aims to tackle up to 90 percent of Information Technology
complaints and issues at all schools in the UAE. The call center will feature
24 bi-lingual employees who will strive to help service both private and public
schools in a bid to improve the technical infrastructure in schools. Minister of
Education Dr. Hanif Hassan said during the inauguration ceremony that the call
center was one of the most crucial steps taken by the ministry to help further
transparency and communication with the community.
Local News,
Bahrain plans further investment in education
Bahrain’s Economic Development Board plans to invest a further $53 million in education and training projects in the country. The plan is the latest initiative by the EDB to improve the skills of Bahrainis. The board is also behind a new quality assurance body that is being formed in order to evaluate all schools and educators in the country and issue reports to parents.
International News,
Economic crisis increases interest in school
Reports of increased enrolments in universities worldwide suggest students
are taking up further study as a consequence of the global financial crisis.
While this may seem to be cause for celebration for the institutions, it also
could be a sign of trouble. Apart from the additional
stress on administrators and the larger volumes of
assignments for instructors to mark, the tasks of
student counseling services could also see a marked
increase. Younger students, who have never before
been exposed to the likes of the current economic
meltdown, may also be prone to depression, which
can lead to violence and suicide. While this could
be sufficiently stressful to induce their investment in
further qualifications, such anxiety associated with
low self-esteem may cause increased stress, which
combined with the pressures of paying for their studies
could result in a lethal mix of stressors.
International News,
Arab world, South America to build education bridge
In an effort to build a bridge connecting South America and the Arab world in cultural and scientific fields, the 12 South American countries and the 22 Arab states have pledged to increase cooperation in higher education and science and technology by creating an Arab-South American technology university. The plans, which were unveiled at the second South American-Arab Summit on March 31 in Doha, Qatar, look to set up the Simón Bolívar Technological University to promote capacity-building programs, postgraduate courses, researcher networks, technology transfer and exchange of experiences. The plans also include setting up joint research and education programs between the two regions’ leading universities and research institutions. The university also aims to promote bi-regional scientific research and technical know-how as well as to organize joint conferences.
International News,
US high school kids ‘flat’ in math and reading
A US federal report that tracked students’ test scores going back to the 1970s indicates that while kids are making strides in reading and math, highschool students have made no progress in math for over three decades. The report measured children’s 2008 scores against long-term trends. The scores come from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is considered the benchmark of how students perform across the country. But the report was not completely gloomy. It showed the reading scores of high-school kids had improved since 2004, the last time results were issued. In math, scores improved for younger children since 2004, but scores for 17-year-olds remained unchanged.
Teacher Profile,
Teaching from the Heart
How long have you been teaching?
My teaching career began in 1987 at Greenfield College in Beirut when I was 20 years old. This school provided me with the right atmosphere to develop my skills.
What is your educational background?
I majored in Arabic language and literature in the Faculty of Literature and Humanities at the Lebanese University in Beirut, and received, with honors, my Master’s degree in teaching the Arabic language in 1994. In 2008, I received my Master’s degree in Education from the Modern University of Business & Sciences in Beirut with high honors.
I am currently working on my doctorate in Arabic language and Civic Education. I have received numerous certificates in training. Since 1996 I have been training teachers in various education-related topics, especially about transforming the process of teaching and learning into a fun experience.
I have good grasp of the sciences and management. I’m an avid reader and enjoy having access to all things novel. I have a library that contains more than 40,000 books. This educational background was perceived in many of my lectures as well as in my scholastic, literary and academic writings. My scholastic writings include “Loughati Farhati” (My Language, My Joy) for kindergarten students, and “Nousoos Masmouaa” (Narrated Texts) activities for listening and verbal expression (11 parts/levels). My Creative writings include “Aalimini Ya Hayat” (“Life, Teach Me”) and my academic writings include “Fann Al Isghaa” (The Art of Listening).
Have you ever cheated on an exam in your childhood?
Since my childhood I have always been a very hard worker. I used to and still am characterized by my seriousness, that is why I don’t remember ever cheating during my childhood. I remember taking part, contrary to my habits, in lighting firecrackers at night when I was in boarding school in 1982.
What is your favorite book and movie?
I perceive books as minerals and vitamins. Every type of book gratifies some kind of mental and emotional need. That is why I love reading different types of books, whether literature, social, psychology, human resources, administrative, discoveries, and especially ones related to human beings.
As for film and television, I am not an enemy, but nor am I a good friend. My weekly television viewing does not exceed seven hours, and I invest those hours in watching documentaries, educational and social programs and, less frequently, political programs.
Why did you choose the teaching profession?
When I was in secondary school, my priority was to major in agriculture because I love gardening and the soil. But due to a financial crisis that struck my family, I was unable to go to agricultural school so I moved to my second choice, which was the Arabic language and literature. From the first year of university, I started teaching and found that I was very creative, I don’t like to imitate, I am active and I despise laziness and callousness.
Do you have a favorite student?
I used to and still do treat all students I teach equally, but occasionally some of the students make an impression on me intellectually, by their performance and their creativity. I could never forget Zaher, or Manal, or Fayez, or Jawad or Layla.
Have you seen a change in generations of children you have taught? Like what?
Imam Ali Bin Abi Taleb has said: “Raise your children with customs other than your customs, for they are born for a time other than your time.”
When I started teaching in 1987 students had better chances of learning at home. But today children can no longer be taught at home …
the learning process now takes place at school under the supervision of teachers through different modes and means.
Is it true that teachers love all students?
Love for me means teaching with dedication. That is why I love all my students; I give everyone their dues equally but try to take their individual circumstances into consideration.
Do you remember your own favorite or worst teacher? Why? How different are you from them?
My favorite teacher was my elementary Arabic teacher who nurtured in us – my friends and me – the skills for listening, speaking, analyzing and expressing. I remember quite well that under his supervision we used to compete in giving speeches, having dialogues, reciting popular poetry and written expression and so on.
My worst teacher was my intermediate French teacher. He only used to teach us the rules and regulations without letting us practice on the language skills. And I also remember that he never used to leave his chair from the beginning until the end of the session, he rarely, almost never, used to write on the board. With the former teacher different skills grew in us while with the latter, the time we spent in class was wasted.
Is being a teacher your passion? Why or why not?
From the beginning I found myself in teaching. From the first year as a teacher I started to become creative and felt there were hidden depths and abilities within me that needed to be come out into the light of day.
If you were to be a minister of education, what would you be remembered for?
If I ever become the minister of education, first of all I would present a plan that puts requirements for teachers. The first of these requirements would be specialization, then getting a teaching diploma and lastly, getting certification for teacher training. A teacher should always continue training to continue with my plan, and therefore I suggest that a teacher’s salary should be the highest in the country, and I also suggest opening doors for creativity by giving teachers moral and financial incentives.
How do you see the future of education?
I am always an optimist and practice the saying: “To light a candle of welfare is to curse the darkness.” I can see that we are in an educational crisis, thus we notice that the budget of the Ministry of Education is quite a mediocre one. In spite of this, some kind of effort is being done for the advancement of education.
Do you use technology in your classroom? If yes, like what?
I adore the use of and the invention of technology. Before the computer revolution, I used to use slides and films. I used to prepare them myself.
With the computer revolution, I use a lot of its programs, create films, use the computer laboratory, use games. The means of education improve the level of performance, cut down on time and generate motivation in students. In all honesty, I can see that the backbone of education is technology, on the condition that it is used wisely and with awareness.
What were your highs and lows in your experiences as a teacher?
Until today I still haven’t been able to convince kindergarten authors and teachers that teaching the Arabic language is not limited only to spelling; most teachers insist on teaching children to write the letters, and short and long sounds at the expense of enjoying the process of acquiring the language by listening and speaking. But I haven’t given up yet and still continue working on this case. I can see some positive signs. Real success is being able to integrate listening and speaking skills into the process of teaching and learning the Arabic language in kindergarten, elementary intermediate and secondary stages, even if it is in special and rare cases.
Have you ever identified yourself with a student? If yes, did you treat them differently?
Every time I go into the classroom I go in as a teacher and a learner. I teach students how to develop skills and learn from them how they implement the instructions. I owe students because my entire educational research was with them.
In an ideal world, how do you see the realm of education?
I dream that one day world leaders would graduate from education departments, have peace in their hearts and stand against injustice and spread peace on Earth.
School Profile,
Pushing the Education Envelope
Big name universities usually bring to mind a stuffy, traditional relic of an academic institution where echoes of 19th century haughtiness still resonate in its frosty and impersonal corridors. Carnegie Mellon’s Qatar Branch campus is nothing of the sort. The Doha offshoot is the university’s first undergraduate branch campus and is literally new, from the contemporary design of its buildings to its cutting-edge teaching methods. So new in fact that you can still smell the fresh paint. An experiment in innovation on just about every level imaginable, it’s somehow fitting that Qatar – itself a maverick state which has grown to become one of the most influential and unfettered nations in the region – should host a branch of a higher learning institution known for its non-conformist approach to education.
Founded in 2004, Carnegie Mellon’s Qatar campus comprises part of the sprawling 2,500 acre Education City grounds on the outskirts of Doha which also houses five other American branch campuses, and that’s where the novelty truly begins.
“What the Qatar foundation wants is multiversity,” explains Chuck Thorpe, Dean of Carnegie Mellon. And Education City delivers. The flagship project of the Qatar Foundation actually enables students to cross register for courses in any of the six – so far – institutions on campus.
There is no other place else in the world where you can take a computer science course from Carnegie Mellon and then walk across the street and take a foreign affairs course from Georgetown, then go take a jewelry design course from Virginia Commonwealth before hearing a lecture at Cornell Medical School. Simply put, there’s little redundancy. With engineering offered at Texas Ana and design offered by VCU, it makes no sense for Carnegie Mellon to bring engineering programs when they’ve got one right next door. And at the end of the semester, the course shows up on the student’s Carnegie transcript, complete with a grade. An academic one-stop-shop.
Carnegie Mellon itself has been offering students a choice of undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Business Administration since 2004. Last year, it introduced the Information Systems degree, which is a combination of both business and computer science providing the knowledge and skills to design effective systems for data management, essentially with students utilizing computer tools to solve business problems. The program draws on a wide range of college and university strengths, and its flexible nature encourages students to explore their own interests in a contemporary content area such as professional communications, organizations, global systems, business and economics.
But like everything else in Education City, much care goes into the selection of Carnegie Mellon programs. Extensive market surveys are conducted in collaboration with the Qatar Foundation to determine whether there is, in fact, a market for related jobs. Furthermore, with a certain number of required courses for the various programs, Carnegie talks to businesses to determine what tracks are most important and should be brought to Qatar. As a result, according to America’s Best Grad Schools 2008, US News & World Report, Carnegie’s computer science program has been tied at number one for years while its business program ranks in the top 10.
But this is the Carnegie Mellon model, and general-education courses are considered no less important. Therefore the major courses are complemented by Math, Statistics, English, History, Psychology, as well as a host of other courses. And with the Qatar Foundation insisting on a true Carnegie degree, the same courses have to be taught to the same standards as the mothership in Pittsburgh.
But the similarity goes beyond just courses. They also had to decide whether to do everything in Qatar that they do in Pittsburgh. “That’s why running an undergraduate program is so complicated,” says Thorpe. “Master’s students sort of show up, take their classes and go home.” Not so with undergraduates, who have the same interest in a student government, in student newspapers, clubs, internships and student advising as they do in the US. And with students from 31 different nationalities, issues such as living in the dorms also have to be considered
The quality of instruction is also to the same standards as Pittsburg, and with good reason – many of the instructors are actually the same ones who teach at the main campus, with professors, including senior professors, rotating through the main campus in the United States and the Qatar branch.
As far as student quality is concerned, the same rules also apply. In fact Carnegie Mellon Qatar even brought over the vice president for admissions from Pittsburgh to help decide whom to admit so that the same quality was maintained.
“We aren’t like Carnegie Mellon, we are Carnegie Mellon,” insists Thorpe. “The pressure on us has been the pressure to keep the quality, not to attract a whole bunch of students and try to make money.”
Despite its relative youth, Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s strong internship program attests to the strategy’s success. According to Thorpe, students who go out and spend their summers interning return full of enthusiasm, having immediately used what they learned in their job. He also notes the interest from employers keen to hire the students long before they graduate.
And the claim is backed up. Nour Al Moughanni says Carnegie Mellon helped her get an internship at energy firm ConocoPhillips while she was in her second year as undergraduate student at the university. The company contacted her again later about a position with ConocoPhillips, where Moughanni is currently an information coordinator.
Another novelty for the Gulf and much of the Arab world is the mixed classes at Carnegie Mellon. With a lot of the students coming through gender-segregated schools, men and women at the university find themselves in the same classroom with students of the opposite sex for the first time. “This is what we wanted to do, and what the Qatar Foundation wants us to do,” says Thorpe.
“Specifically, the Qatar Foundation asked us to consider launching masters’ programs,” he explains. “We think that’s a great idea, we’ve done a market survey, and we’re in the process of designing what such a program would look like.” But more generally, it was clear from the beginning that the Qatar Foundation wanted Carnegie to bring the whole university to Qatar.
“Our primary mission is undergrad education; but it’s clear that is only a part of what we do,” Thorpe says. As Qatar sets out to create the knowledge-based society, they are relying on the universities to do research and executive education; to work with K-12 schools to improve the pipeline of students; to bring in distinguished lecturers and conferences; in general, to create the kinds of intellectual excitement that builds up a culture of learning and inquiry. “That’s great for us,” Thorpe says. “Carnegie Mellon is a problem-solving organization, and we thrive on just those kinds of challenges.” Of course Carnegie just wouldn’t be Carnegie without the technology that takes education into a different realm, and there’s plenty of that.
For instance, through the use of video conference links, students in Qatar can not only take courses from professors sitting in their armchairs back in Pittsburgh, but they can also compare progress. One such course was one called US counters, with a professor and students in Qatar and a professor and students in Pittsburgh discussing the same readings, and twice a week they would light up the video conference and have a group discussion.
Clearly the benefits of comparing notes in such a manner is priceless, and without the technology, not feasible. Students also have access to pre-recorded lectures, which allows them to study from home. “Imagine listening to a professor where if you didn’t understand something you could rewind and watch it again,” says Thorpe “Or if you’ve already read a part and you understood it you could fast-forward.” That facility wasn’t available at the university this writer attended, except perhaps the part about not understanding a great many things.
Even extra curricular activities at Carnegie have a healthy dose of technology thrown in. An after-school programming club led to a computer programming competitions, and Carnegie Mellon even started Robotics clubs, where students build robots out of Lego and compete against one another in the Botball Robotics Challenge, which Carnegie successfully brought outside the United States.
Having graduated its inaugural class only last year, Carnegie Mellon Qatar currently has in the environs of 240 students, 30 faculty members and 90 staff. As many as 40 percent of students are Qataris, with the rest comprised either of foreigners who grew up in Qatar, such as Indians, Egyptians or Lebanese, or students who come from abroad and live in dorms to savor the Carnegie experience.
Carnegie also has students from the main campus who come to Qatar for a semester as well as students from the Qatar branch who go and take courses in Pittsburgh. “We are here to teach but we are also here to learn and to bring US students or faculty here. Then we go back to the United States much wiser than when we came here. It is a wonderful experience,” Thorpe explains. And in the students’ own words that experience has been nothing short of “inspiring.” “I graduated with a degree in business administration, which you can get at a lot of universities, and often at good ones, but no place can be as inspiring as it is here, just by the fact that we started something new, with nothing to base it on,” says Jinan Tabra, one of Carnegie Mellon’s first graduates. “We are creating its history. We are creating this foundation and it is so inspiring to be part of that, to be able to shape the future of something much greater than yourself.” But in the interest of maintaining objectivity, it must be said that time will be the true test
Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s success. From its contemporary building designs and beautifully manicured grounds to its cutting edge programs and enthusiastic student body, the university certainly started out in the best of conditions. Yet when all is said and done, it’s still only 5 years old, and will need to put a lot of miles on the odometer before it can truly be considered the equal of its American counterpart. In this part of the world, people are attracted to anything new like a moth to a flame. Whether Carnegie Mellon Qatar continues to attract students of the same caliber once the novelty wears off, and professors of the same quality continue to teach there once the paint begins to peel has yet to be seen. But in the meantime, the Botball competitions should keep things exciting.