ICT in schools project gets underway in the UAE

The UAE Ministry of Education, Abu Dhabi Education Council, Dubai Education Council and the British Council are collaborating on the project, which started with a three-day ICT training workshop for teachers from across the country, held at Abu Dhabi Education Council's Emirates National Centre for Educational Development, recently. The project is part of the British Council's broader education programme in the Middle East, where it is working in collaboration with Ministries of Education.

The 15 teachers (male and female) attending the UAE workshop were nominated by the Ministry of Education and the Education Councils and will share their experience with colleagues in their respective education zones, cascading their knowledge through ongoing training programmes. The focus of the programme is students aged 11-15 years.

The British Council workshop was organized in conjunction with UK education consultants and the group trained on ICT tools for education, including eLanguages and Global Gateway. At the end of the workshop, the teacher group was joined by seven policy makers from the UAE Ministry of Education and the Education Councils, to discuss the development of the UAE's working relationship with Global Gateway, a website managed by the British Council which is designed to help create educational partnerships between schools and colleges across the world.

Tarek Alami, Assistant Director - Projects, at the British Council UAE, said: "The ICT training workshop aimed to increase the skills of teachers in the use of ICT in the classroom and to help develop the level of confidence in the use of online tools for international collaboration in education. The Global Gateway element was intended to help promote the UAE as an international partner for educational activities and school linking. The response to the workshop was excellent and we believe that through Global Gateway, the UAE will attract a lot of interest from schools around the world, which will help to share experience and knowledge even further."

In addition to the support of the UAE Ministry of Education, the British Council is working on the ICT in Schools project in co-operation with all the Education Zones in the UAE, with the Abu Dhabi and Dubai Education Zones working closely with the British Council in developing the programme, as well as committing teachers to the training elements.

Speaking to a group of regional educational representatives at a follow-up seminar, Nils Tomes from the British Council in the UK explained the UK experience of ICT in Schools: "The UK has made the investment in ICT and is now ready to reap the benefits of its e-strategy. All UK schools have broadband connections and the aim in the UK is to create e-confident schools, effectively using ICT in management, learning and communications to parents. There are now standards and marks to recognise and celebrate the achievements of schools in ICT.

"The UK experience clearly demonstrates that the critical success factor in introducing ICT is the ability of the school leadership to deliver consistent application across the school. Other learnings from the UK experience include the different impact of ICT on different age groups; for example, for children aged 7-11, just having technology in the school is enough to make an impact; whilst for older students, it is more about how ICT is used by teachers and learners and it has a different impact in different subjects. We can also see that ICT makes a bigger impact in less affluent areas and in terms of technology connections with parents, ICT means closer dialogue and relationships."

Hind Almualla, attending the seminar representing HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum IT Education Project, explained the objectives of the programme and the secondary education IT curriculum - a two-year programme for students in grades 10 and 11, designed to develop the ICT skills of students and help prepare them for lifelong learning and the challenges of the modern workplace.

The British Council's education programme is running across eight countries in the Middle East - the GCC, Yemen and Iraq - Paul Sellers, UAE Country Director at the British Council, explains: "The programme is called '1001 schools' and comprises three main projects - school partnerships between the region and the UK, which we are actively supporting in the region at the moment; leadership in schools, for which we run leadership programmes for head teachers and deputies; and ICT in Schools, supporting training for teachers. We are investing our own resources to support this programme, which is central to our work in the region, and which is contributing to - and collaborating with - the world's education communities. The ultimate aim is to exchange knowledge and experience in order to improve education and enhance relationships with the UK."