Teachers gather for Teacher Leadership Academy at Dubai Men's College, May 21-22

The purpose of the TLA is to provide teachers in the UAE with the requisite skills to develop themselves as teacher leaders and to lead their respective departments and/or institutions more effectively.

The TLA will focus on teacher leadership at all levels (primary, secondary and tertiary) of an institution and/or organization and encourage teachers to take up leadership roles at their respective schools.

This project, funded by the U.S. Department of State's Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) and hosted by Dubai Men's College, features a two day face-to-face leadership academy to be conducted for area English language teachers.

After the face-to-face training in May 2009, a limited number of participants will be invited to participate in a longer online training course and be assigned a mentor with whom they will complete a number of activities.

The theme of the two-day conference is "Building Leadership Bridges."

Plenary speakers include:
• Bob Richards, Dubai Men's College, UAE
• Liz England, Shenandoah University, USA
• John Schmidt, Texas International Education Consortium, USA
• Neil Anderson, Brigham Young University, USA
• Christine Coombe, Dubai Men's College, UAE
• Salah Troudi, University of Exeter, UK (online course)

According to Dr Bob Richards, Senior Director of Dubai Men's College and the opening plenary speaker:

"At its best teaching is leadership. The most effective teachers are those that lead students through an enlightened, holistic process of self-discovery to the very 'thresholds of their own minds' (Gibran). Teaching is the most powerful of professions and Dubai Men's College is proud to support the Teacher Leadership Academy in building a better, stronger leadership base within the UAE educational system."

The event is expected to begin at 9 am each day and finish at 5 pm.