Saudi Arabia

Professional Development in the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has set out a ten year plan to reform science and maths education in the kingdom. As part of the programme Texas Instruments has established a pilot to set up trainers for its Nspire and Navigator ranges of teaching technology.  Ian Galloway was invited to lead on the science part of the project and spent a week training and coaching pilot teachers with a team from Canada and the Netherlands. Quite unexpectedly the four team members were presented with honorary doctorates at a ceremony in Kharj. Shown here Ian Galloway receiving his certificate from the Director of Education in Al Kharj,  Saud Bin Naser Al Othman.

There is a serious determination to modernise teaching in Saudi Arabia, one goal being to move towards a paperless curriculum.  TI-Navigator will certainly support this objective.  Language barriers are not insurmountable, indeed the male science pilot teachers speak no English at all.  After just two days training I observed a skillful lesson delivered to 32 sixteen year old students in a small room with the teacher focusing on assessment for learning and providing instant feedback and recording.

Al Jazirah Wednesday 16-11-11