SUNDAY+Stream+3e


 * || 14:15 – 15:45 || = STREAM 3e: SCHOOL SYSTEM REFORM IN THE MIDDLE EAST = ||
 * ||  || The stream will be led by **Dr Martyn Forrest,** Executive Director for Education Sector Reform, Bahrain Economic Development Board.

//Proposed speaker panel:// ||
 * ||  || · **//Sheikh Hisham bin Abdul Aziz Al Khalifa,//** //Undersecretary of the Bahrain Ministry of Education for resources//

· **Dr Hossam Badrawi**, Head of the Educational Committee, NDP, Egypt

· **//Dr Osama Obeidat,//** //Head of Monitoring and Evaluation, Jordan Education Initiative// · **//Dr Martyn Forrest,//** //Executive Director for Education Sector Reform, Bahrain Economic Development Board (moderator)// ||

SHEIKH HISHAM'S COMMENTS

DR BADRAWI'S COMMENTS

OSAMA OBEIDAT'S COMMENTS

MARTYN FORREST'S COMMENT

Dear All. I have emailed you a few minutes ago with proposals for handling the session. Would apprciate your comments.

I have copied the email here.

Dear All I would like to thank you very much for your participation in the ** Education Project ** through your contribution to **Stream 3e – School System Reform in the Middle East** between **1415 and 1545** on **Sunday 10 October**. By way of introduction I am Martyn Forrest, Executive Director, Education Reform at the Economic Development Board in Bahrain and I have been asked to chair/co-ordinate the above session. I would like to suggest some simple administrative arrangements for the session to ensure that participants get good value from it. The scene has been set in Kirstie’s email of 26 September and I would like to flesh out some aspects. The intention of the session is to allow a good discussion about school reform in the Middle East and to provide participants – through the initial presentations and subsequent dialogue – to gain a good understanding of what is happening, how it is being approached, what appears to be working and what isn’t and to draw conclusions about whether reform in the Middle East is different from other parts of the world. To do this it has been proposed that at least to begin with and set the scene for discussion we should focus on three important issues – **teachers**, **curriculum** and **boys** – on the grounds that the time and the format will allow the debate to be broadened to cover other issues during the time for general discussion. To commence with I propose to give a short introduction in which I will introduce you all, outline the objectives of the session and establish the manner in which we will approach the session. After that I will ask each of you to give a presentation of **not more than seven minutes** (there will need to be some ruthless time keeping!) on the assigned topic and then allow up to 3 or 4 minutes for people to ask questions directly about what you have said (essentially by means of clarification as needed) but not at this stage broaden the debate. I propose the order suggested by Kirstie: 1. **Shaikh Hisham** on raising the status and performance of teachers 2. ** Dr Hossam Badrawi ** on implementing a contemporary curriculum which emphasizes skills and application rather than knowledge 3. ** Dr Osama Obeidat ** on addressing the imbalance in the performance of boys and girls and particularly of engaging boys in secondary education Once the three presentations and subsequent clarification periods have concluded I will offer a very brief summation to set the scene for a discussion of just under an hour and ask people to raise issues/ask questions and seek responses principally from yourselves but also invite other members of the audience to comment as appropriate. At the end of the session I will offer a brief summation. Are you comfortable with this? I would appreciate you contacting me by email to confirm that you are OK with this approach. Could you also provide me with a contact number and a couple of times when it would be convenient for me to call you so that we can have a brief talk about the content of what you propose to say. If you wish to call me directly I can be reached on +973 3600 0266. I also propose that I will seek make contact with you on the Saturday during the proceedings and that we arrange a time to have a short pre-meeting to go through what we will do. I look forward to hearing from you and catching up in Bahrain at the end of next week. Kind regards, Martyn  Dr Martyn Forrest Executive Director Education and Health Reform  Economic Development Board 7th Floor, Seef Tower PO Box 11299 Manama, Bahrain  Tel: +973 1758 9933 Fax:+973 1758 3330 E-Mail: martyn.forrest@bahrainedb.com [|www.bahrainedb.com] 