AMMAN (JT) - HRH Princess Basma on Sunday said education constitutes a major element in the agendas of local and globaldevelopment due to its direct link to human capacity building, which should bedirected towards building a knowledge-based community, achievingeconomic development and alleviating poverty. Her remarks were made at the closing ceremony of theIn-Teach Leadership Forum for Educators, held at the Movenpick Hotel DeadSea from Feb. 3- 6. The Princess stressed that the individual should be at the centre of the education process and that attention should be directedtowards promoting creativity, work values, a creative response to naturaland human surroundings and a solid relationship between the education systemand the socio-economic matrix. The forum is the initial step in a medium-term projectthat seeks to provide meaningful and internationally recognised insights intothe professional development of teachers in the Arab world. The Institute of International Educationand the In-Teach founders chose Jordan as the location from which to launch In-Teach because of thecountry′s longstanding commitment to education. In-Teach founder, Serra Kirdar, commended Jordan′scommitment to all aspects of educational reform saying that the Kingdomwas chosen as the venue due to its achievements in the educational arena. The initial Leadership Forum for Educators focused onthree fundamental and interrelated components: Interdisciplinary studentlearning, professional development of teachers, and educational leadership for school improvement.

Participants included 39 educators from eight publicand three private schools, in addition to one UNRWA school, and fiveofficials from the Ministry of Education.  They were divided into small working groups to sharetheir ideas and exchange experiences. The outcomes of the forum included:Leadership success stories, best practices and recommendations for teacherdevelopment requirements, including certification, which will serve as a guidefor future leadership and teacher training strategies. Minister of Education Khalid Touqan said the forumaddressed educational reforms at the level of schools, accountability,teaching methodology improvement and leadership. In-Teach was inspired by Kirdar, currently a visiting scholar at the Centre of Middle East Studies at Harvard University,in partnership with the Institute of International Education Centre for Leadership Excellence (IIE).  The forum was held in collaboration with the Ministryof Education, the Jordanian Private Schools Cultural and EducationalCouncil, and the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development.  It was funded by private and Arab donors including SamiSindi of the Crescent Venture Partners and Sheikh Tarek Ahmed Juffali′s NourEl Shorouk Institution.

Also attending the closing ceremony were His RoyalHighness Prince Talal,  Senator Laila Sharaf, Minister of Higher Education Issam Zabalawi,IIE President Allan Goodman and Colin Brock, a seniorresearch fellow in comprehensive and international education at the University of Oxford.