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ADEC to host Transformation Education Summit from May 7- 9

Under the patronage of General Shaikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) will organise the inaugural edition of the Transforming Education Summit (TES) from 7 to 9 May at Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi.

The Summit will provide delegates including many prominent government, business, civil society and academic figures from all over the world, a platform to share their experience and views on how to provide relevant education to young generations in a better and more effective manner keeping pace with the rapid changes taking place in the world.

The focus of the summit will be on how to bring about education reform rather than what to reform, as studies have shown the failure of most transformation efforts due to the challenges inherent in the transformation process itself.

The keynote speakers include former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former Finnish President Tarja Halonen, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Muhyiddin Yassin, Former Irish Minister of Education Mary Hanafin, Mubadala Development Company CEO Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak and leading scholar of educational change Andy Hargreaves. Former BBC reporter and the famous facilitator of the Doha Debates Tim Sebastian will moderate the summit which will also feature 30 other speakers including former ministers, CEOs, academics and civil society leaders.

Topics such as defining society needs for education, the role of leadership in the management education transformation, the efficiency and funding of education and engaging key stakeholders (government entities, educators, students, parents, private sector and charitable organisations) are tabled for discussion in the two and a half day event.

The Education Transformation Summit aims to achieve concrete results with far reaching impact on the educational systems both locally and internationally. In addition, it seeks to build experiences and disseminate them through a full report. It will also launch working groups to carry on the analysis of lessons derived from reform efforts in different parts of the world. A local forum will be organised in Abu Dhabi later this year to share ideas and visions of the summit with the key stakeholders of the education system in the country including principals, teachers, parents and students.