Sharjah – As part of its annual strategy meeting, Sharjah Education Academy (SEA) organized two impactful panel discussions for its Board of Trustees members. These panels served as a platform for thought leaders and experts to share innovative insights, address pressing challenges, and explore transformative strategies in key areas of education. The panels aimed to generate practical strategies, insights, and inspiration for SEA to pioneer educational innovation and excellence.

The first-panel discussion sought to provide SEA with practical insights for driving transformative changes in early childhood education in Sharjah and beyond. It centered on improving early childhood education through insights, strategies, and leadership to tackle present and future challenges. The panelists offered crucial insights that shape their approaches to early childhood education and outlined how these can guide SEA’s initiatives.

The panel also discussed designing Impactful early childhood programs, addressing challenges in program design, ensuring adaptability across cultural and socioeconomic contexts, and overcoming barriers. It also focused on Leadership and Innovation in Early Childhood Education, Identifying critical issues facing early childhood education over the next decade and strategies to prepare for them, and ensuring that early childhood education is inclusive and equitable for all children.

The second panel discussion focused on global trends and how innovation can transform educational practices, focusing on actionable insights for Sharjah Education Academy to advance its goals. The panelists shared transformative moments and perspectives on education and program development. The session also highlighted cutting-edge educational methodologies, their implementation, and their measurable impacts on students and educators.

The panel also explored the role of alignment and cohesion in driving educational transformation, integrating experiential learning and phenomenon-based approaches into teacher training programs, along with the challenges and solutions to adopting these methodologies within curricula.

The participating panelists included H.E. Dr. Muhadditha Al Hashimi, President of Sharjah Education Academy and Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Academy; Najla Al Midfa, Vice Chairperson of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa); Dr. Khawla Al Mulla, former Chairperson of the Family Affairs Authority; Dr. Pauline Taylor Guy, Director of the Australian Institute for Educational Research; Dr. Timothy Knowles, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; Michael Thompson,  Founder and Chairman of The Childbase Partnership; Dr. Eng. Rashid Abushibs, Head of the Information Technology Department at Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA); Prof. Dragan Gasevic, Director, Centre for Learning Analytics, Monash University, Australia; Khalaf Abdullah, Group Chief Internal Auditor at Sharjah Islamic Bank Group; Dr. Stephen Barnett, Founder and Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Childhood Education Research at Rutgers University in the United States; and Dr. Kirsti Lonka, Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

About Sharjah Education Academy

Sharjah Education Academy continuously seeks strategic partnerships with leading local and international institutions and academic experts to achieve its objectives. With such partnerships it guarantees developing educators through diverse and innovative academic programs based on scientific research and access to global competitiveness in education. And by raising the level of teacher performance, student outcomes will advance to a new level of talents and qualified capabilities to meet the aspirations of the wise leadership to draw a road map for a brighter future.