Professional learning communities.. a new program to sustain workforce development

Dubai – Muhammad Ibrahim
The Emirates Foundation for School Education has announced the launch of the Professional Learning Communities programme, which focuses on the exchange of skills and experiences among academic staff through a continuous learning approach in line with the latest educational practices. The operational model of the program is based on 4 levels and a self-learning platform, according to the Director General of Emirates Foundation. For School Education, Engineer Muhammad Al-Qasim.
Launching these communities comes within the framework of the Foundation's interest in establishing a culture of continuous learning in the education sector, as it is one of the main pillars of sustainability in the development process, which is mainly focused on education. An essential pillar in the implementation of educational policies and programs aimed at imparting high-quality education, staff are equipped for the future with all its cognitive and scientific requirements, according to globally competitive standards.
The program includes many experts and professionals who work together to achieve educational goals, which enhances the active role of each teacher and supports their professional development by participating in several training workshops that improve their skills. They allow them to be fully aware of the latest scientific research and developments in the fields.
He pointed out that the work of learning communities will focus on guiding each school to the optimal exploitation of all its potential, to achieve its basic goal, to develop a methodology, to determine and evaluate the levels of students and to develop methods to help students who are facing. Difficulty in developing their scientific skills.
He explained that the Foundation will create support groups to follow up and evaluate the work of professional learning communities implemented in schools and ensure they achieve the desired results, indicating that members of all groups have clear roles and responsibilities. Areas of focus, particularly professional development.
According to the data, the implementation of the project includes 4 main phases, which serve a specific purpose of contributing to the comprehensive professional development of teachers and school leaders. In the first phase, learning and research, various sources of research for teachers and school leaders, and new ideas related to educational practices related to the cognitive needs of students. And how to use them, improve the teaching and learning processes, in the second phase, “planning and discussion”, the school learning community team collaborates with their colleagues to discuss and analyze the information collected in the first phase and to create thoughtful plans to successfully achieve their goals.
The third stage is iterative implementation, in which teachers begin to implement their plans in the classroom by using new strategies and techniques in their teaching methods so that they meet the different needs of students at different levels, and the last stage includes continuity. Evaluating educational methods based on observations of students and their level of progress in class.