Culture & Education | Monday 4 May, 2015 2:47 pm |

The Chief Executive of Saudi Arabia’s Tatweer Company for Educational Services (T4Edu) has congratulated the latest group of Master Trainers to complete the first phase of the Saudi Math and Science Teacher Development Programme. The Master Trainer Programme is a key component of the broader Math and Science teacher development project being administered by T4Edu through the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Public Education Development Project (Tatweer), in collaboration with Pearson, the world’s largest learning company. Of the 407 participants that completed the most recent course of the Programme that concluded in December 2014, a 100 per cent pass-rate was achieved, with 94 percent of these receiving the highest available score of an A grade.

Dr Mohammad Al-Zaghibi, CEO of T4Edu, says the results have exceeded all expectations. “I am delighted by what this group of educators has been able to achieve. The scores of those taking part in the Foundation Programme attest to the quality of the programme itself, the commitment of the certified trainers who delivered it and most of all, to the exceptional dedication of participants who have taken part. I have seen first-hand just how hard the participants worked to achieve these outcomes, investing their time and approaching the programme with enthusiasm and commitment. I look forward to seeing the positive difference these Master Trainers will be able to make as they go forward inspiring math and science educators across the country. I am confident that the scale of this project will lead to a tangible and measurable impact – at a national level – on the quality of math and science education throughout Saudi Arabia”.

Dr Mohammad advised that feedback he had received from within T4Edu’s Scientific Committee was that the materials were of a very high quality and standard and had contributed to this project being one of the best ever commissioned in Saudi Arabia. He also advised that the women taking part in the programme had achieved excellent results.

Feedback from the programme’s participants has been very positive. One participant who successfully completed the programme said:

“I enjoyed every single moment of this experience, even if some parts of the journey were quite hard. The success of the programme is due to the skills and the creativity of those who designed and implemented it”.

The Foundation level of the programme has now been completed with 474 Master Trainers having passed this stage. These Master Trainers are now able to progress onto intermediate and advanced level trainer courses, which will begin in April and May of this year.

Under the Master Trainer Programme, designed and implemented by Pearson, participants are trained as “Master Trainers”, provided with the pedagogical skills and knowledge necessary to go onto train over 100,000 mathematics and science educators in schools across Saudi Arabia. The aim of the Master Trainer Programme and associated Blended Professional Development Programme (also being developed by Pearson) is to improve the overall standard of mathematics and science education in the Kingdom and measurably enhance the performance of Saudi learners in these subjects as part of T4Edu’s STEM Initiative.