Teachers most important pillar of educational system — Queen Rania

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Monday joined the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) team to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the facility’s establishment.

Queen Rania visited the academy and met with a number of its staff members, including QRTA CEO Haif Banayan, who briefed her on its achievements over the past five years, according to a statement from her office.

Praising the efforts of the QRTA team, Her Majesty said she considers teacher’s training a priority as teachers are the most important pillar of the educational system.

The Queen also voiced hope that parents will witness the positive impact teacher’s training has had on their children’s performance in the classroom.

While discussing the goals of the academy, Her Majesty noted that QRTA was established to create its own teachers’ training curricula and reach as many educators as possible across the Kingdom in order to become the leading training institute for educators in Jordan.

During the meeting, Banayan said the academy was able to provide teachers with a diverse set of high quality training courses, and has managed to build a number of partnerships with other international organisations that work in the education field in Jordan.

He added that QRTA has become an example to other counterpart organisations inside and outside Jordan, and it is playing an important role in formulating educational policies at the national level through preparing studies to be used by policy makers.

Banayan also noted that QRTA is currently preparing to hold its first regional conference, titled “Teacher Skills Forum,” next month. 

The event is expected to attract 700 to 1,000 educators and academics from across the Arab world, the statement said.

Following the meeting, Her Majesty — along with 35 teachers, principals and supervisors — took part in a workshop that evaluates the impact of QRTA programmes on teachers’ performance. 

Queen Rania also dropped in on a math workshop held for 70 teachers from different schools in Jordan.

Since its establishment, QRTA has benefited 19,834 educators and is expected to reach around 30,000 teachers over the next five years.

QRTA was established by Her Majesty in 2009 in partnership with Columbia University to advance education in Jordan and throughout the Middle East by providing teachers access to training, professional support, and the latest research on educational methods and policies. 

The academy offers ongoing professional development opportunities for educators and is supporting the creation of Jordan’s first formalised, comprehensive induction programme for newly hired teachers, the statement said.