GCES Symposium 2023

The 10th Biannual Gulf Comparative Education Society Symposium

Towards Sustainable Education: Global Goals and Local Contexts

November 1-3, 2023
Hilton Garden Inn
Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates

As we approach the end of the quarter-century, the 10th anniversary of the Gulf Comparative Education Society (GCES) Symposium invites scholars, thinkers, and educators to reflect on the intersection between sustainability in education, localization, and public policy in the Gulf region.

This Symposium aims to provide scholars with the space to reflect on how education in the Gulf can become more sustainable by 2030 by focusing on key issues within the sector, such as equity and inclusion, privatization, education reform, and teacher professional development, among others. Comparative studies are further welcome.

 

The 2023 GCES Symposium calls for papers that explore (but are not limited to) the following areas:

  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion in education
  • Privatization of schools and curricula 
  • Philanthropic flows and partnerships within the education sector
  • Mental health, emotional intelligence, and education psychology
  • Experiential learning, lifelong learning, and alternative practices
  • Teacher training, management, and professional development 
  • Education as a means for greenwashing
  • Role of schools/universities as community hubs for environmental education
  • System reform and education policy

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is May 1, 2023. Authors should submit abstracts up to 250 words in length, along with 5 to 6 keywords. Submissions can be in English or Arabic. If you have any questions, please send an email to the GCES Secretariat at gces.symposium@gmail.com. Scholars are also welcome to submit their abstracts for an entire panel, which can be up to 500 words in length. To submit your abstract, please click here.

Speaker

Eleanor Burton

Eleanor Burton works in Educational Advising and Training in Kuwait and as Regional Educational Advising Consultant for GCC. Previously, she has spent time working with Insight Intercultural Journal in Turkey in addition to acting as the manager of a UN-funded Social Service program for urban refugees with Swiss NGO in Istanbul. Most recently, she has worked as Director of Communications for FSRI.

Keynotes and Guest Speakers

Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

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Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Know More >

Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Know More >

Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Know More >

Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Know More >
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Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Susan L. Robertson is currently a Professor of Sociology and the Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge. Susan has held academic positions at the University of Bristol in the UK as well as in New Zealand and Australia. Her research engages with education policy, state transformations, governance, and social justice. Susan is also the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the journal Globalization, Societies, and Education. She has published articles in leading journals, including the Journal of Education Policy, and her recent books include Public-Private Partnerships in Education and Global Regionalisms and Higher Education: Projects, Processes, Politics. Some of her most recent publications include the book chapter “Non-state Actors, and the Advance of Frontier Higher Education Markets in the Global South” (2019) and the article “Ordinalization and the OECD’s Governance of Teachers” (2020).

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Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Susan L. Robertson is currently a Professor of Sociology and the Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge. Susan has held academic positions at the University of Bristol in the UK as well as in New Zealand and Australia. Her research engages with education policy, state transformations, governance, and social justice. Susan is also the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the journal Globalization, Societies, and Education. She has published articles in leading journals, including the Journal of Education Policy, and her recent books include Public-Private Partnerships in Education and Global Regionalisms and Higher Education: Projects, Processes, Politics. Some of her most recent publications include the book chapter “Non-state Actors, and the Advance of Frontier Higher Education Markets in the Global South” (2019) and the article “Ordinalization and the OECD’s Governance of Teachers” (2020).

X

Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Susan L. Robertson is currently a Professor of Sociology and the Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge. Susan has held academic positions at the University of Bristol in the UK as well as in New Zealand and Australia. Her research engages with education policy, state transformations, governance, and social justice. Susan is also the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the journal Globalization, Societies, and Education. She has published articles in leading journals, including the Journal of Education Policy, and her recent books include Public-Private Partnerships in Education and Global Regionalisms and Higher Education: Projects, Processes, Politics. Some of her most recent publications include the book chapter “Non-state Actors, and the Advance of Frontier Higher Education Markets in the Global South” (2019) and the article “Ordinalization and the OECD’s Governance of Teachers” (2020).

X

Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Susan L. Robertson is currently a Professor of Sociology and the Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge. Susan has held academic positions at the University of Bristol in the UK as well as in New Zealand and Australia. Her research engages with education policy, state transformations, governance, and social justice. Susan is also the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the journal Globalization, Societies, and Education. She has published articles in leading journals, including the Journal of Education Policy, and her recent books include Public-Private Partnerships in Education and Global Regionalisms and Higher Education: Projects, Processes, Politics. Some of her most recent publications include the book chapter “Non-state Actors, and the Advance of Frontier Higher Education Markets in the Global South” (2019) and the article “Ordinalization and the OECD’s Governance of Teachers” (2020).

X

Professor Susan L. Robertson (University of Cambridge)

Susan L. Robertson is currently a Professor of Sociology and the Head of Faculty at the University of Cambridge. Susan has held academic positions at the University of Bristol in the UK as well as in New Zealand and Australia. Her research engages with education policy, state transformations, governance, and social justice. Susan is also the founding editor and editor-in-chief of the journal Globalization, Societies, and Education. She has published articles in leading journals, including the Journal of Education Policy, and her recent books include Public-Private Partnerships in Education and Global Regionalisms and Higher Education: Projects, Processes, Politics. Some of her most recent publications include the book chapter “Non-state Actors, and the Advance of Frontier Higher Education Markets in the Global South” (2019) and the article “Ordinalization and the OECD’s Governance of Teachers” (2020).

Program & Schedule

The conference aimed to stimulate discussions on educational reform in the GCC, providing a platform for current and future research that explores achievements, challenges and pitfalls in education. As the education landscape continues to change, it is important to explore whether and how former education-related practices influence how education is practiced now as well as in the future.

View Full Schedule
9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

9.15 – 11.00 AST

Workshop: Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting
Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement

Eleanor Burton – en.v, Kuwait
Layan Al Dabt – en.v, Kuwait

Pre-Conference Workshop "Collective Impact: Systems Theory and Shifting Paradigms through Grassroots Community Engagement"

Using International Assessments to Achieve Your Education Goals
National Foundation for Educational Research
Sponsored by Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation

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Background

Education is recognized across the GCC as a moral imperative and a strategic priority to secure future prosperity and human flourishing. Policymakers have set ambitious targets to join the ranks of the best performing education systems in the world in order to deliver economic success and secure a place on the world stage for their citizens.

International Large Scale Assessments (ILSAs) play an important role in these developments. The GCC nations have demonstrated their commitment to measuring progress against international standards and to play an active role in the global education community by gathering and sharing data that can be used to inform future improvement.

Coordinated by the IEA and OECD, but delivered separately in each country, studies such as TIMSS, PIRLS and PISA focus on students’ achievement in reading, mathematics and science, but they are increasingly branching out into other outcome measures as well. These studies also gather a rich array of additional data on students, schools and the home environment.

Despite the high profile of the international studies, among the education and academic communities they remain an under-utilized resource. Headline findings such as countries’ international rankings, and the practices of the highest performing countries, receive significant but often superficial attention. The greatest value from the studies remains untapped: the opportunity to conduct in-depth analysis of particular education topics and to draw more sophisticated lessons from a wider range of countries.

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Workshop outline

In this workshop, you will have the opportunity to learn more about International Large Scale Assessments, how they are designed and delivered, and what they have to say about education in the Gulf. Most importantly, the workshop will enable you to explore how you can use insights from these studies to support your role – as a policymaker, school administrator or academic.

Experts from the United Kingdom’s National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) will provide an introduction to International Large Scale Assessments and summarize the most important findings for the GCC nations. They will then introduce the datasets and questionnaires and support you to identify your own topics of interest and to establish how you could use the international studies to provide new insights.
NFER is the leading provider of educational evidence, assessments, and program evaluation in the UK. It was established in 1946 and provides insights to inform policy and practice for governments and organizations around the world.

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Presenters

The workshop will be delivered by Ben Durbin and Juliet Sizmur. Ben is Head of International Education at NFER and is responsible for leading NFER’s program of international assessment, research and evaluation. Juliet is a Senior Research Manager at NFER and has delivered several major international surveys, including PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS. She is currently the National Project Manager for PISA 2018 in all four nations of the UK and National Research Coordinator for PIRLS in Northern Ireland.

Keynotes and Guest Speakers

Coming Soon!

Program and Schedule

Coming Soon!

Pre-Conference Workshop

Coming Soon!