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The education of women in the Middle East is, by any standard, a sensitive and complex issue. Part of the complexity of the issue is demonstrated in the vast disparity in standards and outcomes in female learning across regions, countries, and even between neighbouring communities. What is true for Yemen or Syria might be very different for the UAE or Bahrain. In some parts of the Middle East women and girls are powering ahead in the education stakes – surpassing their male counterparts when it comes to school performance and higher education attainment. In other areas basic educational indicators for girls are painfully low, with severe consequences for her chances of independence, health and longevity. One significant commonality that we do see across the region at large, regardless of female educational performance, is the enduring underrepresentation of women in the workforce. So, even where education systems are working for females, workforce participation remains a problem. How do we address these issues? First, an understanding of the dynamics and complexities helps…

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We can all recall a favourite teacher – the one who really influenced us positively, or who had a powerful impact on us as we progressed through the grade levels. But how can we define what made this teacher better than others? Is it possible to replicate the skills, attitudes or personal qualities of great teachers?

As education systems around the world strive for continuous improvement, the impact of teachers on student success is widely agreed: students lucky enough to have high quality teachers are more likely to achieve academic success. The quality of teaching in the classroom, along with teacher leadership, is often identified as playing a critical role in the results of international benchmarking tests like PISA and TIMMS.

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In the Middle East, technology is being widely introduced in classrooms as a result of national programs that focus on information and communications technology (ICT). The Ministry of Education (MOE) in the United Arab Emirates, where I recently visited, have emphasized digital instructional materials and set the goal of all students in upper secondary schools having computers as part of their Vision 2021 national education agenda (MoE, 2000). Saudi Arabia (where I also had the privilege to visit) initiated the five-year, 5 billion Saudi Riyal Watani project in 2006. This project will provide technology in classrooms to link students, teachers, and educational directorates via the Internet across the Kingdom for sharing ideas, instructional content, and communications.

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You might have seen over recent years that Pearson as a company has made a global '€˜efficacy'€™ commitment, promising to introduce reporting on evidence of impact on learner outcomes alongside our traditional financial reports.

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Education is often seen as a catalyst for progress, not only for individuals but also for countries. It provides opportunities for career advancement, social mobility, and increased equality. By providing children access to quality education, they become educated contributors to society. Great improvements in access and equity have been made over the last decades in the Middle East. For example, literacy rates for females rose from 20 to 40 percent in 1970 to 60 to 90 percent in 2000.

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I’ve spent a good bit of time studying cultures in the Middle East, and I’ve spent many days at conferences and workshops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the U.A.E. But when I was first asked to write a post about parent involvement in schooling in the Arab world, I was a bit taken aback. What do I really know about how Arab families can support their children’s education? To keep this challenge manageable, I decided to focus on a comparison of parent involvement between the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

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I am delighted to let you know that Pearson is launching a new global brand that will be rolled out here in the Middle East over the coming weeks and months.

Pearson is changing – over recent years we have transformed our focus from educational publisher to the world’s learning company, and our new look and feel reflects this transformation.

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In 2014, the Brookings Institute released a report into the state of education in the Middle East, examining educational data which indicated the success or otherwise of education systems in the region. Whilst the data in some cases pointed to positive developments, the results overall suggested that (in common with many parts of the world) there is still much to be done before access to meaningful education is a reality for all in the Middle East.

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