Ministry of Education to Host the First Early Childhood Development Conference in the UAE

The Ministry of Education is leading the efforts to transform early childhood care and education in the UAE, with more than 1,100 UAE educators and international experts gathering for its three-day Early Childhood Development (ECD) Conference from 24 to 26 September at the Teachers Training Institute in Ajman. The event is organized in collaboration with the UAE’s Supreme Council of Motherhood and Childhood, International Bureau of Education-UNESCO and UNICEF. The ECD Conference will feature 55 internationally renowned early childhood development experts, who will help UAE educators make a significant impact on the standards achieved for young children.

The ECD conference, the first of a series of annual conferences to be orginised in the UAE, will have for theme, “Redesigning Early Childhood Education and Care Services”, aims to provide decision makers, educational leaders and educators with access to the latest research. Additionally, the conference will provide a platform to reflect on key messages and use this insight to continue to redesign early childhood development for children aged from 0-8 in the UAE.

Commenting on the event, H.E. Jamila Bint Salem Al Muhairi, Minister of State for General Education, said: “The Ministry has a huge responsibility for early childhood development in the UAE and it is our aim to ensure that we have the suitable teachers with the right skills to meet our world-class standards. We want to make sure we learn from leading experts in the sector and then deploy these best practices in our classrooms. This event marks a milestone for the Ministry as it is our first Early Childhood Development Conference. We are honoured to have more than 50 experts in the ECCE field attending this event to share their knowledge, experiences and expertise with more than 1000 of our teachers and educational leaders.”

Among the renowned international experts invited to the conference are, Sir Chistopher Ball, author of the breakthrough report which led to reforming the early years sector in the UK; Dr. W. Steven Barnett, Professor and Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University; Professor Gregoire Borst, Professor of Developmental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience of Education at the University Paris Descartes;  Dr Ellen Frede, researcher and architect of the New Jersey early childhood sector;  Dr. Anne-Lise Ducanda, a medical doctor and renowned advocate against over exposure to technology from Paris; Dr. Angelica Ponguta, Associate Research Scientist in the Child Study Center from Latin America, Dr Moon a researcher and an Early Years expert from Korea  and Dr. Peter Tymms, Director of iPIPS at Durham University. The keynote and a number of expert speakers will present information on interesting topics related to early childhood development and share international best practice.

The event will consist of a two-day national conference running from 24 to 25 September and followed by a closed  International Bureau of Education -UNESCO Technical Consultative Meeting on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) on 26 September. The Consultative Meeting will help develop a roadmap for Global ECD conference that the Ministry will host in the future.