Following the successful Teachers Council initiative, launched in the Fall of 2016, Qatar Museums (QM) has invited a select group of teachers to join the Executive Teachers Council (ETC), a platform designed to integrate teachers into QM’s education programme planning. The ETC will act as an advisory body to QM educators and will encourage teachers to share their expertise and knowledge with QM to enrich its education programming offered to schools.

The first ETC meetings in English and Arabic took place recently at the Doha Fire Station, hosting 37 teachers who will serve as ETC members during the next academic year 2017-2018. The intention of the meetings was to develop seamless communication channels between the schools and QM in order to enable teachers to access various educational resources and identify new ways of encouraging larger numbers of students to visit various QM sites and exhibitions.

Working closely together, QM educators and ETC members will develop programmes and learning materials that are aligned with different school curricula and make use of QM’s educational resources and collections. Suggestions put forward during the ETC meetings will serve as a roadmap for QM to strategically engage with teachers in Qatar.

The first ETC meetings have already revealed abundant useful data on what course QM programmes can take in support of teachers, uncovering that majority of teachers are interested in creating new learning tools related to QM’s exhibitions and programmes, and are interested in attending teachers training sessions to learn how to provide self-guided tours to their students.

Dr. Jelena Trkulja, Director of Education at Qatar Museums, said:

“Qatar Museums is eager to engage with the teachers and to hear their opinions, advice and feedback on the programmes being offered in museums and galleries across Qatar. Our education teams are committed to developing tools and materials that can be used in conjunction with temporary exhibitions or permanent collections. Some of these materials are also intended to be used in classroom, supplementing the visits to the exhibitions. It is therefore crucial for us to engage with the teachers across Qatar on an ongoing basis, to review how our tools are being implemented and seek feedback on what else we can offer. We will also be organizing training sessions for each of our new exhibitions to better prepare the teachers, and thus students, to better understand and be able to discuss topics of the exhibitions.”

The ETCs are set to meet four times a year and will be held in both English and Arabic. To allow for dynamic, two-way communications between the teachers and QM educators, the ETCs will be supported through the QM Teachers Club and social media platforms.

The Teachers Council, a programme launched last year, is intended to use QM’s vast educational resources for both teachers and students in support of Qatar’s independent schools art curriculum to inspire the next generation of creative talent and thinkers by sharing knowledge about art, heritage and culture. Two Teachers Council events were held in November and December of last year, attracting over 400 teachers from across Qatar. This is in support of QM’s commitment to align its educational offerings and learning opportunities with teachers’ interests and the school curricula in Qatar.

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