QRTA has been offering the Psychosocial Support and Interactive Pedagogy professional development program since 2014 in Jordan to ensure that all children have an equal opportunity to receive a purposeful and meaningful education in a safe, inclusive and supportive learning environment. &nbsp;Launched in 2019, with funding from Porticus and in collaboration with the Jordanian Ministry of Education (MoE), QRTA developed the Psychosocial Adaptation Skills in Crises and Emergency Program. Accredited by the MoE, this program targets school principals, teachers, supervisors and counselors with the aim of improving their understanding, knowledge, skills and practices to implement psychosocial support concepts in an impactful way.

Psychosocial Adaptation Skills in Crises and Emergency Program

The workshop focuses on the role of the professional learning communities in analyzing students' achievement data from multiple data sources including common formative assessments where teachers and leaders meet to analyze and interpret results to identify problems related to students’ learning.&nbsp;

Use of data to improve students’ Attainment 

In the realm of the Growth Mindset, individuals hold the belief that their capabilities can evolve through dedication and diligent effort and that intelligence and innate abilities merely serve as initial points of reference. Embracing this growth mindset is crucial for students and educators alike, and it becomes imperative for school leaders. Leaders who adopt a growth mindset possess a fervor for learning and have the capacity to cultivate a positive school atmosphere that encourages and consistently provides a range of opportunities for both teachers and students to learn. Hence, the purpose of this workshop is to provide participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to enhance a culture of growth thinking. It also aims to exemplify this mindset as educational leaders through a variety of interactive exercises, including the implementation of strategies that foster a growth mentality among both teachers and students

Develop Your Mindset Improve your Leadership “Growth Mindset.” 

Planning is the foundation of any endeavor and a key guarantee of its success. Teaching is an area that requires effective planning based on clear foundations. It is a field where you shouldn't doubt the compass that defines the goal and boosts confidence in the procedures. Good advance planning enables teachers to contemplate the challenges they might encounter during implementation. Therefore, effective planning is one of the fundamental competencies a teacher must possess.

Leading Learning through Backward Design  

In today's dynamic and evolving educational landscape, effective leadership goes beyond just management – it demands vision, adaptability, and a profound understanding of the complexities involved in leading and guiding teams toward shared goals. This comprehensive training program delves into the multifaceted world of leadership, encompassing both situational and managerial aspects. Through a structured exploration of foundational theories, practical skills, and critical competencies, participants will gain essential insights and tools for fostering innovation, driving organizational change, and cultivating a culture of excellence. This course is meticulously designed to empower leaders at all levels, equipping them with the knowledge and skills required to overcome challenges, harness opportunities, and inspire transformational growth in their respective fields

Blending Leadership &amp; Management: Empowerment Strategies for Driving Change 

This workshop aims to introduce essential concepts and skills for the successful management of educational institutions. The ultimate goal is to impart practical knowledge that enables participants to understand and appreciate the complexity and interconnection of processes within educational institutions. The workshop will utilize the conceptual framework of Bolman and Deal (multi-frame thinking), which incorporates ideas from various fields such as sociology, management science, psychology, political science and social-cultural anthropology.

Empowering Leaders for Institutional Success

This workshop was designed to provide participants with a thorough understanding of the planning process and the crucial role of supervision within it. Participants will engage in a structured exploration that delves into the intricacies of plan formulation, understanding its core objectives and clarifying essential elements of impactful supervisory plans. The curriculum spans key stages, including preparatory phases and data collection, culminating in the detailed development and implementation of supervisory plans. Participants will gain invaluable insights into stakeholder engagement, data organization and plan execution, equipping them to drive sustainable progress and navigate challenges with precision and foresight. Joining this transformative journey will enhance expertise in planning and supervisory skills, paving the way for leadership excellence.

Mastering Planning and Execution: Effective Implementation Strategies

This workshop aims to equip school leaders with essential practices and processes to assess, establish and maintain a positive school climate that enhances student performance. It raises school administrators’ awareness of the necessity for a clear vision for sustainable development, emphasizing that achieving this vision depends on cultivating a positive school culture and promoting a growth mindset through modeling.&nbsp; The workshop outlines various methods and programs that foster a positive school climate and culture, detailing steps necessary to achieve school objectives. Leaders can design strategies to foster and uphold a positive school climate and culture by understanding parents’ crucial role in supporting students’ academic success and exploring effective parent engagement practices.

From Values to Action: Fostering a Positive School Culture

Learning difficulties, often without associated mental or physical disabilities, are a widespread issue affecting a significant number of students. These difficulties result in academic setbacks and reduced self-confidence, underscoring the need for teachers and parents to provide proper support. Learning difficulties vary; some are subject-specific, while others affect overall performance. Addressing these issues requires collaboration among teachers, parents and specialists alike. By offering appropriate support, students facing learning difficulties can attain academic success. The workshop covers several themes, such as understanding the concepts and identifying indicators of learning difficulties and ADHD, equipping relevant stakeholders with intervention strategies and discussing pedagogical approaches for effectively supporting students with learning difficulties in the classroom.

Learning Difficulties: From Exclusion to Inclusion

This transformative experience equips school leaders with the essential skills to conduct effective coaching and support sessions with teachers. It guides participants in a structured manner, enabling them to design sessions that encourage self-reflection and identify performance improvement strategies. This approach significantly contributes to professional development and enhances leadership skills and supervisory insights. The workshop aims to identify the role of school leaders in guiding and supporting the development of teachers’ performance and continuous improvement through coaching and classroom observation. It seeks to develop leaders’ knowledge and skills in applying and analyzing classroom observations in light of good teaching standards, thereby improving instructional practices in their schools. The workshop emphasizes the importance of monitoring teaching and learning, creating evidence-based action plans and supporting school leaders in their supervisory practices by overseeing the coaching of teachers.

Coaching: Personalized Development, Communication and Engagement

A school is a learning community comprised of students, teachers and administrators who work together towards a shared goal. Schools are characterized by open environments that encourage respect, cooperation and continuous learning at both individual and group levels. School administration plays a vital role in forming learning communities that sustain and renew knowledge.&nbsp; This workshop aims to highlight the concept of professional learning communities (PLC) and their importance in teachers’ professional development. It evaluates the effectiveness of PLCs in schools, explores ways to activate PLCs as a form of continuous professional development and guides organizing and conducting PLCs within the framework of their established goals.

Professional Learning Communities: The Cycle of Learning and Sharing Experiences

This workshop is grounded in evidence-based and research-backed practices in effective educational leadership. It explores how school leaders can foster successful learning and teaching within their institutions. Examples include ‘The Use of High Impact Teaching Practices’ as highlighted by Tom Corcoran and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at Columbia University.&nbsp; The workshop aims to equip school leaders with the necessary skills to identify effective teaching and assessment practices, conduct classroom observations, provide constructive feedback to teachers and enhance the role of school leaders in effectively supporting educational initiatives implemented within their schools.

Leadership and Learning: Trends and Directions

This workshop focuses on developing the knowledge and skills needed to evaluate and supervise instruction in schools. It focuses on the use of strategies such as observations, collaborative reflection, and adult-learning strategies to form comprehensive professional growth plans with teachers and other school personnel.

Supervision, Evaluation, and Professional Learning for Continuous Improvement

Instructional rounds help school and educational leaders develop a shared understanding of what high-quality education looks like, enabling them to work collaboratively within a learning community to identify what schools need to do to improve education. Through instructional rounds, school and educational leaders learn about the effectiveness of their improvement strategies, determine the subsequent steps to achieve further improvements and refine strategies based on classroom observations.&nbsp; This workshop aims to equip school leaders and supervisors with the skills and knowledge necessary to implement instructional rounds practically in their schools.

Instructional Rounds

The module draws on evidence and research-based practices for effective instructional leadership and how school leaders can actively support effective teaching and learning in their schools (examples of Big Ideas and Large Effects Instructional Strategies, Tom Corcoran, Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE)-Teachers College, Columbia University). This instructional leadership module focuses on building support, helping leaders adapt to new pedagogies, and promoting new practices throughout the schools by providing school leaders with the skills to identify effective instructional techniques and the tools to improve their feedback to teachers.&nbsp; A fundamental goal is for principals to see themselves as instructional leaders and become capable of supporting the instructional initiatives being introduced in their respective schools.&nbsp;

Leading Teaching and Learning 

Educational studies indicate the profound impact of strategies for teaching pedagogies on students’ performance; the more effective the strategy, the better the students perform. Simultaneously, various factors influence the effectiveness of these strategies during planning and application, which are vital for teachers. These factors include student characteristics, content complexity and the learning environment. This workshop covers foundational strategies to support this understanding, with a focus on exploring and analyzing pedagogical content knowledge, conceptual reconstruction and emerging AI applications. These applications empower teachers to incorporate AI into their preferred teaching strategies, whether in curriculum design or planning, to enhance students’ ability to comprehend, conceptualize, analyze and reproduce knowledge effectively.

AI Applications in Teaching: Enablers of Learning

The kindergarten principal functions as both a leader and an educational supervisor within their institution. Their responsibilities are twofold: first, the organizational and administrative duties, which involve executing tasks in line with established systems and regulations, and second, the technical duties, which are educational and pedagogical in nature. This role requires a principal specialized in early childhood education who can understand the kindergarten’s objectives, grasp the characteristics and needs of the children, develop suitable activities and programs, manage teachers and enhance their performance. Effective educational administration is possible only if the principal successfully balances their administrative and technical roles. Like other educational institutions, managing a kindergarten requires mindful leadership to organize operations effectively and meet the specific needs and goals of this age group. This workshop aims to provide kindergarten principals with key insights into the developmental characteristics and learning methods of kindergarten children, the structure and classroom application of the kindergarten curriculum, the essential components of the physical environment and the daily routine and activities. Additionally, the workshop will cover term and daily planning, assessment strategies and objectives, the principles of management for this educational stage, the specific characteristics and responsibilities required of a principal and the quality assurance systems deployed in kindergartens.

     Creative Leadership: An Approach to Kindergarten Management

Recognizing the significance of empowering existing and aspiring school leaders and equipping them with the required leadership knowledge and skills, QRTA collaborated with the University of Connecticut in 2016 to launch a specialized diploma program in advanced instructional leadership. This program is awarded by the University of Jordan and is accredited by the Jordanian Ministry of Education. The program seeks to make essential changes in leadership practices by including and adapting the best international practices to local and cultural contexts.