Bhurban 22-25 October: As a part of its on-going support to education and good teaching practices, Oxford University Press (OUP) organized two symposiums for school teachers on the theme ‘Learning, Assessment, and Digitization’. Conducted by OUP authors and trainers from Pakistan and UK, the objective behind organizing the symposiums was to effectively address the need for adopting innovative approaches to teaching and assessment, and integrating modern-day technology in classrooms to improve learning outcomes. Around 210 teachers from 30 cities across Pakistan attended the two separate events which provided the participants and trainers a valuable platform to share ideas, experiences, and best teaching practices.
Productive sessions were held showcasing many new OUP textbook series and resources developed for pre-primary, primary, secondary, and O levels. Effective teaching of subjects like English, History, Geography, Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Urdu, Islamiyat, and General Knowledge was discussed in these sessions. The trainers—who included Hayley Sutton and Bernadette Wirtz from OUP UK; Shazia Asad, Sadia Manzoor,Sadiq Merchant,and Arwa Khuzaima from Pakistan; and OUP Pakistan authors, Ismat Riaz, Nicholas Horsburgh, and Fozia Ahsan Farooqui—gave useful tips to enhance teaching methodologies and enable teachers to maximize the learning goals of these subjects through OUP textbooks.
The first-of-its-kind digital resource for students Oxford Achiever was also launched on the occasion. This is a web-based English learning and assessment system developed with the aim of building students’ language skills and subject knowledge along a structured, self-paced learning path. Participants were also introduced to the ‘Oxford School Library Packs’ which contain thoughtfully selected fiction, non-fiction, and reference materials designed to create a love of reading among students.
Informative presentations were made on OUP’s highly successful initiatives launched last year: ‘Oxford Big Read’, the reading programme for school children and ‘Oxford Teachers’ Academy’, the professional development programme for school teachers. The participants were also briefed about a new scheme called ‘Oxford Quality’ which is an agreement between OUP and select schools who share a commitment to excellence in education. Under this programme, OUP provides a wide range of educational solutions tailored to the schools’ needs. Sessions emphasizing Intellectual Property Rights issues were also held.
The highlight of the event was the workshop on ‘Facilitating the 21st Century Learner’ conducted by the author of several bestselling OUP textbook series, Nicholas Horsburgh. The workshop focused on adopting child-centric teaching methodologies that cater to the 4 Cs of the 21st century skills—a set of abilities which includes Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. Nicholas emphasized upon the current learning needs of students and ways to deal with the pedagogical challenges faced by teachers.
Pervez Hoodbhoy, Professor of Physics and Mathematics, Forman Christian College, and Ali Raza, Advisor to Prime Minister Education Reform Programme, presented the closing remarks at the first and second symposium respectively.
Interactive discussions between the trainers and the participants resulted in an exchange of feedback and suggestions on how to best utilize and build upon the content of textbooks and teaching resources in order to enrich the teaching and learning experience.