Thank you to everyone who joined us for this webinar on 13 July 2022.
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About this webinar
The importance of wellbeing was obvious before the pandemic. Since the world shut over two years ago there has been a clear focus on the toll of school closures and remote learning, especially for disadvantaged students. Students with no access to devices or internet have struggled to learn. Moreover, the isolation, disruption and loss Covid-19 has caused has dramatically increased mental health problems in children and adults.
Over the last two years the British Council in MENA has recognised the need to consider the mental wellbeing of our learners and school communities and have organised events to promote this topic. The British Council is committed to supporting policymakers, school leaders and teachers in improving mental wellbeing in schools, and this commitment has only been strengthened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the strains it has put on all of us.
In this webinar, we will present the Middle East and North Africa region mental wellbeing framework, designed to stimulate debate in schools and ministries and to give structure on how to implement the mental wellbeing framework in schools and how to work with parents and caregivers and external agencies.
About the panel
The event was chaired by Stevie Spring CBE, Chairman, British Council. Stevie will be joined by:
Mayssa Dawi
Mayssa has over 18 years of experience working as a Regional Schools Manager for the British Council in the Middle East and North Africa region; leading on the development and implementation of the British Council schools work in MENA, and championing and facilitating effective knowledge sharing and skills’ development with the region and the UK.
Alongside this experience, Mayssa holds a Master's degree in Educational Leadership and Management; and a Graduate Diploma in International Relations.
Robert Ford
Rob is Director of Heritage International School group in Moldova. Heritage is the first international school in Moldova and is based on the Cambridge curriculum offering IGCSE and A Level to over 20 nationalities. Heritage is also an accredited member of COBIS, an ETwinning school and recognised by the British Council for its contribution to international education.
Prior to joining Heritage, Rob was an educator for nearly 30 years, a history and politics teacher, a school leader in various schools in the UK and was principal of Wyedean School in the UK.
Rob is a long-serving British Council schools' ambassador, a Varkey/TFF2030/UNICEF global school leader and speaks and advises on global education and school leadership internationally. He frequently contributes articles on international education for the TES and ISM/International School Magazines. In the AKS international education awards, Rob won the Global Principals' Award for 2021.
Read Rob's blog.
Evelyn Forde
Evelyn Forde is headteacher of Copthall School, a successful single sex, girls 11-18 Academy with a comprehensive and culturally diverse intake in North West London. She is a member the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and became Vice President of ASCL in September 2021. She will take up the Presidential role in September 2022.
Evelyn has a strong commitment to improving diversity and inclusion in the sector with roles overseeing ASCL’s Ethnic Diversity, Women’s and LGBTQ Networks as part of ASCL’s equality, diversity and inclusion strategy.
Rolla Khaddage
Rolla Khaddage is a freelance educational consultant in the MENA region in addition to working with The Spiral Partnership, a consultancy agency in UK.
Rolla has 25 years of experience as a teacher, 21 years as an English coordinator and 16 years as Head of Division for Secondary age group 15 to 18. She completed her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and her bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Language, in addition to a teaching diploma. Currently, Rolla is pursuing, virtually, her certification in Social and Emotional Learning, Boulder University, Colorado, USA.
Rolla is on the steering committee of Karanga Global Alliance, has been a trainer with the British Council since 2012 and a master trainer since 2017, and has been an International School Award (ISA) ambassador for 10 years. She is the founder of the Shining Within movement which is a social media page supporting mental wellbeing with daily posts and occasional webinars for teachers, parents and students.
Twitter: @khaddageRolla
LinkedIn: Rolla-Khaddage