Written by Muhammad Al-Durahim
Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane hosted the University’s spring activities for values of education and education on organized values from May 28 to June 03, 2023, with the participation of the International Alliance for Education, Values, Equity and Quality, the Council of the Moroccan Community Abroad, the Ministry of National Education, Primary Education and Sports, and the University of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, University of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdallah in Fez, University of Texas at Tyler and University of Western Carolina in the United States of America, University of Alberta and University of Moncton in Canada, International University of Granbassam in Côte d’Ivoire, Queen Margaret University in the United Kingdom, Autonoma University in Madrid, and the Organization of the Islamic World for Education, Science and Culture – ISESCO –
This first session of the Spring University was marked by the participation of 9 guest experts, key speakers, 85 speakers from 45 national and international institutions, and the presence of experts from 13 countries from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, America, and Canada. It was also distinguished by the organization of two important conferences. The first, organized from 28 to 30 May 2023, was devoted to the topic of “Education, Innovation and Sustainability.” The second conference, organized on 02 and 03 June 2023, addressed the topic of “Challenges Facing the Field of Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language: Opportunities for Development and Cooperation,”
The first day of June 2023 was devoted to organizing a training day that included educational scientific workshops for the benefit of students, professors and administrative frameworks at the Ministry of Primary Education and Sports, in line with the endeavor of the Ministry of National Education, Primary Education and Sports to develop the capabilities of academic, pedagogical and knowledge frameworks in line with the contents of the development model. In order to implement the requirements for downloading the national strategy for continuous training and its general directions (Memorandum No. 012-22 of February 01, 2022 regarding the continuous training procedure for the year 2022).
At the conclusion of the works of this first session of the Spring University for Education Values and Education on Values, organized at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, from May 28 to June 03, 2023, the participants highly valued the Royal Royal interest in reforming the educational system, in the context of the “Decade of Education and Training 2020-2030 ″, which is represented in His Majesty’s directives calling for making education a national priority, defining its ultimate goal in “achieving quality education and training”, and considering education as the basis for “establishing social values based on moderation, moderation, and a spirit of honest citizenship based on responsible democratic practice”, through “Appropriate and functional programs and curricula that respond to our civilizational peculiarities, and at the same time keep pace with everything new in the field of knowledge, science and technology, as well as a modern evaluation system that is characterized by credibility, objectivity, and fairness, and provides equal opportunities for all on the basis of honest competition and merit.”
They also highly appreciate the royal high interest in the competencies and experiences of Moroccans of the world and His Majesty’s directives regarding supporting their initiatives, and “enabling them to provide the necessary support, conditions and capabilities, to give their best for the benefit of the country and its development”; They appreciate the involvement of great scientific competencies from Moroccans of the world in this initiative, along with higher competencies from Morocco and the world, through the establishment of the “International Alliance for Education, Values, Quality and Equity”, and their interaction with a high sense of patriotism with the Royal directives calling for contributing to the path of development. The Ifrane Declaration on the Values of Education and Education on Values on the need to promote the principles of values, quality, and fairness and to place them at the center of educational concerns; Coordinating efforts between institutions, centers, universities, and institutes regarding the organization of programs and courses that will advance education, values, and languages, and creating a database for the exchange of research, experiences, and expertise among them, through the “International Alliance for Education, Values, Quality, and Equity”;
University institutions and research centers have been invited to pay attention to issues of education, values, and languages, and to place them in the depth of their research and academic projects, with what is required regarding enhancing trust between knowledge production spaces, decision and policy makers, and donors; And to value the political will regarding reliance on competencies, scientific research and innovation are basic pillars for making public policies, especially in the field of education, values and training, and the call for practical and procedural steps in this context;
In the same context, this Ifrane Declaration emphasized the need to develop mechanisms for transferring “scientific knowledge” into “knowledge that can be learned”, according to the correct didactic principles that take into account all the components of the educational-learning process, taking into account cultural and linguistic diversity, and the different needs of learners and their intellectual references. and civilization in all scientific projects that aim to improve the educational and learning act; Promoting the concept of integration between science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in pedagogical engineering and educational curricula according to a multidimensional and interdisciplinary perspective, while giving the necessary importance to the humanities and social sciences (STEAM) in this context;
On the other hand, the Ifrane Declaration called for the need to base the educational and learning process on the principles of social responsibility that is aware of the specificity of the context/field and all the actors in it. And work on developing electronic programs and applications for teaching and learning the Arabic language from within national and international research projects in which national expertise and the expertise of Moroccan competencies are invested, and in which mechanisms for benefiting from pioneering international experiences are strengthened while investing in science and knowledge approaches, in its latest research developments, in developing strategies for teaching the Arabic language. learning it (for native speakers and non-native speakers), and building educational contents according to accurate scientific standards that agree with the linguistic, cognitive, and cultural characteristics of the learners;
Participants in the works of the first session of the Spring University, through the Ifrane Declaration, stressed the need to work on preparing books and educational contents for teaching the Arabic language to the children of the Moroccan community abroad, taking into account the specificities of culture, language, and use in specific contexts; And calling on the “International Alliance for Education, Values, Quality and Equity” to work on training the trainers, by organizing training courses in teaching and learning the Arabic language for the benefit of teachers and trainers who are watching over the education of the children of the Moroccan community abroad.
It should be noted that the Ifrane Declaration calls for work to strengthen the association of the Moroccan community abroad with their Moroccan identity, and to strengthen bridges of continuous communication, in the fields of culture, education and languages, between them and their motherland; This is in order to contribute to the consolidation of the connection of new generations of Moroccans around the world with Morocco, and to strengthen their pride in belonging to it. And to organize summer programs to teach Moroccan culture and languages for the benefit of the Moroccan community abroad, in Morocco and in the countries of residence, while developing special educational contents that keep pace with their aspirations and needs; And the promotion of continuous training paths for actors in the field of education and languages: teaching, learning, and management, by proposing a series of scientific trainings and training workshops aimed at developing their knowledge and performance capabilities, with the required involvement of civil society actors;
In conclusion, the participants in this first session emphasized the necessity of appreciating the proposal to devote the second session of the Spring University to the values of education and education on values for the topic: “Education, immigration and cultural and linguistic pluralism”; And the creation of a scientific platform within the coalition to publish its scientific and knowledge work and the proceedings of the conferences and trainings it organizes, while inviting the “International Alliance for Education, Values, Quality and Equity” to coordinate with all stakeholders: actors, public policy makers in this field, and official advisory institutions, and to follow up on all these recommendations and be careful To implement it according to its priorities, and manifestations of its impact on educational practices inside and outside the Moroccan context.