Education is a vision and philosophy, not just a simple administrative task, and administrators at educational institutions have a responsibility to turn their visions for the future into reality. Although administration is an important role, we must ensure that it does not detract our focus from our teaching profession. The balance between these two roles is more vital than ever now in light of the dramatic changes occurring in our educational system as a result of digital learning, which has forced us to rethink how we offer our services

Employing a “The CEO – The Pedagogue” model allows us to make digital education a core part of our work. As an administrators, we must experience digital education from the pedagogical perspective to truly appreciate the depth of the changes taking place. We need to know what teachers and faculty are experiencing to fully grasp how their roles are developing. This will bring us closer to our students, allowing us to better measure their appreciation for this new type of education

“The CEO – The Pedagogue” model is necessary to support decision-making in education. I know this from personal experience, as I used to give lectures to students in addition to my administrative responsibilities. Teaching and contributing to the development of today's youth remains my passion. With the implementation of online learning, I was curious to know how it would impact our ability to communicate pedagogically online with students. At first, it was a little unsettling to find myself in a virtual class speaking to a screen where I could not easily see many expressions or personally interact with students to ensure they understood what I was presenting. However, through practice and a range of new pedagogic techniques, I was able to adapt and learn how to manage virtual classrooms, and come to prefer it over the traditional version

“The CEO – The Pedagogue” model offers many advantages, including: (1) Strengthening the prestige of the teaching profession by positioning this job as an elite profession in front of students and society. (2) Ensuring that the future of education is shaped from a ground experience. (3) Ensuring that professional development programs are based on realistic assessments and digital readiness requirements. (4) Ensuring a greater understanding of the challenges that teachers and faculty face with online learning to develop more suitable solutions

The pedagogue will remain the cornerstone of the educational process, regardless of whether the method of education is traditional or digital. However, the role must evolve alongside changes to the education system. Online learning has put teachers on the frontlines of these challenges, including shortening the time they have to adapt to the digital transformations sweeping across our industry. These challenges have also revealed the strong capabilities of our teachers and faculty, many of whom have excelled in this new environment. Those who cannot change with the times and adapt to a new environment will soon be left behind and might find that they have no place in the next chapter of our education system

I believe strongly that we have overcome the COVID-19 educational crisis, having successfully continued our courses of instructions uninterrupted. Yes, this was possible due to our digital readiness, but more importantly the countless efforts of our dedicated teachers and faculty who continue to play an important role in defending our nation’s educational system against the invisible enemy

Education is transforming rapidly, and, as administrators, we must continue to test our new roles. Doing so will allow us to lead the change towards the future with confidence, and from a real pedagogic experience

Dr. Abdullatif Al Shamsi

President and CEO