Meeting with Palestinian educators in Cairo, 6 August 2025

On 6 August 2025, we convened a hybrid meeting between Palestinian educators based in Cairo, our Egyptian partners at SHAF, lecturers from Queen’s University Belfast, and the Palestinian Deputy Minister of Education to discuss our upcoming pilot project. This meeting gave the Queen’s University Belfast team the opportunity to learn more from the Palestinian educators about their teaching experience and priorities for the course, while sharing their own ideas on the aims and content of the programme.

As part of these discussions, Deputy Minister Nafieh Assad outlined the Ministry of Education’s plans for rebuilding the education system in Gaza and described the severe challenges Palestinian teachers are currently facing, which will persist for some time even if a ceasefire is agreed. He emphasised the critical importance of trauma-informed teaching practices in shaping the future of the Palestinian education system. In response to this, the upcoming educational training programme will focus on the theory and practice of trauma-informed pedagogy which recognises the impact of trauma on students.