Title: Searching for Spirituality through Education in the Middle East.
Speaker: Prof Bart McGettrick.
Chair: Rev Prof Frank Whaling.
Venue: The City of Edinburgh Council City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh.
Time: 2pm-4pm.
Event Description: The Middle East is an environment in which the social and ethnic challenges are all too apparent. Professor Bart McGettrick has for many years worked with the University of Bethlehem, and will recount his experiences to indicate the centrality of justice and hope in promoting peaceful co-existence in The Middle East. This is not a matter of providing a curriculum for peace, but rather looking at the ways in which teacher development can support an optimistic view of the values of teachers in The Middle East.

This approach to education has at its heart a spiritual message. It is centrally concerned with the relationships that are formed - within the home, the class, the school and in wider society. The educational endeavours of people are spiritual journeys, and have a concern for the common good.

There is a role for education in trying to help the understanding of justice and hope in society. The professional person always has an interest in the vulnerable and weak in society, and underlying any professional activity is a spirituality that resides in the person and in the community. With increased numbers of people in the Middle East exile is their homeland and they feel dispossessed and alienated. This is a negative influence on the development of the inner self.

Professor McGettrick will reflect on these issues from his experiences and will comment on the activities that seem to lead to an optimistic future.

Bart McGettrick is an internationally renowned educationist. He is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Glasgow.

He is Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Education at the University of Glasgow.

He has a background in education and public life that is varied. Originally he was a teacher of Geography, and was Principal of St Andrew’s College in Scotland from 1985 to 1999, and was the first Dean of the Faculty of Education at Glasgow University from 1999 till 2001. He has been Professor of Education at Glasgow University since 1993, and now is a consultant in many educational and social work projects.

He chairs a number of boards of schools and other organisations, and is committed to addressing the needs of all children in society.

He is actively engaged with education in countries as diverse as Palestine and Canada. He is committed to inter-professional developments and chairs influential groups in Scotland in this field.

He is a regular contributor to national and international conferences and conventions across the world, on topics as varied as Teacher Education, Assessment, Management, Personal and Social Education, Catholic Education, Education for Citizenship, Values Education, University Education, etc. He has published widely in various aspects of education. He is also actively engaged with various projects in the field of social services, and services to children.