Best practices for schools will be in focus at the Fourth Annual Action Research Conference being hosted by Qatar University’s College of Education (CED) on June 23. The conference will draw representatives from 20 schools across Qatar, as well as CED faculty and key experts from the Supreme Education Council’s Education Institute. The event, jointly organised with SEC, is to see teachers and school professionals present research projects and engage educators and policymakers to take advantage of their findings to plan for best school practices in Qatar in line with the country’s education reform process. CED dean Dr Hissa Sadiq said the conference is a great opportunity for teachers and educators to exchange their experiences of action research, allowing them to reflect on their own teaching practices and learn about new methods to improve their teaching strategies. Education Institute research specialist Sheikha Hamad al-Hadri said ongoing research is an important part of the professional development of teachers and the conference provides an ideal forum for the exchange of ideas and skills. Conference co-ordinator CED associate professor of educational sciences, Dr Ramzi Nasser, observed that the event imparts a clear understanding of some of the issues at grassroots level and how individual teachers are managing to overcome them. The keynote speaker will be Dr Dirar Khoury, director of Institutional Research and acting executive director of the Research Division at Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development. Among the presenters will be 12 graduate students from the Special Education and Educational Leadership Masters’ programmes who, for the first-time, will share their research findings. The conference programme will also include 34 research paper presentation and six workshops which will address such topics as mathematics teaching; problems faced by teachers in scientific research; technology and its impact on academic achievement; developing students’ skills in reading and listening in Arabic and English; social studies; and Islamic art.