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Ora incorporates year of Zayed values into everyday learning
In his book, Reflections on Happiness & Positivity, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, wrote: “Being a positive role model means believing in your ideas and being the first to apply them before asking others to do so. Being a positive role model is fundamental to the success of every leader, and it is the fastest, most powerful way to teach others because people do not hear your words as deeply as they feel your actions.?
Sheikh Mohammed’s words epitomize the leadership style of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan – the Founding Father of the UAE – and we hope to carry them through into our Zayed Early-Learning Framework, named after the UAE president.
With 2018 marking 100 years since the birth of Sheikh Zayed – who passed away in 2004 – His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, officially declared this year the Year of Zayed. To honor the UAE’s Founding Father, Ora established its Zayed Early-Learning Framework to motivate young people to understand the UAE president’s visionary values and principles, not just in 2018 but in the future too.
In keeping with Sheikh Zayed’s beliefs, the Year of Zayed involves people of all ages, nationalities, faiths and backgrounds, in the UAE and internationally. Through Ora’s Zayed Early-Learning Framework, educators hope to nurture cross-cultural collaboration and community-driven leadership too. By teaching the importance and value of participation – an essential leadership trait – educators hope to encourage children to focus on equality and inclusion, respecting their peers who come from all over the world. Believing that it’s vital that young people learn from both educators and peers of all ages – developing the skills they need to work as a team – Ora’s project-based learning styles hope to ensure that children are guiding their learning, with adults acting as role models.
According to the Year of Zayed’s official website (zayed.ae), this commemorative year will focus on four key values, namely wisdom, respect, sustainability, and human development.
With 2018 marking 100 years since the birth of Sheikh Zayed – who passed away in 2004 – His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, officially declared this year the Year of Zayed. To honor the UAE’s Founding Father, Ora established its Zayed Early-Learning Framework to motivate young people to understand the UAE president’s visionary values and principles, not just in 2018 but in the future too.
Wisdom – Sheikh Zayed not only imagined a better future for his people, but he also had the wisdom and determination to make that ambitious vision a reality against all odds. As the UAE’s President, he made many wise decisions that would support the country’s social development, economic strength and national security well into the future.
Sustainability – Sheikh Zayed’s lifelong commitment to sustainability became a hallmark of his Presidency, and it continues to shape the UAE’s positive and constructive approach to meeting the world’s greatest environmental challenges.
Human development – Sheikh Zayed believed that investing in people’s welfare, knowledge and capabilities would produce the greatest dividends for individuals, families, and society.
Sheikh Zayed’s inspiring values are fundamental to Ora’s philosophy and learning framework, not just in 2018 but moving forward. Our educators hope to pay tribute to the UAE’s great leader by ensuring his legacy and values live on in today’s children. We want to encourage young people to embrace Sheikh Zayed’s pioneering ideas and incorporate them into their visions for a brighter and more sustainable future. We hope that by offering our children the freedom and respect they need in their formative years, they will be able to develop into independent thinkers who will inspire and lead the communities of tomorrow in the same way Sheikh Zayed did during his presidency.
Ora encompasses the future of early-years education design
My team and I have a simple theory about early-years interior design, Pallavi Dean, design director at the award-winning Pallavi Dean Interiors interior-architecture practice, says. “If you provide an environment that engages children, they will love to learn.
To bring this theory to life at Ora, Dubai’s nursery of the future, Pallavi and her team of designers – who have vast experience breathing life into early-years education facilities across the UAE – approached this project entirely from a child’s perspective.
There is no design precedent for this type of nursery in the world, so designing it was a bit like method acting, Pallavi explains. “During fit out, some of our team members actually got down on their knees to explore the physical space from a child’s height. We really wanted to ‘see’ every angle through the eyes of a young person. The narrative of the design was inspired by the image of a gentle, protective cloud, so while conceptualising the various elements of the nursery, we asked ourselves, “would a young person feel safe and happy enough to really be authentic here? It was important to make sure every aspect allowed little ones to completely immerse themselves in their physical environment, naturally navigating according to their individual paces of learning.
Ora, guided by the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, was founded to better prepare children to become the future generation of leaders and global citizens. Delivering a world-class learning experience that instils the habits of innovation and futurism in the next generation, Pallavi says being future-conscious was vital to the project’s success.
“Ora’s philosophy is centred around fostering leadership and leading early-years education from Dubai, so it was important for us to incorporate the nursery’s forward-thinking ideas into its design, Pallavi explains. “Inspired by the UAE leadership’s visionary ideas and the energy of the country’s youth, we created an immersive environment to complement the nursery’s child-initiated learning methods. One of the ways we did this was by moving away from screen-based technology and designing an environment where child-safe technology is integrated into floors and walls. With the touch of a little hand, surfaces light up or display nature-inspired images or children’s artworks. We believe that all elements of a nursery’s environment – physical and human, interior and exterior – impact its educational framework, so it was imperative that the structure is transformed into a third, ‘silent’ educator that also facilitates bonding, learning and self-discovery.
Blending both analogue and digital elements, you won’t find bright colours and cartoon characters in this contemporary-whimsical space. Instead, surfaces are neutral “to encourage children and educators to become the main sources of stimulation, with a clean colour palette and minimalist eco-friendly child-size furniture taking up the rest of the nursery.
“We want children to feel inspired as soon as they walk through Ora’s doors,” Pallavi explains. “Through inspiration comes freedom, and through freedom comes self-confidence and authenticity. From there, it’s much easier for young people to feel safe enough to explore and interact with their surroundings – and educators – which encourages curiosity and creativity.
Aesthetic-and-technological design aside for a minute, Pallavi is quick to add that safety was always paramount. “Our design brief stated that, first and foremost, Ora had to be a safe, nurturing, multi-functioning environment that not only enhanced its future-conscious approach to learning but also ensured the happiness and wellbeing of the children, parents and staff.
The team matched the brief. Entirely child proofed and furnished with earth-friendly pieces, the 600-square-metre nursery houses 22 supervised but free-flowing interactive zones, including a Mars Lab that prioritises future sciences, state-of-the-art sleeping pods for babies, a comfortable feeding pod for nursing mothers, a café for parents, monitored adventure zones that encourage movement, and more.
“We’re exceptionally proud of this project, and we believe that Ora really encompasses the future of early-years education design, Pallavi says.
Future-ready leaders need an Early Years education rethink
Achanging world is being powered by new modalities of how knowledge is generated and applied. With automation and machine learning coming to the fore, the nature of jobs, human endeavour and applicable knowledge is set for drastic change in the immediate years to come. The World Economic Forum calls this shifting paradigm Industry 4.0 – firmly situating it in the annals of other revolutions that irrevocably altered the means of production over human history.Get ready for revenue!
Each industrial revolution also fundamentally changes the skills and aptitude humans need to gainfully contribute to society. The industrial revolution of the 18th century, for instance, saw mass displacement and unemployment before people found new roles working in symbiotic relationships with rudimentary machines.
Industry 4.0 will be no different. Tomorrow’s workers, and those who lead them, will need to be agile, to pivot, to understand and control technology, and to think laterally. And research shows that early years education is crucial in forming these skills.
Hence why there is now a global spotlight on early years education, with the question foremost of whether, in its current guise, it is fit for purpose in terms of developing the leaders for tomorrow. As science probes further into the inner workings of the human mind, it is now established fact that the brain’s fundamental “wiring” is laid down in the first four years of human development. UNICEF, for instance, has noted that, “The early years of childhood form the basis of intelligence, personality, social behavior, and capacity to learn and nurture oneself as an adult.”
The Study of Early Education And Development (SEED) report for the UK has come to similar conclusions. Its findings support the urgency of imparting effective early years education. The report shows differences in cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes as early as age 4 years for children who have received early years education, regardless of other factors such as household income or disadvantage.
Early years education is important, and getting it future-ready crucial. As the world works to overhaul the carefully-developed education systems of yesteryear, a small country nestled in the Arabian Peninsula is leading the way. The United Arab Emirates – a country merely 47 years young – has always emphasised the importance of leadership. Small wonder, given that all the development schemes that have turned it into a 21st century trade and innovation hub were enacted by visionary leaders – sometimes in the face of scepticism.
The ability to create future leaders, and people imbued with the skills to succeed in a dynamic technological future, is very important to the UAE. In fact, the UAE Vision 2021 places education at the centre of its message when it says: “Education is a fundamental element for the development of a nation and the best investment in its youth.”
The Vision, set out in the National Agenda, also emphasises the importance of developing a first-rate education system, and reserves particular attention to Early Years education.
Words are being backed by action, with significant investment being made in Early Years of Education. Responsibility for oversight has also been handed over to the UAE Ministry of Education and away from the more general mandate of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The UAE introduced the first unified framework for nurseries in 2018 to form the basis of a comprehensive childhood education framework. It borrows vignettes from international best practice, referencing outstanding policies in countries such as the UK, Australia and the US, and combining these with the cultural and societal ethos of the UAE.
As the groundwork is being laid to buttress the UAE’s ambitions towards becoming a hub of early learning excellence, the order of the day is a space where these forward agendas can be put into practice – the proof of the pudding, as it were.
Here is where a carefully designed early learning concept is breaking new ground at its home in Emirates Towers. Given the informal appellation of the “The Nursery of the Future,” ORA is nestled amidst a busy concourse of business and retail in the UAE’s corridors of power. Its learning framework is based directly on the guidance set out by the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum. The curriculum encompasses Happiness and Positivity; Leadership; Advanced Science and Artificial Intelligence; and Technology and Coding.
Here is where a carefully designed early learning concept is breaking new ground at its home in Emirates Towers. Given the informal appellation of the “The Nursery of the Future,” ORA is nestled amidst a busy concourse of business and retail in the UAE’s corridors of power. Its learning framework is based directly on the guidance set out by the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum. The curriculum encompasses Happiness and Positivity; Leadership; Advanced Science and Artificial Intelligence; and Technology and Coding.
ORA puts into practice the precepts of a future-ready Early Years education. From layout and colours to collaborations with partners, the very space itself has been designed from the ground up to provide an immersive learning experience. ORA offers an enquiry-based pedagogical process that puts the child at the centre of their own learning, and aims to develop future leaders by developing curiosity, empathy, communication and resilience. Technology is used as an enabler, with the combination of analog and digital elements creating an immersive environment.
Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has long emphatically argued that children automatically operate at genius level in their early years – by merely exercising natural inquisitiveness and being themselves. It is human intervention and prescriptive frameworks of traditional pedagogical thought that degrade this natural curiosity. ORA takes the opposite route – letting inquisitiveness lead the way, supported by educators who reinforce the learning process, all the while ensuring that core skills and crucial values are learnt along the way.
The future isn’t necessarily far away. In fact, many would argue that Industry 4.0 and its accompanying changes are already rapping smartly on our doors. It now falls to brave new learning spaces such as ORA to answer the summons, and spark a rethink of how we approach crucial learning in a child’s early years.