Between the United States and Finland: Different Educational Systems and their Effects on Curriculum Development

Derasat’s latest ‘Think Talk’ was held on March 5th, 2020, titled: ‘Between the US and Finland: Different Educational Systems and Their Impacts on Developing Curricula’, with speakers, Dr. Khalid Al-Baker, Director of School Performance Reviews at the Education and Training Quality Authority, and Ms. Ghada Abdulla, Research Analyst in the Derasat Economic and Energy Studies Program. The ‘Think Talk’ examined applicable factors to developing school education in the Kingdom of Bahrain, deduced from analyzing both educational systems, and their different educational policies.

Dr. Khaled Albaker, Director of Government Schools Reviews Directorate, Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA), responsible for reviewing all governments’ schools. Previously, co-operational founder member of Bahrain’s Teachers College (BTC), former chair of BTC Academic Groups Heads Council and a former head of Educational Foundations and Management Academic Group. An experienced educational consultant, working in complex contexts and start-up institutions. Leadership and teamwork coach and trainer. Member of several international and regional professional networks. Served as a key member in many national committees. Consultant for several regional educational projects. An established researcher who published extensively in the fields of educational change, teachers’ training and quality in education. Keynote speaker in several international and regional conferences. An editor and referee for several international educational journals.

Ghada Abdulla is an analyst in economics and energy studies at the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies. Her research focus is on the economics of the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries, with a specific interest in the how the GCC countries can achieve their goals of shifting from oil based economies towards knowledge based economies through building their human capital capacity and developing their educational system. She holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a BSc in Economics from the University of York.

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Last Update: August 25, 2025

Between the United States and Finland: Different Educational Systems and their Effects on Curriculum Development

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