A/HRC/44/39/Add.1 to local and global challenges through education for sustainable development and global citizenship education. 88. The Special Rapporteur presents below a number of issues which she believes should be further addressed to ensure better quality education, students’ achievements and the cultural acceptability component of education. Professional training and development of teachers 89. Teachers in Qatar are recruited from among graduates of Qatar University College of Education. Teachers who are recruited from abroad must have five years of professional experience and undergo a three-month training course upon arrival to become acquainted with the relevant rules. Great efforts are made in the area of continuous professional training and development of teachers, which is compulsory to some extent and promoted with a system of increases in salary and financial compensation for trainees. 90. The Special Rapporteur had the pleasure to meet with staff of the National Center for Educational Development. The Center was established in 2010 thanks to an agreement between the Ministry of Education and Qatar University, on the premise that educators require continuous learning built on evidence-based research and best practices, and that they need assistance to adopt and implement new practices school-wide. The aim is also to ensure the availability of experts, including from within the country, to lead the process of pedagogical development. 91. The Special Rapporteur was particularly interested to learn about the school-based learning programme, which assists schools with low performance that face significant academic challenges. A team of five persons is in charge of analysing the situation through school visits, interviews and questionnaires, and of setting up a two-year development plan. Various kinds of training are provided, including modelling, workshops, coaching and mentoring sessions, discussion sessions, observation and feedback, educational resources and publications. The programme is now in its ninth year of operation and has reached more than 24 schools, which are all now performing well, according to the Center. Of note also is a programme of knowledge-sharing and sharing of good practices between schools. Many other training programmes in various academic subjects are also in place, giving teachers, whether Qatari or non-Qatari, a wide array of development possibilities. 92. The Special Rapporteur received many positive reports from teachers and school directors about the work of the Center and professional training activities in general, stressing the relevance of training for new pedagogical approaches based on problem solving, practical activities and exercises in classes. According to some information however, supervisors at the Ministry of Education on the one hand, and trainers and teachers on the other, do not always share the same vision of pedagogy and there is a need for supervisors to better understand teachers’ realities and expectations. 93. The Special Rapporteur also learned with interest that teachers’ learning forums organized by the Qatar Foundation enable teachers and educators to meet and share best practices and to create professional communities to discuss specific issues, such as how to promote critical thinking in schools or how to address burnout among teachers. Situation of teachers and academics 94. The quality of education is in part the result of the conditions of work of teachers and professors, and of the level of academic freedom that they enjoy. 95. The Special Rapporteur enquired about the situation of non-Qatari teachers, who constitute about 73 per cent of teachers in public schools, 14 and 100 per cent in private schools. While interlocutors underlined the problem of the high turnover of teachers, it is also true that a number of issues render their situation unsecure. 14 Qatar, Department of Educational Policy and Research, Statistics Section, “Statistical Bulletin of Education November 2018”, p. 21. 15