International CPD delivery – Middle East trip, Nov ’25

In November 2025 I had the absolute privilege of delivering bespoke primary computing CPD to teachers and leaders in the Middle East on behalf of Pearson, who have just released a new textbook based computing curriculum – Inspire Computing.

I left Southampton on a bright but cold Autumn day, with only a small carry-on case and a laptop rucksack, and arrived in Heathrow after a walk, train, bus and another walk, for a stay at the Thistle, as my flight to Cairo was early the next morning.

I’d consider myself as a bit of an adventurer and was very much looking forward to travelling and visiting new places. The touchdown in Egypt gave a stark contrast: hot, hazy and very very busy. Fortunately, Pearson had arranged all flights, transfers and hotels; even the CPD sessions I was delivering was taking place in the hotels I was staying in, which made everything so much easier and straigh forward. My travelling companion was a lovely lady called Deb, who was delivering on literacy and language in secondary science, with the same travel itinerary as me. We got on famously throughout the whole trip (being both Northerners and happy with chatting and making friends everywhere we went!).

The hotel was amazing, and a very tasty dinner next to the River Nile! There was a pianist playing the lobby, the whole setting was like something out of a movie. The next morning we were up bright and early. My brief for the trip was to deliver general CPD on leading primary computing, pointing towards Pearson’s new resources. It was hard to gauge where to pitch the CPD, so I turned up with an entire toolkit of material ready for any eventuality…

The training went brilliantly. I very quickly realised that the nature of teacher recruitment is very different to that in the UK; where training programs are rigorous and robust, yet subject knowledge in computing is a real challenge. In this particular situation, there appeared to be more teachers who have entered teaching from industry, and their subject knowledge around computer science was already top notch. Therefore I needed to change tac and switch to more pedagogical training, focusing on adaptive teaching, scaffolding, formative and summative assessment and techniques such as pair programming. This was very well received and although I was requested not to deliver any official training on AI just yet, we left time for Q&A afterwards, in which many teachers asked about AI deployment in the classroom.

We had a little more time that afternoon before our next flight and decided to go and see the Pyramids. This probably isn’t the right place to talk about what an amazing experience this was, but please do ask me about it when you see me! Our tour guide was an actual archeologist, and boy did we pick his brains! (But not in the mummification sense…)

Next up was Qatar. It was like flying into the set of Blade Runner… the illuminations on of the buildings was just stunning and even more impressive by day. This is where we met Mohammed, another Pearson representative, who was very good at looking after us and making us feel very welcome. Again, the training was very successful, with incredible feedback, reassuring me that I was on the right track with pitch and content (learning from the first session in Cairo!). This time we trained in the morning and flew out in the afternoon, so unfortunately no time for sight seeing!

Next up was Kuwait; arrive at night, sleep, train in the morning, fly in the afternoon. Things were beginning to blur; not remembering what floor you are on, going to the hotel room with the number of where you were the previous night, but I was having the time of my life. Debs and I were still having a laugh, but also looking out for each other, and facing things together like the immigration process at Kuwait airport (which was insane!) so I’m very grateful for her!

Yet again, the training session went extremely well and the feedback was 5 stars all round! Even though the travel was intense, I definitely felt I was getting into the rhythm of the training sessions; each one better than the last, and all of the feedback showed that teachers were finding it highly useful. As you can see below though, Kuwait’s hotel had the funkiest room!!

Finally, it was on to Dubai! And from the photos below, you can see that I had the largest hotel room (pretty much an apartment suite, complete with balcony!!)

The training was fantastic, the last one! Had an awesome Q&A session around AI and how to approach it in the classroom. Again the feedback was great, and the teachers were all so engaged. As well as the fabulous local teachers, it was also lovely to meet some ex-pats who had come out to teach in the Middle East, one of whom was my good friend Gareth who I did my teacher training with all those years ago! We had a great catch up and he took me round the block in his fancy Jeep!

We then had a day to chill and see a bit of Dubai before heading home. Aimee, our Pearson host who’d sorted the whole trip was able to meet us and show us around. Tallest building? Check… Fountain display? Check… Giant aquarium? Check (I could have stayed there all day!). What a place!

The next morning, before the grand journey home, I made full use of the pool and rooftop jacuzzi. What luxury! Then a plane, walk, bus, train and I was home, back in the loving arms of my wife! What a trip. What fantastic organisation and hospitality from Aimee, amazing food and culture in all the countries we visited, and most of all what incredible teachers who are doing amazing things in their classrooms with computing. Thank you for welcoming me and looking after me, I will hopefully see you again next year!