Wendy Berliner

Wendy Berliner

Wendy Berliner is Director, Parental Engagement for GEMS. Her cutting edge role is to develop parental engagement in learning in all GEMS schools and the group is believed to be the first educational organisation of its type in the world to aim systematically to target this development.

Many schools worldwide already involve parents in what they do, with parents’ associations, coffee mornings and newsletters.  But parental engagement goes much further because it sees parents as central agents in the learning process at home – not just monitors of homework.

 International research shows that positive parental engagement in learning in the home is needed if children are to reach their full educational potential. GEMS is determined to see its students benefit from this research by sending this message to all of its parents and helping them to support learning in the home with targeted advice and support.

Wendy joined GEMS in January 2009 from a distinguished journalistic career in national newspaper journalism in the UK. She is an award winning educational writer and her previous roles include Education Correspondent of The Guardian, Education Features Editor of The Independent and Editor of the Times Educational Supplement. She has developed many new titles about education for students and parents during her career.

She has also spent many happy hours involved with schools on a volunteer basis, as a chair of a Parent Teacher Association and as a school class helper. She has also sat on the governing bodies of four schools in the UK and chaired one.

As a mother she has a passionate regard for the importance of parents as educators of their own children alongside formal teaching in school. She concurs wholeheartedly with the Australian educator, Don Edgar, when he argues: “The purpose of school is to help a family educate a child.”

Wendy Berliner
Director - Parental Engagement
GEMS Education
PO Box 8607
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Telephone: +971 4 347 7770
Fax: +971 4 340 3370
Email: wendy.berliner@gemseducation.com