Vijita Patel
Executive Director of Special Schools and SEN Services for Pre-University Education at Qatar Foundation.
Vijita Patel is the Executive Director of Special Schools and SEN Services for Pre-University Education at Qatar Foundation. Vijita is passionate about the role of education in creating an inclusive society and its fundamental purpose in reducing the marginalization of citizens with additional needs.
Her 25-year career reflects system leadership for Inclusion, SEN, and Neurodiversity through her role with policymakers, school systems, EdTech innovators, governance, and research entities. Vijita was deployed as a designated National Leader of Education (UK).
She is an advocate of empowering educators as leaders of learning design and the role of school leaders in creating school cultures that cultivate teacher agency. Vijita collaborated with universities on designing and delivering programs for SEN teacher training, conducting research studies, and incubating EdTech initiatives at the school level.
Vijita is a Fellow of the UK Chartered College of Teaching, an Expert Advisory Group member for the UK Department for Education, and a policy advisor for international initiatives related to SEN and Inclusion. Vijita was previously a Trustee for Special Olympics Great Britain, Challenge Partners, Artists in Residence Charity, and the Varkey Foundation. She now serves on the board of the Qatar Foundation’s Education Development Institute.