Tuesday, Jul 30, 2013
Abu Dhabi
A total of 100 private schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, representing 66 per cent of the schools, need significant improvement in their educational standards, the results of a series of inspections by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) has revealed.
The results also show that 15 per cent of the private schools, numbering 23 institutions, are considered to be high-performing. A further 19 per cent, or 29 schools, currently have satisfactory educational standards at present.
The details were announced at a press conference by the Adec today (Tuesday), and marks the first time in the emirate that school evaluations, undertaken within the Adec’s Irtiqaa programme, have been made available to the public.
“[The] Adec has decided to publish the status of private schools across the emirate in its mission to provide transparent and reliable information [to parents] on their child’s school. This is a highly useful resource for parents, pupils, schools, investors and the Adec…as it provides information about each schools, and allows for a national and international comparison [of facilities],” said Dr Mugheer Al Khaili, Adec director-general.
The evaluations show that the majority of private schools still need to improve in terms of their teaching and educational quality, Hamad Al Daheri, executive director at the Adec’s private schools and quality assurance sector, told Gulf News.
“Schools must concentrate on offering professional development for their staff and teachers. The Adec itself has recently provided more than a 100 courses that saw the participation of 4,000 educators from private schools,” Al Daheri said.
The evaluation reports, which are now available on the Adec website, were developed after inspectors visited more than 10,000 classes in 146 schools over the last two years. Interviews were also conducted with pupils and educators.
Eight factors were measured for each institution, including pupils’ achievement and level of progress, pupils’ personal development, teaching and learning quality, meeting pupils’ needs within the curriculum, protection and guidance for pupils, quality of the schools’ buildings and premises, school resources and effectiveness of leadership and management.
Based on their performance, schools were then ranked as High-performing (Band A), Satisfactory (Band B) or Needing significant improvement (Band C). These bands are themselves subdivided into a total of eight ranks, with Band A schools ranked as outstanding, very good and good, Band B divided into satisfactory and improving, and satisfactory and Band C ranked as unsatisfactory, very unsatisfactory and poor.
Villa schools, which have been deemed by the Adec as unsafe for pupils’ health and safety, were however not assessed as part of the inspections.
Adec officials also highlighted that the reports that were released pertain to the second round of inspections conducted at private schools.
“The first round was undertaken between 2009 and 2011, but results were only disclosed to the schools so that they had a chance to improve their standards”, Dr Al Khaili said.
Between the first and second inspection rounds, more than 80 schools demonstrated improvement on the eight-point ranking. While 18 schools improved by three ranks, 36 schools rose by two ranks and 43 schools increased by one rank. At the same time, eight schools fell by one rank during the period, and four schools dropped by two ranks.
“This however shows that the vast majority schools are keen on improving their standards, and we hope to see further progress during the next evaluation. The Irtiqaa system is meant to foster improvement rather than pointing out school shortcomings,” Al Daheri said.
In addition, nearly 35,000 questionnaires have been filled out by parents and these are also accessible alongside the inspection reports.
Officials also highlighted that schools are expected to submit an annual development plan based on the inspection reports. These plans will help the Adec to monitor and support the institution’s continuous development.
By Samihah Zaman Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
