Al Khaili: Transparency is key to performance development and learning outcomes quality improvement
Abu Dhabi, March 16, 2011: His Excellency Dr. Mugheer Al Khaili highlighted the importance of adopting clear and objective methods of assessment to determine the strengths and the areas to be improved pertaining to the administrative and teaching staff, as the correct evaluation process should serve as a road map to design and develop training plans in a scientific codified manner that will have a positive impact on the educational system and guarantee the improvement of learning outcomes to comply with global standards.
That was during the extensive meeting with 300 Abu Dhabi public school principals held at the Sorbonne University campus in Al Reem Island in order to discuss the school performance assessment methodology. The audience has had the chance to submit questions and general inquiries. H. E. Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, ADEC's Director General, Mr. Mohamed Salem Al Dhaheri, School Operations Executive Director, and Mr. Salem Al Sayari, Support services Sector Director, as well as a number of head of departments from the Regional offices of ADEC, attended the meeting.
Al Khaili added that the new assessment methodology adopted by the Council and that have been developed over the past months on the basis of the best global assessment models is a quantum leap in the evaluation practice that we seek to implement in the educational field. This new evaluation methodology is not based on a fail - pass model, instead it is a means to determine the needs and skills required to improve the performance of the principal or the teacher who has been evaluated, in addition to new skills and strengths development of a large group of those who are evaluated and make the best of them.
During the question - Answer session, Al Khaili stressed on the importance of enhancing transparency in the educational field and the removal of barriers among all; he also stressed that all staff, whether teachers or administrators, have the right to express their opinions thoughts and observations to the Council, along with the right to have them openly discussed and to obtain feedback. He also mentioned that exchanging ideas and observations in a flexible and transparent manner will pave the way to achieve convergence between all parties concerned in the educational process, beginning with students and parents through teachers and administrators up to decision makers. This will help build up the conviction of all parties which is an essential factor for the success of any project or initiative.
Al Khaili called the audience to participate in enhancing the teacher's status and in the dissemination of concepts that would promote teacher's respect within the educational environment and in the broader community, because the success of the educational process and the success of all initiatives and strategies depends on the teacher's readiness to perform his role efficiently and in confidence and belief in the importance of the message he carries.
During the meeting, Dr. Masood Badri, director of research at the Abu Dhabi Education Council, gave a presentation on assessing the efficiency of performance in public schools in which he reviewed the level of the relative efficiency of performance assessment applied to urban areas schools in Abu Dhabi through the use of the method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The following secondary schools achieved a high level of over-all performance in school management and were awarded: Abu Dhabi Secondary School, Qatr Al Nada secondary school, Al Mawaheb model school, Al Mutanabi Secondary School and Al Etihad model secondary school.
Later on, the 300 school principals took part in workshops about public school performance assessment, those workshops were focused on the objectives of the new assessment process, in addition to the evaluation methodology and standards that underpin them. An overwhelming response was recorded from participants with a great willingness to adopt the new assessment model perspective.
School administrations: This meeting answered all our inquiries
For their part, school principals expressed their satisfaction with the meeting's outcomes, as it responded to all concerns in relation to the mechanisms of school performance assessment and improvement, in addition to questions about the rewards and incentives as well as those issues related to teaching Arabic and English, and efforts to strengthen national identity among students.
Mohammed Amin Al Zarouni, Sultan bin Zayed school principal, said the workshop gave both the council and the principals the opportunity to exchange information and ideas, and to learn about ADEC's plans, programs and efforts during the past period, which we should be aware of as educators.
Turkia Hassan Al Marzooki, Al Jawhara school principal found the workshop very interesting and said that it eliminated a lot of ambiguity, also helped to calm the anxiety that the principals felt. "Dr. Mugheer has given us the drive and motivation to work hard, and, given the great benefit we had through this workshop, we asked in the questionnaire that was distributed for a similar workshop".
Mohamed Kader Sulaiman, Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib school principal said that the workshop included many important points such as the process of assessing schools and their staff and assessment mechanisms which we need to know in detail so we can achieve the desired outcomes. He added that now, the picture is 95% now, and will reach 100% upon the next meeting which will be held in April.
On the other hand, Mariam Desouki AlRehab School principal said that the workshop was excellent as this is a new assessment process based on the Council's strategic plans to upgrade the educational process, this requires further clarification in order to keep the required level in terms of practice. The traditional assessment is no longer valid nor able to cope with the global progress, such meetings and workshops bring a lot of support to the communication process within the Educational institutions.
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© Press Release 2011
