KHDA published the second Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) Annual Report which details the progress made by schools since the start of inspections in 2008. The Annual Report provides an overview of the strengths of schools in Dubai and areas requiring improvement in both public and private schools. The report identifies a number of success stories and describes how KHDA is working with all schools to help improve the standard of education in Dubai.
Comparing the first and second annual reports, Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of KHDA explained that the first cycle of inspections provided comprehensive information regarding the performance of schools in Dubai. The second cycle measured the progress that has been made in the schools.
Dr Abdulla Al Karam stated that the report describes the efforts that public and private schools have made to raise their standards. He added; “All of us have the responsibility to help improve education and everyone shares in the task to support the schools in our community. The progress made by schools during last year is encouraging and we are looking forward to seeing further improvements in the future. KHDA and schools share this responsibilityâ€.
Dr Abdullah added, “We now have a practical tool to analyse the level of educational services provided in public and private schools and we can therefore make recommendations and focus our efforts in the areas we know require improvement. DSIB Inspection reports, alongside schools’ participation in international assessments, such as TIMSS and PISA, give us the evidence and data we needed to focus accurately on future prioritiesâ€.
The Annual Report for 2009 to 2010 points out that almost nine out of every ten schools in Dubai provide an education of at least acceptable quality. Three public schools were judged to provide an outstanding quality of education overall. Other key findings include;
· There are examples of good schools among those that offer all the main types of curriculum
· Almost four out of ten schools in Dubai are good or outstanding
· People in Dubai now have access to a good quality of education regardless of the curriculum they select
· Seven schools rated unsatisfactory overall in 2008-2009 have made marked progress, but the rest continue to offer students an unsatisfactory quality of education
· More than one in ten of the private schools in Dubai are unsatisfactory
· Two thirds of the unsatisfactory schools are private schools and one third are public
Recommendations for schools include the following:
Public schools
· Public schools should develop robust systems for the continuous assessment of students’ attainment and progress in the key subjects
· Public schools should develop better benchmarks comparing the academic performance of their students against those in other schools in Dubai and elsewhere in the world
· Public schools should improve their systems for monitoring academic progress and for ensuring that older students receive reliable, high quality information and advice about higher education choices
Private schools
· All private schools should ensure their compliance with Ministry of Education requirements regarding the time allocated for teaching Islamic Education and Arabic
· Schools should develop standards to enable teachers to measure the attainment and progress in Arabic of students who are learning it as an additional language
· Schools should develop the means through which they can compare the academic performance of their students against those who attend similar schools in Dubai and elsewhere in the world
· Schools should ensure that the processes for the care and welfare of students
Jameela Al Muhairi, Chief of DSIB, stated that the inspection reports, considered alongside the annual report, provided parents with comprehensive and detailed information regarding all schools in Dubai. She explained, “The data and information we provide can help parents make informed decisions regarding their children’s education. It is most encouraging that parents in Dubai can find a high quality of education for their children as there are good schools following all of the main curricula in Dubaiâ€.
Jameela added, “We are encouraged to see that 28 private and public schools progressed this year. The emerging partnerships between schools in Dubai are another positive feature arising from the fact that good practice is now being shared between schools. However, important work remains to be done. Private schools providing the Ministry of Education curriculum need to improve before the next cycle of inspection. They face many challenges and DSIB will support these schools as we support other schools to help them improve. This report is an important step because it identifies common issues and ways in which schools in Dubai have successfully tackled their weaknessesâ€.
During the past month our website has received 108,000 visits to read our inspection reports which were published on-line in May 2010. From this number, 98,000 visits were from inside the UAE, and 10,000 were from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UK, US and India. This reflects the importance of DSIB’s work and the relevance of the reports for parents and the wider community.
Between October 2009 and March 2010, the DSIB team visit more than 15,000 classes and interviewed 1500 students and teachers, and parents of around than 80,000 parents completed on-line questionnaires which asked questions about their children’s education.
