Foreign educators will inspect Dubai schools

Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority has announced in May an agreement with the Department for Education of England to deliver British Schools Overseas inspections in strategic cooperation with CfBT Education Trust. The announcement coincided with the visit to KHDA by John Hayes, UK Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning.

However, how such development will affect students and parents in Dubai remains to be seen. Would more parents opt to enroll their children in British schools?

The announcement of KHDA says that British Schools Overseas inspections will enable parents, the school and other stakeholders to see how the school measures up against the standards that apply to independent schools in the UK, taking into account local requirements. This is also an absolutely necessary measure that will help justifying the high tuition fees these schools charge.

However, in terms of quality of education, the effect is somewhat doubtful. For example, British schools in Dubai are notoriously popular for having difficulties in teaching Arabic, which is the country’s official language, and other foreign languages such as French or Spanish. A big issue for non-British students who attend British schools is also the limited program in history. British schools teach English history for most of the primary and middle school years, which is not really relevant to the Middle Eastern region.

According to KHDA’s announcement, to qualify for BSO inspection, schools must be able to demonstrate that their curriculum and ethos are related to British culture. If they meet the standards, they will be recognised by DfE.

At present, in Dubai reside approximately 70,000 expatriates of British origin, who apparently are given the incredible opportunity to enroll their children into 54 private schools that offer their country’s curriculum. All together, the private schools in Dubai are approximately 150 utilizing nearly 20 different curriculums.

So, would an opportunity be given to other countries’ education representatives to inspect schools in Dubai? In such case, government administrators from nearly 20 countries would have to make trips abroad and cooperate closely with the Dubai’s government authority for private schools, the KHDA. At present, this is a brand new system that is not yet heard-off elswhere. Experience has not yet proven its results and achievements.

The KHDA announcements also says the CfBT will offer BSO inspections to Dubai’s 54 British curriculum-based schools in conjunction with the inspections conducted annually by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau. To be classified as ‘British’ by KHDA, schools will need to undergo BSO inspections.

Guy Warrington, Her Majesty’s Consul General in Dubai told the media: “There is already a strong partnership between the UK and the UAE in the field of education.” This is an indisputable fact, with so many British educational facilities spread around Dubai and the United Kingdom luring Middle Eastern students to their campuses.

However, there is always another side to the story. With education a big business in Dubai, British schools are also large recruiters for U.K nationals, who are of course native English speakers. A primary teacher at the Dubai’s Repton school explained how and why she embraced the profession: “In the U.K., the recession is very tough and there are no jobs. I saw an advertisement by the Education Council promising jobs abroad to young people who wish to teach English.” After she applied, she underwent training and then secured a teaching job  in Japan for two years and later moved to Dubai. Altogether, such an opportunity sounds great for people struggling to find jobs in difficult economic environment.

Other countries around the world utilize one unified curriculum developed by their ministries of education in accordance to the needs of the population. They are hosts to very few foreign schools, maintained mainly for the needs of diplomatic corpuses.