report gives first-ever picture of what dubai’s schools are really like

The first evidence-based report on Dubai schools has been published by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB).
The Annual Report 2009 gives an overview of the 189 schools, private and Government, which were inspected between October 2008 and April 2009.
Summary reports of the schools are on the website of the Knowledge and Human Development authority at www.khda.gov.ae , and each school has a full report running to about 20 pages. The Annual Report has been compiled using the data from these reports.
Its main findings are:
? Nine out of 10 schools provides an education of at least acceptable quality
? Four out of every 10 schools are good or outstanding
? Six out of 10 schools provides an education that is not of the good quality expected of schools in Dubai
? Half the good schools are private and half are public
? Some private schools are outstanding (2.1%) but 15.6% are unsatisfactory
? 117,320 pupils in Dubai get an education that is between acceptable and outstanding, but 20,355 pupils attend schools that provide an unsatisfactory education
? Three-quarters of the unsatisfactory schools are private
? There are no outstanding public schools
The inspectors put schools into four categories: Outstanding, Good, Acceptable and Unsatisfactory. These were divided like this:
Public schools: Good, 32; Acceptable, 43; Unsatisfactory, 5. None was outstanding.
Private schools: Outstanding, 4; Good, 34; Acceptable, 54; and Unsatisfactory, 17.
By percentage, this means that 2.1% of Dubai’s schools are outstanding; 34.9% are Good; 51.3% are Acceptable; and 11.6% are Unsatisfactory.
This is a summary of the inspectors’ findings in key areas (there is more detail in the Annual Report):
 
Students’ progress in the key subjects
Students are making acceptable progress overall, but are not yet making sufficient progress in
speaking and writing Arabic and English. Where they are in segregated schools, girls make better
progress than boys in the five key subjects (Arabic, Islamic Studies, English, maths and science). Practical science skills are not well developed in many public and private schools. In public schools, and where students are learning English as an additional language, students’ English language skills are under-developed and expectations, particularly in terms of students’ writing and speaking, are not sufficiently high. The students’ ability to use mathematics to solve problems is weak.
In private schools, students’ skills in Arabic require improvement. Almost 20% of students make
unsatisfactory progress. In Islamic Studies students make better progress in the public schools than
in the private schools.
 
Personal and social development
Almost all students have good attitudes to learning. In most schools students behave well. They are
keen to learn, are attentive and work hard on the tasks they are set.
 
Teaching and learning
Most teaching is acceptable and, in around a third of all lessons, it is good or outstanding. However,
in public schools and poorly performing private schools, the students often take little part in lessons,
which are dominated by the teachers talking.
 
Assessment
Assessment is unsatisfactory in more than a quarter of all schools. As a result, many students do not
have a clear idea of their strengths and weaknesses or how to improve their work.
 
Curriculum
The curriculum meets the educational needs of students to an acceptable level in most schools.
However, in schools providing the Ministry of Education curriculum, and in many schools offering a
US curriculum, students are not equipped well for university or employment.
 
Protection and support
The quality of health care is good or outstanding in most schools. School nurses, doctors and social
workers help to ensure good levels of support for students and their families.
 
Leadership and management
Students make the most progress and achieve the best examination outcomes in schools where
there is strong leadership and effective management teams. Leadership and management are
unsatisfactory in around 20% of private schools and in a similar proportion of boys’ public schools.
 
Self-evaluation
Almost all schools do not have sufficiently rigorous systems to review their own work.
 
Governance
Governance in all public and many private schools is insufficiently developed to provide an appropriate
level of local accountability and support.
 
Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, said: “Unbiased and objective evaluation is the first step towards developing our education system.
 
“We believe in accountability and transparency: to find out how things really are and then to motivate everyone involved in the education system to be better.
 
“Everyone benefits if we push ourselves to improve, rather than sit back and think we are already the best we can be.”
Unbiased and objective evaluation
Jameela Al Muhairi, Chief of DSIB, said: “We are happy to have so much detailed information about our schools and we are sure that schools will use these insights with care and consideration. I am confident that our inspections have given parents a clearer picture of their child’s school.
“Over the coming year, we hope that schools will be able to work on lifting themselves into a higher category. We have six out of 10 of our schools judged to be Unsatisfactory or Acceptable. The reason behind doing inspections is so that schools will be able to raise their standards. We would like to see many more schools get into the Good or Outstanding categories.
“We hope now that school principals and owners can open up a conversation about their schools, and that teachers and parents will all get involved in sharing information and creating schools that are the best they can be.”
All inspection findings must be rooted in evidence, and the inspection process itself was subject to quality assurance. Once the inspection was completed, schools were given the opportunity to verify the findings for factual accuracy.
Schools in Dubai are evaluated against seven key quality indicators that have been developed from internationally accepted standards based on research in school effectiveness:
? How good is the progress of students?
? How good is the personal and social development of students?
? How good is the teaching and learning?
? How well does the curriculum meet the educational needs of all students?
? How well does the school protect and support students?
? How good are the leadership and management of the school?
? How well does the school perform overall?
Teams of three to five inspectors spent between two and five days in schools, depending on the size of the school and the number of students. Two-thirds of their time was spent in lessons, observing how well students learnt and made progress, looking at their books and talking to students about their work.
In addition, inspectors had formal interviews with students to find out how they felt about school and how well the school was preparing them for the future. Inspectors also conducted interviews with staff about their responsibilities in school regarding the quality of care, health and safety of students.
In schools where the overall performance is deemed as ‘Unsatisfactory’, the school will be mandated to implement the Bureau’s recommendations for improvement, they will be required to produce an action plan and make the plan available to the Inspection Bureau and to parents. In the case of Public schools, they will do so in collaboration with the Schools Agency.
For more information, please go to www.khda.gov.ae and follow the link to the DSIB reports.
About the Knowledge and Human Development Authority
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is responsible for the future growth, direction and quality of education and learning in Dubai. We aim to support the people of Dubai in achieving their potential from birth and through life’s journey as we work towards achieving the goals set out in the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015.
 
About the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau
The Dubai Schools Inspections Bureau within the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) was developed to define and measure education quality in order to support the improvement of education in Dubai.
The Bureau  provides:
? An inspection service that produces independent, comprehensive assessment of educational standards and school performance for every school in Dubai, both public and private;
? KHDA, the Government of Dubai and the public with an accurate and detailed view of the quality of school education in Dubai in relation to the educationally best performing countries in the world.