Dubai Recognised For Pioneering Education System
Last night saw the launch of CfBT Education Trust’s, new report: ‘Interesting Cities: five approaches to urban reform.’
The report compares the approaches used to improve schools standards in five diverse global cities across the world: Dubai, London, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Ho Chi Minh City.
As one of the cities featured in the report and the highest PISA ranking country in the Middle East, the charity chose the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government in Dubai, to officially launch the study.
The KHDA’s director general, Dr Abdulla Al Karam said at the launch, “the Interesting Cities report allows us to look outwards – to share the best of what we do and to learn the best of what others are doing. We are happy to be part of a global community and work with local and international partners to improve the quality of education for students not just in Dubai, but around the world.”
The report highlighted several key findings from the five cities featured. It's hoped these will then help other countries to improve their educational standards.
The key findings included: consistent government policy over many years, the forging of strong coalitions between parents, teachers and the government; increasing both accountability and support for teachers and ensuring school-to-school collaboration.
The report also singles out the need to create an educational culture which combines high expectations, transparency and good opportunities for professional development as the single most significant factor in education reform.
Speakers at the event highlighted the work undertaken by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) in Dubai, and how collaboration and good governance have contributed in the provision of good education for students in Dubai.
Dr Abdulla Al Karam said at the event, “in the past seven years, we’ve engaged with local schools, teachers, parents and partners to provide meaningful information which has helped improve the quality of teaching and learning significantly in Dubai.”
School to School Collaboration
Of particular note to parents in Dubai will be the finding that successful education systems require school-to-school collaboration. The cities which performed the best sought to, “strike a balance between creating momentum for change through competition, while at the same time making possible different forms of collaboration across schools.”
Steve Munby, chief executive at CfBT Education Trust said, “schools benefit from competition but the study shows how schools also need collaboration. I have been particularly impressed in Dubai by the What Works movement through which the education community regularly come together to learn from each other and share good practice.”
And, while the KHDA’s ‘What Works’ programme has surely helped develop Dubai's ‘school to school’ collaboration, the news that 26 new schools will open in 2016, could stifle any potential 'school-led' collaboration efforts as institutions in the city become more concerned by increasing competition for both students and teaching staff.
However, ‘collaboration’ comes in many forms and one point of interest noted was the tendency to link together high-performing and low-performing schools in order to close the gap in learning, could we potentially see more of this type of collaboration in the near future?
Accountability
The report highlighted methods good institutions utilised to improve accountability, including: school inspections, teacher performance management and the publication of student test results. However, it went on to note that, "in every case there was also a recognition that accountability was not enough; teachers also needed access to high quality support through, for example, the provision of better resources and better training."
