KHDA Inspection Report 2014/15: Early Years Education

With one-fifth of Dubai’s student population currently enrolled in Early-Years Education, the KHDA recognises both the significance and magnitude of the sector.

“Every year, DSIB [Dubai School Inspection Board] specialised inspectors report on the quality of provision in Dubai’s Early Years programmes. Inspection findings indicate that there have been significant improvements in children’s progress in mathematics, English and science. There were also improvements in the quality of curriculum design and modification, teaching, learning skills and assessment. These improvements were more evident over last two years of inspection,” said the report.

Key Early Years Achievements

Since KHDA inspections began in 2008/9, there’s been a fall of 14 percent in ‘Unsatisfactory’ rated learning skills and a jump of 15 percent in those rated ‘Outstanding.’

Assessments within the early years have improved significantly with those ranked ‘Good’ and above rising from 29 percent in 2008/9 to 59 percent this year.

Teaching in Early Years has seen a doubling in what was rated ‘Outstanding’ from only nine percent in 2008/9 to 18 percent in 2014/15.

The curriculum too, has seen a positive improvement, with a rise of 35 percentage points since 2008/9.

The report highlights the improvements in Early Years health and safety provision as one of the most impressive improvements to date, noting, “In 2014-2015, 90% of schools had good or better provision for health and safety in the early years, compared to 62% in 2008. These results indicate that school leaders and staff are increasingly realising the importance of providing a safe and secure environment for young children in order to maximise their learning through play.”