Teachers are the backbone of an education system
Over the past three decades, the education system in the UAE has witnessed significant improvement. Thirty six years ago, UAE started the education process with a handful of schools, mostly for boys. Today, all UAE citizens have easy and free access to schooling from grades K-12.
At the higher education level, the provision of free education in various fields and sprawling higher education college and university campuses are nothing short of an astonishing gift by the political leadership of the UAE to its people. Like other Gulf countries, girls in the UAE have benefited enormously from the educational programs of the government. This is evidenced by higher percentage of girls enrolled and their high performance in all stages of education in the UAE.
A major focus of the political leadership and officials of Ministry of Education in the UAE nowadays is enhancing the educational quality at all levels. This is especially true for grades K-12, where the foundation for lifelong learning is laid for the students. It is common knowledge that in addition to good curriculum and textbooks, appropriate school buildings, and availability of learning materials, schools need qualified and dedicated teachers. Without adequately qualified teachers, all other educational inputs could prove to be of little value. A South Korean educator rightly pointed out that “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachersâ€.
The issue of teachers and teaching is of special significance in the UAE. With heavy reliance on foreign teachers and with only the first generation of local Emiratis attending local universities, the UAE education system faces challenges in creating a pool of qualified local teachers who can take the leadership role in the sustainable improvement of educational outputs in the country. Of the approximately 22,000 teachers in the country, 43% are local Emirati females and the remaining are foreign male or female teachers. Also, whereas access to higher educational opportunities has opened the doors of employment in the education sector for Emirati females, Emirati men are not attracted by the education sector. According to official data, only 4.5% of the total teaching force in the country comprises of Emirati men. Currently, only 14 young Emirati men are learning to be teachers or school administrators in Emirates College for Advance Education (ECAE).
Due to lack of qualified Emirati men for teaching positions, the Ministry of Education has no other option but to hire foreign Arab male teachers to teach boys in middle and secondary classes. The Ministry of Education data shows that local Emirati female teachers tend to be a bit more qualified than foreign male teachers. This may explain the current educational quality imbalance between boys’ and girls’ schools with the latter performing better than the former.
Improving the qualification of existing teaching force is an area where significant attention is needed. The Ministry of Education recently introduced new qualification criteria for teaching positions in the country. According to the new teacher qualification framework, a person with a bachelor’s degree in a subject and at least 18 hours of educational courses is now qualified to teach in a school in the UAE. According to the Ministry of Education statistics, 67% of male and 45% of female teachers have a bachelor’s degree in the subject that they are teaching but they do not, yet, have the specialized training for teaching their subject. In other words, these teachers do not have the 18 hours of teacher training as prescribed under the new teacher qualification criteria. To bring all the teachers to fulfill the new qualification parameters, MoE would have to set aside major resources for existing teachers’ training and development in the UAE.
Another issue related to the above point is the continuous supply of trained teachers for grades 7-12, especially for math and science related subjects. According to a March 2008 survey of teachers which was conducted by ECSSR, a majority of the Emirati females (72%) who are currently learning to be teachers in the UAE are planning to teach at the basic education level after graduating from teacher training colleges . Due to the rising costs of living, qualified men from other Arab countries are not too keen on taking up teaching positions in the UAE. This means that in the coming years the Ministry of Education would need special plans and incentives for finding and hiring qualified teachers (both male and female) for teaching math and science subjects in grades 6-12.
In addition, establishing and financing continuous and regular in-service training programs for teachers would certainly benefit the education quality enhancement efforts of the government. To do this, the Ministry of Education may consider partnering with education departments of local colleges and universities, such as Higher Colleges of Technology, Zayed University, and other private institutions. After school or evening training programs, where teachers can enhance their qualifications, would be useful for students and schools. However, for such an effort to be successful, MoE could consider providing monetary incentives to teachers so that they take interest in improving their own teaching skills.
Teachers are the backbone of an education system. A country which is striving to have the best local human resource to run its machinery cannot afford to ignore the importance of qualified teachers. By investing heavily in teachers’ development in the UAE, the political leadership would show, once again, its commitment to world class education for its citizens and the creation of a vibrant local human resource. Derek Curtis Bok, a renowned scholar in the USA once said “If you think education is expensive, try ignoranceâ€. Investing more money in teachers and improving the quality of education now would certainly lead to long term financial and social benefits for the UAE society and its people.
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