Emirati teachers will shape nation

Attracting good quality candidates to careers in education is important to the UAE.

In an attempt to raise the number of Emiratis choosing careers in education, salary structures in Abu Dhabi’s public schools are being adjusted. As The National reported yesterday, female teachers, principals and administrative staff will receive pay rises of up to 35 per cent from January.

The initiative, announced by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), also covers classroom assistants for special-needs pupils, career counsellors, laboratory technicians, information and communication technology officers, management coordinators, registrars and school business coordinators.

As Adec’s director general, Dr Mugheer Al Khalili, has pointed out, the move is a necessary and timely one, given that fewer than half of Abu Dhabi’s teachers are Emirati and that there has been a decline in the number of Emiratis studying to be teachers. In his view, this will lead to a lack of Emirati role models in classrooms, putting pupils at risk of losing their national identity and values.

If successful, the new strategy will increase the overall number of Emirati teachers in public schools. But other issues exist: including the imbalance in the numbers of male and female teachers. Men, and especially Emirati men, are under-represented in the profession, accounting for only 420 out of the 13,800 public-school teachers in the emirate.

A male presence in classrooms is important to provide strong role models and maintain discipline among boys. Further incentives may be needed to redress this imbalance.

While the situation is being addressed in public schools, the lack of Emirati teachers is even more of a problem in private schools. In May, one principal told a meeting of FNC members and education officials about the difficulties of recruiting Emiratis due to the lower salaries and benefits being offered in the private sector.

In both sectors, if schools are going to attract Emirati teachers, they must convince suitable candidates that there are genuine opportunities for advancement. As Dr Salama Al Amimi, Adec’s executive director of organisational development, said in a recent speech: “We want Emirati graduates to know that they can expect career growth.”

Good teachers are essential, because they will not only shape the future of their own pupils but that of the whole nation.