The establishment of the Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards can be an important measure in strengthening the education system. It will align qualification requirements, and should ultimately raise the quality of teaching. Anyone wishing to work in our schools – whether as teachers or principals – will need to prove the adequacy of their professional knowledge. Fair enough. It is, after all, the least we should expect of our children’s teachers.
Of course, the project is still in its early stages, and a few hiccups can be expected. Last year, a pilot programme was launched in Abu Dhabi and Dubai before the first phase of the programme’s introduction across the country in the next academic year. More than 200 teachers were selected in Dubai and 400 in Abu Dhabi. These teachers went through the full process, from writing a lengthy self-assessment to completing a training programme and then, finally, taking the all-important exam.
In Dubai, more than half the 223 applicants failed. Among those who didn’t make the grade, 67 will need to complete English-language training. Fifty will have to resit the course.
It isn’t entirely clear how the disappointing results came about. But as we said, hiccups can be expected. For now, maybe it might be useful to match the results with the KHDA’s schools evaluation system. A more comprehensive understanding of the health of our education system might be had if we were to find that teachers who do well in the new standards programme also come from schools that perform admirably in the inspection regime. That is to say, good teachers equal good schools. Conversely, if teachers who didn’t fare well in the exam should come from schools struggling in the lower reaches of the league table, that would confirm the obverse. If such a correlation can be determined, it would show schools – and parents – where the dots need joining. Of course, should there not be a match between exam results and school standing, a wider rethink will be needed.
With feedback from teachers and school leaders, authorities now can begin to evaluate the nascent licensing process and, if necessary, fine tune it. Teaching licences, insofar as they standardise acceptable minimum standards of professionalism expected of our teachers, are a way of ensuring uniform quality across the school system. Let’s make sure it works.
Company%20Profile
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 374hp at 5,500-6,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm from 1,900-5,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.5L/100km
Price: from Dh285,000
On sale: from January 2022
Britain's travel restrictions
- A negative test 2 days before flying
- Complete passenger locator form
- Book a post-arrival PCR test
- Double-vaccinated must self-isolate
- 11 countries on red list quarantine
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5