ABU DHABI // Government inspectors say corporal punishment, a high number of lessons for which teachers are absent and staff turnover are among major challenges they have found in public schools.
The Abu Dhabi Education Council visited 262 public schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region between March 2013 and June this year, in the first cycle of inspections to find areas needing improvement.
The findings were shared with public school leaders at the annual Irtiqa’a School Inspection Conference on sunday.
“We found a high level of non-attendance of teachers in schools,” said Balqees Al Hemeiri, manager of Adec’s inspection department. “We found that for about 60 lessons, the teachers are not there.”
Ms Al Hemeiri said teachers who filled in for those who were absent acted only as monitors.
“This is actually a real challenge that affects the improvement of the school.”
Ms Al Hemeiri said that in a few schools, inspectors noted “the problem of the use of violence and beating”.
The results found some leaders were not capable of improving the school, and behavioural problems in boys’ schools were not dealt with effectively.
Inspectors said that in some schools the quality of teaching was not high enough and did not meet the learning needs of all pupils.
“We hope we can work together to improve those points and enhance them to achieve the vision of high-quality education,” Ms Al Hemeiri said.
On a more positive note, she said inspectors found common strengths in high-performing state schools. “The leadership in those schools have great aspirations in relation to the students,” Ms Al Hemeiri said.
“Those schools always have innovative solutions for the problems they have. They make the best use of their facilities and resources.”
Successful schools were found to be safe, secure and in high-quality buildings, she said. Their staff promoted skills needed for the modern world, while also focusing on UAE heritage and culture, and built positive relationships with their pupils.
Although inspection reports for private schools are published on Adec’s website at the end of each inspection cycle, detailed results of the public schools assessments will not be available to the public until 2017, said Hamad Al Dhaheri, executive director of Adec’s private schools division.
“You need to understand this is the first inspection cycle of public schools,” Mr Al Dhaheri said. “This is the baseline. We need to understand what their level is and based on that we will build on an improvement plan.
“This is our objective, to improve the quality across all the schools.”
As part of the unified inspection system that took effect this year, public and private schools are judged on pupils’ achievements, personal and social development, innovation skills, protection, care and guidance.
Also under scrutiny are teaching and assessment, curriculum, and leadership and management.
Dr Mugheer Al Khaili, acting director general of Adec, said about 25 public schools had been inspected as part of the second cycle of assessments, which started this academic year and will be completed by 2017. He said progress in those schools was already apparent.
“The initial results are really good and that means the leaders in the schools learnt from the first round, understood what was needed, really worked hard to focus on the weaknesses and started to improve dramatically,” Dr Al Khaili said.
Khawla Barley, an American mother of three Emirati children who spent most of their primary years in public schools, said public school reports should be published.
“The parents have a right to know what’s really happening in the schools – transparency is transparency,” Mrs Barley said. “If Adec feels parents have a right to know what’s happening in the private schools, then they have a right to know what’s happening in the public schools. There shouldn’t be a double standard.”
There are about 130,000 pupils – most of whom are Emirati – enrolled in Adec’s 255 public schools.
Of the 230,000 students attending the emirate’s 185 private schools, about 25 per cent are Emirati, Adec’s website says.rpennington@thenational.ae