Nursery should be more tailored to each child’s needs, experts say

Having native-language speakers and better-qualified staff at nurseries will also help provide an encouraging learning environment for young children.

Parents are encouraged to do their research when selecting a nursery to meet the needs of their child. Alex Atack for The National

DUBAI // A focus on individuals and a customised curriculum aimed at speeding up learning should be the focus of nursery education in the UAE, according to experts.

Native speakers and better-qualified staff would help provide an encouraging learning environment, they said.

“We focus on 12 areas of development and have curricula for each development area, which are key skills for this day and age,” said Karen Kelly, global head for Early Years Curriculum and Training at Safari Kid, a US-based nurseries company with a presence in Dubai.

She said nursery education had changed over the years, from day-care provision to a more focused, curriculum-based agenda aimed at getting children prepared to attend school full-time.

“There is a growing need for evaluation in how early education is treated, where the emphasis must be given on overall cognitive development.”

Ms Kelly advised parents to do research before enrolling their child and to look for an environment that develops the needs of their child.

To help improve standards at UAE nurseries, the Ministry of Social Affairs has introduced a code of conduct.

The regulations are for both public and private facilities and include training sessions for teachers and supervisors, as well as a warning and fining system.

The move has been welcomed by parents in Dubai.

“It’s so hard to judge which are the best nurseries in Dubai. A lot of the time you have to rely on word of mouth,” said Canadian Melissa Berg, mother of an 18-month-old daughter.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai’s education regulator, provides inspection reports on nurseries attached to private schools in the emirate.

Standalone nurseries, however, are regulated by the Ministry of Education and the reports on these are not made public.

Jamie Musacchio, a director at the Wisdom Warehouse, a tutoring centre in Al Barsha that caters for struggling elementary school pupils, believed nursery children should be taught by native-language speakers.

“Nursery-aged children are just learning how to form sentences and they should learn to do so in the proper syntax.”

Another area in need of addressing was the lack of qualified staff at many nurseries.

“In countries such as New Zealand nursery teachers are highly qualified, with degrees,” said Judith Finnemore, a managing consultant at Education Consulting and School Improvement.

“Play is not merely to entertain, it has a specific purpose and the teacher will create opportunities that steer learning.”