Dubai schools told to 'collaborate' not 'compete'

Dubai school principals and head teachers met at an event organised by the Knowledge and Health Development Authority (KHDA) to chart out ways to improve the education system in the emirate.

The report card of the first few weeks of this new academic year for most Dubai private schools appear promising.

The principals and senior teachers from Dubai’s private schools collaborated and shared their thoughts at an event titled ‘What Works’.

It featured school-led presentations focusing on key teaching, learning and school management areas, such as supporting students with special education needs, the use of ICT and parent engagement strategies.

“KHDA seeks to engage schools in focusing and sharing this expertise and positive practice to build on what’s going well,” elaborated Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Director General of KHDA.

Content for the 16 presentations was managed by senior educators from Al Ittihad Private School Jumeirah, Dubai Modern High School, Jumeirah  English Speaking School and Taaleem.

The educators were asked to remain united in their effort to impart education of superior quality, and not be sidetracked by competition.

By sharing their success formula, it will help the educators guarantee a high quality of education for every school student in Dubai, reasoned Ashok Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of Indian High School.

“We found that when schools collaborate openly in a focused manner, it results in better teaching and school practices, and student achievement,” added Dubai-based educator and researcher Sonia Ben Jaafar.

Apart from understanding that ‘debating sessions’ can be used to improve the overall development and presentation skills of its students, the event also focused on improving the teaching of Islamic Education and Arabic, and how schools could improve their grading recorded by the Dubai Schools Inspections Bureau (DSIB).

“There is ample evidence that when schools work together and collaborate, they generate innovative initiatives that end up helping to improve both individual school as well as system wide-performance,” stated Ernesto Cuadra, Lead Education Specialist at The World Bank.

“Education practitioners, managers and policy makers should work towards finding ways of providing incentives to foster a culture of school collaboration in order to unleash creativity and innovation.”

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