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29 March 2024

Why your child will return with big smile from school

Published
By Sneha May Francis

Dubai’s students are found to be some of the happiest in the world.

This was highlighted in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report that was released by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) on Monday.

The PISA is an international study that offers insights to all stakeholders in education by assessing the skills of 15-year-old students in three key areas of reading, mathematics and science.

The latest PISA shows 85% of Dubai’s students are happy at their schools.

This is above the global average of 80%.

In the global standing, Dubai ranks third, alongside Shanghai-China, while Singapore ranked first at 88% and Hong Kong-China came second at 86%.

United Kingdom recorded 83%, New Zealand and Canada marked 81%, while United States was at 80%.

These ratings take into account a range of factors including teacher satisfaction, student confidence and the impact of extra-curricular activities on education.

According to it, “A sense of belonging reflects how connected students feel with their school and peers. Students tend to thrive when they form positive relationships and feel at ease in school”.

The PISA found that teachers do significantly contribute to the formation of students’ self-belief and promote greater engagement with school.

The research also shows significant effects on student skills if they had access to creative extracurricular activities like musical, theatrical and artistic activities at school.

“In Dubai, schools with an inspection rating of outstanding reported the highest level of extracurricular activities with a creative focus. Approximately one-third of all students in acceptable schools reported not having any access to these activities while this was true of 43% of students at unsatisfactory schools.”

The PISA also shows that students enrolled in the UK and IB curricula in Dubai are outperforming students in British schools.

British curriculum students in the emirate averaged mean scores of between 508 and 526 across four subjects, including mathematics, reading, science and problem solving. IB students in Dubai averaged between 517 and 561, while UK schools averaged scores of between 494 and 517 on the same tests.

Although the emirate’s overall results were below the national average, there was an 11 point improvement in mathematics, 9 point improvement in reading and 8 point improvement in science from 2009.

Among the 65 participants in PISA 2012, Dubai ranked 42nd in mathematics, 43rd in reading and 40th in science.

Students from IB and UK curriculum schools achieved the highest results, while students from MoE and Pakistani curriculum schools achieved the lowest.

A total of 4,947 students participated in PISA 2012.