Abu Dhabi: For the forthcoming academic year, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) will be introducing new initiatives that aim to raise educational standards, encourage students to read more and incorporate the Emirati culture into education.
The initiatives include new textbooks for science and English across kindergarten to Grade 5. The English language textbooks will be accompanied by a teacher’s and parent’s guide as well as a digital component. Similarly, Arabic language teachers will be given guidebooks and digital paper resources to support their work in class.
Adec’s Curriculum Division Manager, Dr Karima Al Mazroui, noted that teachers of KG to Grade 5 have been equipped with over 50,000 digital elements.
Additionally, Adec has introduced new changes to 102 Grade 6 schools in Abu Dhabi.
Arabic, English, mathematics, and science will be taught six periods a week with each period being 45 minutes.
For the first time, students will have a new subject called “Integrated Social Studies”, which combines history, geography, social studies, national education, economics, psychology, sociology, and career guidance. The six units (books) for the subject were developed in cooperation with National Geographic.
“Integrated Social Studies will be taught three periods a week and has been especially designed to help strengthen a student’s cultural and national identity while guiding them towards a bright future career path,” Karima said.
She added that the subject will improve students’ understanding of the future in the UAE.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will no longer be a standalone subject, and ICT teachers will be e-learning facilitators who will support all other teachers in class.
Physical Education will be integrated with Health to be called Health and Physical Education.
Other projects will continue to be delivered across KG to Grade 6. These include English Continuous Assessment through Rich Tasks (Ecart) and Arabic Continuous Assessment through Rich Tasks (Acart); introduction of Scrabble to improve Arabic writing skills; and the falcon project as part of the UAE culture, among others.
