Abu Dhabi: School inspections across the UAE will be unified as part of a new initiative by some of the education authorities in the UAE.
Within the framework of the new inspection guidelines set by the Ministry of Education, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec), the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and the Abu Dhabi Vocational Education Training Institute, school assessment will now focus on innovation in education, inclusion, self-evaluation and exemplars of good practice.
“The new framework means that schools must have a focus on innovation in all performance standards. Inclusion of special needs students is another area that the inspections will focus on. Around 45 schools will be inspected using the new guidelines and only those which are visited during the second term onwards need to change their Self-Evaluation Form (SEF),” said Edward Murtagh, Division Manager in Adec’s Private School Quality Assurance Sector (PSQA).
Murtagh was speaking during the third Private Schools Annual Forum 2015-2016 which took place in the capital today (Tuesday).
Instead of eight school performance grading levels ranging from ‘outstanding’ to ‘poor’, the new framework will constitute six levels.
“A school’s performance will be judged as ‘weak’ if the grades for the indicators of Teaching for Effective Learning or Effectiveness of Leadership are weak or very weak, or if the school is judged to be weak in a majority of the indicators, not elements, or if the arrangements to protect and safeguard students are weak,” he added.
During cycle 2 and 3 inspections which took place from 2011-2013 and 2013-2015 respectively in the capital’s private schools, 60 out of the 150 examined institutions remained at the same grade level whereas 74 improved by at least one grade level and 16 deteriorated by at lease one grade level, the official revealed.
