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Can Dubai students compete globally?

Dubai — In a race against time, schools leaders across Dubai are hoping to bring significant changes to the emirate’s education system — all with the hope of improving the UAE’s ranking internationally.

Asking tough questions on the progress achieved by schools, education regulator Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) called a meeting of school principals to assess progress in achieving the national agenda.

More than 160 school principals met on Tuesday morning — sharing ideas and ways to improve the country’s chance of ranking among the top countries in the world in education.

The national agenda, also known as UAE Vision 2021, has set tough targets for schools. The two key benchmarks are Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). School students taking these tests will have to perform well in maths, science and literacy if the country’s ranking has to improve in the next cycle of evaluations.

The UAE is hoping to be among the top 20 countries in PISA ratings. Students in more than 70 countries take the test, which evaluates education systems worldwide by testing the knowledge of 15-year-old students. Similarly, TIMSS is another test given to fourth and eighth grade students across the world to compare international trends in mathematics and science achievement. The UAE is hoping to rank among the top 15 countries taking the TIMMS test by 2021.

Dr Abdulla Al Karam, director-general of the KHDA, said: “In the past few years, we’ve worked with Dubai’s private schools to look at teaching and learning practices and identify the actions we must take to improve. To improve further, now’s the time to start looking at the practices of schools outside of Dubai.”

The regulator has invited school leaders to review education plans of other countries. Working in teams, these principals will find best practices from schools outside the UAE and try to adopt them for improvement of education practices here.

 Towards achieving national agenda

Dr Rabaa Al Sumaiti, Director of International Assessments at the KHDA, noted the agency has already started measuring progress by asking schools about their contribution to achieve the national agenda.

“Our inspectors were engaged with curriculum and assessment coordinators asking key questions about national agenda. The KHDA’s observation from the current inspection cycle showed schools use different strategies to reflect better results in TIMSS and PISA,” said Dr Rabaa.

She noted future inspection reports would feature the progress of schools and their closeness to national agenda.

With TIMMS conducted every four years, schools effectively have one more chance at improving the rating. David Hicks, principal of Emirates International School, Jumeirah, noted the schools had limited time to make progress.

“We only have one cycle left if we have to achieve these targets. Schools want to implement curriculum modifications to achieve improved international test results. The questions by inspectors will be more challenging in the coming years as we get closer to the national agenda,” said David.

Sasha Crabb, Principal of Victory Heights Primary School, said the emphasis on contributing to the national agenda had brought positive results.

“We have looked at comprehension tests and introduced it at an earlier age so that the children are exposed to key questions which will help them perform better in these international tests,” said Sasha.

- muaz@khaleejtimes.com