Abu Dhabi school inspection

Primary inspection results for private schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi will be revealed publicly for the first time at the end of the 2012-2013 academic year, a senior education official said in the capital on Sunday. It is a parent’s right to know how well a school is performing, said Dr Mugheer Al Khaili, director general at the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec). “Private schools have been evaluated for the fourth time in the 2011-2012 academic year, and have been given a chance to improve their standards,” Dr Al Khaili said. He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in the capital held to discuss the Adec’s school inspection programme, entitled Irtiqa’a. The programme aims to measure quality levels of school performance and provide the necessary support to achieve the highest standards. As part of the Irtiqa’s pilot phase, 12 public schools have also been inspected for the first time this academic year, and will be delegated more authority by the Adec to implement improvement plans. Five of these schools are in Abu Dhabi city, five are in Al Ain and two are in Al Gharbia. Along with private schools, inspections for all public schools will be rolled out at the beginning of the 2012-2013 academic year, confirmed Maryam Saqr, manager of school inspection and monitoring at the Adec. Following these inspections, schools will be categorised in three bands, with Band A consisting of high-performing schools, Band B pertaining to schools performing satisfactorily, and Band C comprising of schools that need to improve their standards significantly. However, the results of public school evaluations will not be released, as these schools also need to be given an opportunity to improve if required, Dr Al Khaili said. For now, results from the Irtiqa’a pilot phase indicate that the 12 evaluated public schools have confident principals heading them, and that teacher-pupil interaction encourages creativity. School buildings are also conducive to quality teaching, said Paul Andrews, inspection and monitoring division manager at the Adec. “However, among other factors, there is still a need for the effective planning of a bilingual education through the curriculum, as well as the need for a clear management structure in many schools,” he added. In the meantime, 19 Emirati inspectors are also being trained by the Adec. At the end of their two-year training, they will work closely with third-party inspectors to evaluate schools.