The Growth and Transformation of K-12 Education in the United Arab Emirates

• In Event: Education for social entrepreneurship and youth participation In Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and UAE

Proposal

Since the founding of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1971, access to education in the country has steadily improved as the result of considerable investment, numerous reforms, and specialized initiatives. Education has been a high-priority sector for the UAE as the government recognizes that a strong educational foundation is necessary for the country to reach its ambition of diversifying and developing its economy (National Development Strategy, 2011; UAE Government, 2017). As a result, the UAE has been actively seeking out new ways to improve the performance of students and to create what many would call a “modern” public education system. However, despite many reforms, and billions of dollars spent, public school students in the UAE continue to perform poorly on international assessments and are still taught in teacher-centered classrooms (The National, 2017; Reuters, 2013; Ridge, 2014).

In the early days of public education in the UAE, there was a strong focus on importing curricula from the Arab world, predominantly from Egypt (Findlow, 2001). However, as time progressed, the country began to look elsewhere for education models, and in the mid-1990s, Western countries started to have a greater influence on the national curriculum. Since this time, the UAE has implemented several reforms targeting its national curriculum. While UAE reforms have tended to emphasize improving teaching and the acquisition of English and STEM subjects, they often fail to gain teacher buy-in and overlook important extracurricular subjects, such as the arts, music, and physical education.

Today, the UAE government continues to prioritize education and has impressive ambitions for the sector. In particular, the UAE Vision 2021 National Agenda aims to create a “first-rate education system” and be a leader in international assessments (UAE Government, 2018, p.1). Yet, this ambition is stifled by a number of challenges in the sector, including a shortage of male Emirati educators and a national curriculum with limited subjects that are not tailored to the students’ levels. There are also disconnects in communication between policymakers and other key education stakeholders, such as administrators, teachers, and parents, that hinder the success of new initiatives. Finally, a dearth of research on education in the UAE inhibits learning from past reforms.

Utilizing existing literature as well as Ministry of Education statistics and data from interviews with key stakeholders, this paper examines some of the key characteristics of the UAE’s modern-day K-12 education ecosystem. It explores the roles of regulatory bodies, curriculum reforms, and the shortage of national male educators. The paper also highlights some innovations in education in the country, specifically in the areas of technology, technical and vocational education, and student well-being. The paper concludes by providing recommendations for how the public K-12 education sector could better serve students. These include a focus on strengthening and diversifying the curriculum, recruiting and retaining more national male teachers, and increasing publicly available education data. Through connecting rigorous research and practice with the policymaking process, it is likely that more sustainable and effective policies could be designed and help bring the UAE closer to its ambition of having a high performing education system.

Authors

• Susan M. Kippels, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research

• Natasha Y. Ridge, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research