Choosing a school – What Makes A School The Right One for my Child?

Staffing

When you send your children to school, you are entrusting them to adults who will potentially have more influence on their future than you, as parents, will. It is important, therefore, to know and have trust in those people who will make such an important impression. Yet, often parents are shy about asking for more information about staff at the schools they are considering for their children.

There are probably 3 key questions that we would ask:

1. Where are the staff from?

If you are sending your children to a UK curriculum school, it is not unreasonable to expect the staff to have experience of the curriculum and to be native-English speakers. This may not be true for every member of staff, but it is reasonable to expect that a significant proportion will have direct experience of the curriculum they are teaching and/or will be fluent in the language. The same applies to whichever curriculum you are considering.

There are schools with a broad mix of nationalities of staff who are more than able to teach the curriculum, but the “look and feel” of the school will not seem as genuinely British, Canadian or American, for example, if the staff have not spent time in these countries. This does not necessarily matter from an academic standpoint, but the ethos and culture of a school is often important to parents planning to send their children back to the country of the curriculum at some stage, and is a point to bear in mind.

2. What level of experience and on-going training do the staff have?

There are many excellent teachers of all ages and experience. However, for young children, experience and stability are often important factors and it becomes even more of an issue during Secondary school, when children are preparing for Public Exams and benefit from support from teachers who know, through their experience, what examiners are looking for – where technique is as important as knowledge.

Young teachers, relatively new to the profession, still full of enthusiasm and up-to-date knowledge, are important to the mix of staff that should be present in a school. However, at the same time, it is equally important to have a team of more experienced staff, hopefully teachers whose history at the school will have contributed to its ethos and who are able to mentor and pass on their experience and support to younger team members.

Any good school will have a programme of Continuous Professional Development in place in order to ensure that staff are keeping up with Best Practice and are receiving on-going development and support. For many staff, this is a key factor as to whether they remain with a school, since it contributes directly to their CV and potential work opportunities in the future.

As a parent, you are entitled to know that staff are receiving up-to-date training in curriculum developments and up-skilling.

3. What level of staff turnover does the school have?

Teachers are in demand around the world, with many dire predictions about teacher shortages in the years ahead. Schools in the UAE have a challenge in keeping their best staff. A good measure of how successful a school is in looking after its staff is its staff retention.

There are many schools who are able to maintain significant proportions of their staff each year, and others where turnover is 30% and more. Good schools will want to retain their best staff. This leads to stability and suggests a positive work environment which can only be a plus factor in your child’s education.

The latest Inspection Reports also look at this important measure. If there seems to be a significant turnover of staff at a school you are considering, it is worthwhile asking what is causing staff to leave. Sometimes, the departure of one influential team member is enough to cause a spate of departures. If this occurs once, then it is probably not a cause for concern. If, however, high levels of staff turnover are a constant, as evidenced by the data in the Inspection reports, then perhaps parents should beware.

As your child/ren’s interaction with his/her teachers will have enormous impact on his/her progress and enjoyment of school, another important factor to consider will be the buildings and facilities where your child will spend a significant part of his/her day.  These do not need to be the most modern, architecturally exciting or grandest – but they do need to be fit for purpose and if you want your child to be comfortable in school, a warm atmosphere with colour and light is likely to be more stimulating.

Index
Overview – your framework to choose
Acceptable fees – what does that mean?
Reputation and school ratings
Accreditation, why that matters
New versus established schools
Teachers and staffing
NEXT: Facilities
Specialist subjects
Additional Language, or Learning Needs