Empty schools, Inflation, Eid Al Fitr Holiday, International School Groups, Misogyny in Education, Dwight, Brighton College and Fear as Mystery Hepatitis Outbreak in Kids sweeps the World … WHAT MADE THE NEWS FOR SCHOOLS, PARENTS AND STUDENTS IN EDUCATION THIS WEEK
The Schools Report brings you the SchoolsCompared.com official Weekly Briefing on the Hottest News in Education.
Every Friday we bring you the latest stories in education in the UAE and around the world in the last 7 days. Here’s what’s been happening this week…
This Week in Education. UAE Education News. First. Every Friday. Only from SchoolsCompared.com.
Our schools have become Ghost Towns: “Is it just me or are Dubai kids hardly ever at school?”
The announcement that UAE school and nursery children will be having a full week off lessons for the Eid-Al-Fitr 2022 public holiday has been met with a mixed reaction from UAE parents.
Many were thrilled by the news that schools will be closed from Monday 2nd May until Monday 9th May – and excited at the chance to enjoy nine whole days (including the weekends) celebrating the religious holiday and spending time with family.
Others, however, were less enthusiastic. With the announcement coming only 12 (very short) school days after children have just been off for at least two weeks for Spring Break, some parents have been asking, ‘are UAE kids ever actually at school anymore?!’
Read more:
2022 School Review of Dwight School Dubai charts inspirational journey to Sports City
The latest 2022 independent review of Dwight College Dubai has been published by SchoolsCompared. The review highlights the transformation of one of Dubai’s Tier 1 premium schools as it prepares for its move to Dubai Sports City in September – and its first wave of IB Diploma graduates. From access to some of the best sporting facilities in Dubai, to the launch of the region’s benchmark MIT backed FAB Lab, SchoolsCompared asks whether the big brand school ranks as one of the best in the UAE.
Read the 2022 review of Dwight School Dubai here.
Brighton College signs agreement to launch seven new schools in Vietnam
Brighton College has signed an agreement with Vingroup in Vietnam to help establish seven schools in the East Asian country, the Associated Press reports.
Under the agreement, Brighton College will recruit key positions and teachers, and consult on the design of a school curriculum that is aligned with Brighton College’s standards while still meeting national requirements.
Meanwhile, Vingroup is responsible for investing in infrastructure, enrolment, and providing administrative support in line with Brighton College’s standards.
Brighton College’s team will also advise on the architectural design of campuses in Vietnam, and regularly participate in teacher training and supervision of educational quality.
Brighton College already has three schools established in the UAE: Brighton College Dubai, Brighton College Abu Dhabi and Brighton College Al Ain, all operated by Bloom Education.
Forget Coca Cola. It’s big education brands that matter to parents moving between countries.
Many expat parents and teachers will be attracted to a school group or brand name they recognise when they move between countries, according to a new White Paper by ISC Research. There is a perception of trust, security and historical track record in a well-known group or brand name, which has contributed to enormous growth in international school groups in recent years, despite the pandemic. The number of schools run by groups now stands at 4,861, up from 2,526 in 2017, and they have a combined fee income of $22.3 billion (AED81.9 billion) up by $13.7 billion (AED50.3 billion) in the last five years. The report also found that the number of pupils taught by international school groups is now 2.18 million, up from 1.28 million five years previously.
Read more on why parents are choosing the big global brands in education.
Inflation bites: UK Schools forced to cut teacher numbers owing to energy price rises
UK Schools are having to cut teacher numbers and teaching hours owing to the impact of rising energy bills, research by a UK-based headteachers’ union has found.
A survey, by the NAHT school leaders’ union, of more than 1,000 UK school leaders found that 15 per cent of respondents were reducing the number of teachers or teaching hours to deal with rising prices.
On average, the union said headteachers were anticipating a 106 per cent increase in energy costs, with 16 per cent expecting an increase of 200 per cent or more.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary for the union, said members had been saying that rising bills would “almost certainly have a negative impact” on education. He said:
“For some, the energy price hikes are the equivalent to the cost of a full-time teacher. Every penny spent in schools is a choice. These increased energy costs mean that money which could be being spent on pupils is being paid to energy companies instead.”
Inflation and rising costs due to a combination of factors related to post-pandemic recovery and the Ukraine war are taking their toll globally, with fuel price hikes and rising food costs also hitting the UAE in recent months.
However, the emirates are currently more insulated from the global inflation problems than many countries, in part leading to a significant uptick in population over the past few years, despite the impact of COVID-19.
Read more: Schools having to cut teachers due to energy price rises | Tes
Teach danger of ‘incel’ culture, teachers urge schools to fight back, as classroom misogyny surges
Teenage boys should be taught about “incel” culture to help stop the surge of misogyny in schools, teachers say.
They called for urgent action to prevent the incel, short for involuntary celibate, subculture drawing in pupils.
A survey by the UK-based NASUWT teaching union, which held its annual conference in Birmingham last weekend, found most female staff faced misogyny in class. Incidents include harassment, sexist comments and assault, but teachers have singled out the incel movement as a cause for concern.
A motion on misogyny says teenage boys are “often finding themselves drawn into the views of this subculture through a lack of proper support from more appropriate sources”.
It wants union leaders to campaign against sexual harassment and misogyny and to ensure the incel community is treated as an extremist hate group.
Thomas Michael, a teacher in charge of safeguarding and welfare, said: “A lot of the time kids don’t even realise what they are doing or saying has anything to do with incel culture. It is very common now to hear lads calling others a ‘simp’ for saying hello to a girl.
“It’s a derogatory term for anyone showing any sort of kindness or interest in women or girls. The worry is the lads . . . are likely to keep their distance from girls or start being horrible to prove they are not ‘simps’.”
This worrying trend has been seen across the UK and also other parts of the world. A 16-year-old student in the UK wrote of how she chose to go to an all-girls college so that she could avoid her previous school’s ‘rape culture’ and finally study in peace.
Meanwhile reports of groups of boys singling out girls to bully have even been seen on parents’ social media groups in the UAE. Have you come across misogyny in the classroom in the UAE? Email your story in confidence to [email protected].
Is it time to cancel history? School founded by slave trader Edward Colston announces new name
Governors of Colston’s School in the UK have announced that, from September 2022, the school’s new name will be Collegiate, or Collegiate School, Bristol.
The school was founded by Edward Colston in 1710 but a decision was taken recently that the name of the school should be changed because of Colston’s links with the slave trade.
The crest and motto of the school will be retained and explained, rather than removed, the school has said, to teach pupils about the school’s history.
Girls shun physics A-level as they dislike ‘hard maths’, says prominent headteacher causing outcry
A leading headteacher in the UK has been slammed for saying that girls do not choose physics A-level because they dislike “hard maths”, prompting anger from leading scientists.
Addressing a science and technology committee inquiry on diversity and inclusion in Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), the UK government’s social mobility commissioner Katharine Birbalsingh said fewer girls chose physics because “physics isn’t something that girls tend to fancy. They don’t want to do it, they don’t like it,” she said.
Birbalsingh, who is headteacher of Michaela Community school in Wembley, north-west London, said that only 16% of A-level physics students at her school were girls – lower than the national average of 23%. When asked why so few girls progressed to physics A-level, despite outperforming boys at GCSE, she said: “I just think they don’t like it. There’s a lot of hard maths in there that I think they would rather not do.”
“The research generally … just says that’s a natural thing,” she added. “I don’t think there’s anything external.”
Dame Athene Donald, a professor of experimental physics and master of Churchill College, Cambridge, said the comments were “terrifying” and “quite damaging” and questioned to which research Birbalsingh was referring in suggesting that girls had an intrinsic lack of appetite for maths and physics.
“It’s not a case of campaigning for more girls to do physics, it’s a case of making sure that girls aren’t discouraged by remarks like this,” Donald said. “We want girls to be free to pursue what they’re good at and, equally, boys should also be able to go into professions like nursing. We aren’t in a society like that.”
Parents’ fears grow as global outbreak of mystery hepatitis in children spreads, bringing countries with cases to 14
Suspected cases of the mysterious hepatitis sweeping the world have now been detected in children in Japan and Canada.
Canada’s Public Health Agency yesterday revealed it was ‘aware of reports of severe acute hepatitis of unknown origin’ in the country.
The condition — which was first spotted in Scotland at the end of March — has been detected 114 times in Britain and at least 11 times in the US.
Medics have been left puzzled by what is causing it — with the usual hepatitis A, B, C, D and E viruses excluded from laboratory test results.
Health chiefs believe the illness may be triggered by an adenovirus, which usually causes common colds.
Experts say lockdowns may have weakened the immunity of children and left them more susceptible to the virus, or it may be a mutated version.
Investigations are ongoing but officials have yet to rule out a new Covid variant being to blame.
Another theory is that children may have been battling the adenovirus at the same time as Covid.
Nearly 200 children have been sickened by the condition across the world in up to 14 countries since last October. One has died and 17 have needed liver transplants.
Ukraine war focuses minds on how to teach refugee children fleeing horror
“Children pick up whether someone cares about them even if they don’t speak the language,” Kulvarn Atwal, a headteacher in east London, tells The Guardian. Atwal, who has plenty of experience of welcoming children who are refugees from conflict, is preparing for the arrival of new pupils from Ukraine.
Children connect with each other much faster than adults do, he says. “Sometimes we look at children through the eyes of adults, but they don’t see what adults see. They haven’t developed discriminatory biases so they just dive straight in.”
As the summer term begins, many schools are preparing to welcome children who have fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion. For some schools, particularly in rural areas, it could be their first experience of teaching refugees.
For children who arrive speaking no English, often after traumatic experiences, starting a new school in a new country is daunting. But they typically go on to thrive. The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, himself arrived aged nine from Iraq speaking no English. How do teachers manage to help such children to adapt and make progress? Read more: ‘They can really fly’: how to teach a refugee child | Schools | The Guardian
What the UAE’s new green visa means for teachers
The UAE’s move to provide five-year visas to middle-income workers will offer greater stability and flexibility for those in the education sector, school staff said.
Green visas will be available to people with bachelors degrees who earn Dh15,000 ($4,084) or more per month as part of sweeping changes to attract new talent to the Emirates and encourage residents to stay longer.
The visa offers five-year residency without the need for an employer to be a sponsor and allows holders to bring first-degree relatives to the country for the duration of their stay.
Graduates in education, social sciences or culture, among other fields, will be able to apply for the green visas, which are part of the broader residency regime that offers at least 10 visa types.
It was approved by the Cabinet last week and comes into effect in September.
It brings teachers, young professionals and ordinary working families into a broader long-term visa strategy originally aimed at high-net-worth individuals through the launch of the golden visa in 2018.
Read more: What the UAE’s new green visa means for teachers (thenationalnews.com)
Let me in! Will your child need a PCR test to return to UAE schools after Eid break?
Many families across the UAE will be travelling next week for the first Eid Al Fitr break since 2020 without Covid-19 restrictions.
Most schools have a week off, so what are the rules when pupils return?
PCR rules in Dubai
Private school pupils in Dubai will not be asked to undergo coronavirus testing before returning to the classroom if they have travelled outside the country.
The Knowledge and Development Authority’s most updated guidelines state there are no testing requirements.
Caution is advised when travelling abroad in general – and any child showing symptoms of Covid-19 should stay off school and take a PCR test.
Rules in Abu Dhabi
In Abu Dhabi, there is no mandatory return to class testing but pupils and staff still need to maintain green status on the Al Hosn smartphone app.
The pass will stay green for 14 days after a negative test for vaccinated pupils aged 16 years and older, teachers and staff; and 30 days for under-16s.
“All students must be free of any Covid-19-related symptoms and maintain their green status on the Al Hosn app in accordance with their age category,” Abu Dhabi’s Department of Education and Knowledge said on Wednesday.
The other five emirates have not yet announced their plans.
Will your child need a PCR test to return to UAE schools after Eid break? (thenationalnews.com)
Tabitha Barda’s The School Report © SchoolsCompared.com. 2022. All rights reserved.
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