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.
UAE teachers ‘should be able to negotiate better salaries’ due to global shortage – at last.
Teachers in the UAE should not be afraid to negotiate higher pay and a better package, amid the global shortage of skilled educators, education experts told The National.
Headteachers have spoken about recruitment struggles, with many having to go through 400 to 500 CVs to find a handful of candidates who match the criteria.
Recruitment experts have noticed schools offering more flexibility this year. Teachers can earn Dh500 to Dh1,000 a month more than first offered, if they negotiate — particularly in subjects such as Mathematics and Science.
But against a citywide school fees freeze for 2022, raises are unlikely to be any higher, say experts – schools simply do not have the budgets.
Sorcha Coyle, founder of Empowering Expat Teachers, which works with educators looking to work abroad, said a shortage of talented staff in any industry usually means applicants can earn better pay. “The majority of teachers that I’ve spoken to have negotiated successfully,” she said, “In some cases, the school couldn’t offer them more salary per month but gave an increased rent allowance. I’d say probably an average of maybe 10 per cent [higher than their initial offer].
“Perhaps in shortage subjects like physics or maths they probably have a better chance because there are fewer teachers, but I would always say request a copy of the salary scale.”
Watch out for our special reports on fee increases, salaries, the cost of living and inflation – coming soon on SchoolsCompared.com
Sheikh Hamdan opens new University of Birmingham Dubai: “Many more prominent international universities set to open in Academic City soon”
Dubai is set to welcome a raft of new high-ranking and well-regarded international universities in Academic City very soon, according to a speech by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai.
Speaking at the inauguration of the new campus of University of Birmingham Dubai, located in Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed said Dubai is determined to build the best possible environment for private universities to flourish. “Dubai, which is home to 46 private universities, has emerged as a leading focal point for higher education that attracts thousands of international students. We aim to make Dubai a global education hub that welcomes students from all over the world,” he said.
Described as an intelligent campus, the new smart Dubai campus has been specifically designed to embrace sustainable practices, ensuring the University leads the way in corporate environmental responsibility. The university deploys some remarkable techniques and technologies to reduce its impact in both Birmingham and Dubai, including installing 23,000 Internet of Things (IoT) sensors which can adjust lighting based on occupancy and environmental changes, in line with the university’s vision to become net zero by 2035.
Spanning an area of 30,000 square metres, the new campus of the University of Birmingham Dubai offers 46 academic programmes including Biomedical Science, Accounting, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. It also one of six universities chosen worldwide to pilot the Postgraduate Certificate in Education: Primary (iQTS), which will be recognised by the Department for Education (DfE) (via an amendment to regulations) as equivalent to English qualified teacher status (QTS).
“The institution is among the top 100 universities in the world, which makes it one of the highest-ranked universities in Dubai and the region. 10 of its researchers have received the Nobel Prize,” His Highness said. “Many more prominent universities are set to join Dubai International Academic City in the near future,” HH added.
Hamdan bin Mohammed inaugurates new campus of University of Birmingham Dubai (mediaoffice.ae)
Outrage as UK education official argues Parents should be trusted on whether to smack children
The UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has rejected calls for a ban on parents smacking children in England, revealing that his wife has occasionally given their daughter a “light smack on the arm”.
Zahawi said he did not want to “end up in a world where the state is nannying people about how they bring up their children”, but senior MPs called for a parliamentary debate on the issue after the children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, supported a ban.
De Souza said she wanted England to follow the examples set by Wales and Scotland in banning adults from hitting children.
Zahawi said: “I’ve got a nine-year-old, and I don’t think I’ve ever smacked her but I think her mother, on occasion, has felt a need for a light smack on the arm, if she’s completely naughty and misbehaving.
“But even when that happens, it has to be on a very, very rare occasion and not something that we would certainly, as parents, want to do very often. It’s much better to sit down and communicate with your child and discuss behaviour and discuss what positive behaviour looks like.”
But Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP who chairs the education select committee, said De Souza was “courageous and right to raise these matters”.
“If I walked down to the frontbench and smacked the leader of the House [of Commons] I would be possibly done for assault. If I smacked a dog I would be possibly done for cruelty to that dog.
“Yet, when we talk about the smacking of children, we say that it’s a nanny state if we question this,” Halfon said.
Worth noting that many are appalled at the statements.
Choosing big university brands a big mistake. Degree grade matters more than university reputation, report finds
Students are advised to be “more relaxed” about the reputation of the universities they want to attend, after new research revealed they could be better off graduating with a good degree from a less prestigious university than with a lower-class degree from a selective institution.
The report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that graduates in England with first-class or upper second class (2.1) honours degrees had higher average earnings by the age of 30 than those who finished with lower second-class (2.2) awards, regardless of institution – meaning that degree class was often more important than institutional reputation.
Figures in the report also suggested it was less difficult to obtain a higher-class degree outside selective universities with competitive entry requirements, despite those universities tending to award a larger proportion of 2.1s and firsts.
Degree grade matters more than university reputation, report finds | Students | The Guardian
UAE updates COVID-19 protocols for UAE schools and universities
Starting today, all students – vaccinated or otherwise – will be able to go on school trips, provided they maintain the Green Pass on their Al Hosn app.
That’s according to the latest guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education and the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA), which stressed that students must wear facemasks while on the bus.
If COVID-19 cases are detected, the educational establishment will be closed for three days, if the infection rate exceeds 15 per cent of the total attendance.
Meanwhile, all university students must undergo a PCR test once every month to enter the dorms or follow the Green Pass protocol regardless of vaccination status.
All activities and events in schools and universities can continue to resume with parents permitted to attend them provided they comply with safety measures like wearing facemasks in closed spaces and the Al Hosn Green Pass.
First contacts of COVID-19 positive cases still do not need to quarantine, while those infected and those with respiratory diseases may opt for distance learning.
Authorities clarified that the latest updates are applicable nationwide, while each emirate can implement their set of rules based on these guidelines.
Green Pass will be mandatory for all visitors, along with students aged 16 and above, educational staff and personnel. While, for students aged under 16, a PCR test must be conducted every month.
Read more
KHDA records highest ever number of students, as ‘land of opportunity’ drives rise in family and business relocations to Dubai. Fear parents could face increased competition for school places.
Dubai private schools have recorded the highest ever enrolment figures in 2022 – topping 300,000 children studying at its facilities for the first time – as families flock to the emirate for its attractive lifestyle and world-class education.
Despite the challenges of the past years, Dubai private schools have smashed the emirate’s past student-enrolment record, with 303,262 students enrolled in Dubai’s private schools in 2022 – up from 289,019 in September 2021, which represents a growth of 4.9 per cent. The current figure is also the highest ever recorded, and is well above the pre-pandemic level of 295,148 children in 2019-2020.
CONFIRMED: NEW ‘CLIMATE CHANGE’ GCSE APPROVED TODAY – BUT WILL UAE SCHOOLS TEACH IT?
Teenagers studying the British curriculum will be able to earn a qualification in issues around climate change, sustainability and conservation in a newly announced and approved Natural History GCSE exam, which has today been given the green light to launch from 2025. The groundbreaking new qualification, developed and promoted by exam board OCR, will enable students between 14 and 16 to nurture a rigorous understanding of the natural world: from their own local wildlife, environment and ecosystem to critical global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity and sustainability.
Hailed as ‘the most exciting thing to happen in education in the last 30 years’ the move is the culmination of a decade-long campaign led by naturalist Mary Colwell, with support from leading environmentalists such as the Eden Project’s Sir Tim Smit, broadcaster Baroness Floella Benjamin and teenage conservationist Kabir Kaul.
As scientists report increasingly desperate findings about the climate crisis and the state of our planet, environmentalists hope that the Natural History GCSE will help inform and raise future campaigners to safeguard our world.
But the question on UAE parents’ and students’ lips is: will any UAE schools actually teach this new GCSE?
NEW CITIZENS SCHOOL DUBAI WILL FUND CHILDREN’S BUSINESS IDEAS THROUGH DRAGON’S DEN-STYLE START-UP SCHEME
Students at Citizens School in Dubai will be encouraged to develop unique business ideas, design innovative products – and even pitch for start-up funding, in its new Dragon’s Den style entrepreneurship initiative.
Teaming up with global education platform 8billionideas, students will get to work on an invention every week, have access to an entrepreneurial mentor and experience lessons dedicated to new product development. Vitally, students at Citizens School Dubai will then be given access to a dedicated Citizens Ventures funding programme, with the aim that those ideas with commercial viability have the necessary funding already in place to secure IP and see them transformed into market-ready physical products.
It’s all part of the new K-12 school’s commitment to inculcating the kinds of values and skills that will prepare its children for a future in which “they will have jobs that haven’t even been invented yet.”
Could your child invent the next US billion dollar global sensation?
BREAKING NEWS: Eid Al Fitr 2022 public holiday dates announced for public sector
Moon light shining through the windows of a UAE mosque as Eid holidays begin
Eid holidays are coming! The UAE Federal Government has announced the dates for the Eid Al Fitr holidays from the 29th of Ramadan until the third of Shawwal, according to the Islamic calendar, for government workers. According to a tweet by UAE Barq it seems likely that Ramadan will consist of 30 days this year, and the first day of Eid Al Fitr will be Monday 2 May.
As a result the public holiday dates for federal government workers look likely to be from Saturday, April 30 (29 Ramadan) until Wednesday, May 4 – moon sightings permitting!
Latest School review shines spotlight on “amazing” choir at leading Dubai school
The 2022 review of Dubai Heights Academy by the SchoolsCompared team has been released with a focus on the extraordinary talents of the school’s choir. The review includes a video of the children’s Expo performance that takes the breath away.
Dubai Heights Academy is an all-through, Tier 1, British school in phased launch to Years 12 and Year 13 Sixth Form. Applications are now open for Year 9 entry this September to a school rated exceptional by our team.
Read the 2022 review of Dubai Heights Academy – and watch the video, here.
‘Giant pupils’ at risk of health problems if schools don’t build (everything) bigger.
Children are becoming giants leading to schools ordering larger furniture.
Delegates at a teaching union conference in the UK have complained that pupils are now too big for the furniture provided, saying they work in the “land of the giants”, the Daily Mail reports.
Teachers at the NASUWT conference warned that children could risk future health problems after being “wedged into” chairs and desks that are too small.
Teacher Fergal McGuckin told the conference in Birmingham: “The size of pupils is increasing.
“I feel like I’ve just entered the land of the giants when I walk into some of my A-level classes as someone who’s a standard 5ft 8in.”
Delegates stressed that in the 1970s, when many schools were designed, teenagers were shorter than they are now. The average 14-year-old boy in 2007 was 5ft 6ins, three inches taller than in the 70s.
Fellow delegate Elaine Paling said: “Their physical development is put at risk by being wedged into desks that are too small and made to sit on plastic chairs that are much too narrow and short backed and where do they put those feet? Usually in the aisles, a perfect trip hazard.
“There are many students past and present that come out of school with not just qualifications but likely future health issues.”
‘Giant pupils’ at risk of health problems | Independent School Management Plus
Tabitha Barda’s The School Report © SchoolsCompared.com. 2022. All rights reserved.
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