The quality of Abu Dhabi’s 183 private schools is improving.
Around 70 percent of schools have raised their overall effectiveness, according to the latest round of inspections by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec).
Private schools across Abu Dhabi are inspected every two years, and the current results are for the third such two-year cycle covering inspections in the academic years 2013-15.
Schools are graded for overall effectiveness in three bands: A for high performing schools, B for satisfactory ratings and C for those “in need of significant improvement”.
Edward Murtagh, head of inspection and monitoring for Adec, described the results as “slow and steady rather than spectacular” but said “it shows a very promising trend”. He also pointed out that six schools failed to reach Band A because of deficiencies in their teaching of Arabic, a factor which presumably accounts for the slight decline in Band A numbers.
A total of 17 schools are still considered unsatisfactory or poor. These schools have shown no improvement over the last three inspection cycles, and a warning letter has been sent to each of those schools.
“We will inspect each and every single one of these poor performing schools one last time during the cycle four inspection cycle which starts September 2015. If any of those schools continue to show poor improvement, Adec will then take measures against these schools,” said Hamad Al Dhaheri, Adec’s executive director for Private Schools and Quality Assurance (PSQA).
“Adec will not tolerate offering its students low quality education under any circumstances.”
The inspectors rate the overall effectiveness of schools against eight performance standards:
1. Students’ attainment and progress
2. Students’ personal development
3. Quality of teaching and learning
4. Meeting students’ needs through the curriculum
5. Protection, care, guidance and support
of students
6. Quality of the school premises
7. School’s resources to support its aims
8. Effectiveness of leadership and management
The results show improvement across all performance standards from the first inspection
cycle to the current results.
