Now, a new licensing programme for Abu Dhabi teachers

Abu Dhabi - School leaders will also be introduced to the programme, so that they can help support teachers and drive the programme forward.

Teachers across Abu Dhabi emirate are being enrolled into a new national licensing programme introduced by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC).
For now, the programme is just a pilot project called Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards (TELS).
According to ADEC, the first stage of licensing in the field of education will offer professional development orientation sessions to 400 selected teachers from across 17 public and private schools.
School leaders will also be introduced to the programme, so that they can help support teachers and drive the programme forward.
"Licensing teachers will improve their overall status while providing them with further professional development opportunities and career paths. Teachers will be offered mobility, while the status of their work will be further elevated to ensure quality education," said Dr. Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, Higher Education executive director and head of the TELS UAE pilot project committee.
For this programme, ADEC has partnered with the Emirates College for Advanced Education to provide an in-school introduction, professional development and testing services for teachers.
They will be fully oriented on the national licensing teaching schemes upon the completion of 12 modules across four standards. Teachers will also be expected to complete a standards based assessment in order to ensure full understanding of the licensing processes.
"We are extremely optimistic about developing a national licensing scheme for all our teachers and look forward to witnessing positive results in this pilot project," added Dr. Baniyas.
ADEC hopes the initiative will help elevate the overall quality of education across schools, thus improving evaluation standards.
Teachers will have their say about TELS, once they complete the programme, as ADEC plans to gather their feedback at the end of the pilot project.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com