Teachers happy with their career, schools

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Teachers happy with their career, schools

The satisfaction level of public school teachers in Abu Dhabi has increased considerably in the past three years.

by

Olivia Olarte-Ulherr

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Published: Thu 31 Jan 2013, 9:11 AM

Last updated: Fri 3 Apr 2015, 4:30 AM

According to a survey conducted by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) during the last academic year, teachers’ satisfaction level increased from 70.1 per cent in 2009–2010 to 77.7 per cent the following year, and reached 79.5 per cent in 2011–2012.

Among the things they were happy about include the school management understanding of how children learn, school management understanding of their needs, and teacher-teacher and teacher-principal relationships.

However, they expressed dissatisfaction with regards to the teacher-parent relationship and parent involvement in the education of their children.

“Teachers were specifically satisfied with their active role in classroom management and monitoring of student learning and progress. In addition, they were satisfied with their role in supporting student activities and the nature, but not the effectiveness of teacher-parent communication,” Dr Masood Badri, Adec’s Executive Director of Research, Planning and Performance Management, said.

The survey showed that satisfaction level on teacher-parent communication was relatively low at 62.1 per cent. The Adec attributed this to possible cultural differences and language barriers.

“The results indicated that there is a need to foster and develop such relations to ensure that parents help support better learning outcomes for their children,” said the Adec report.

“Parent visits to schools should not be restricted to cases where the child is underperforming or commits misconduct. They should have wider engagement in their children’s teaching and learning,” it added.

Despite the rolling out of the new school model (NSM), the teachers were also of the opinion that the curriculum was insufficient for preparing students for higher education. The NSM is currently implemented in KG to Grade 5.

In addition, some of the teachers (62.3 per cent) believe that the External Measurement of Student Achievement (EMSA) scores do not necessarily help them to better identify weaknesses or challenges in their students’ learning.

On professional advancement, teachers expressed their desire for professional growth opportunities, salary increase, engagement in school’s business and wider participation in decision-making affecting teaching and learning.

“The Adec is keen to support teachers and help them achieve professional growth to ensure high quality education and improved learning outcomes... The ultimate goal is to ensure that graduates are equipped with the necessary skills to meet labour market needs and to proactively contribute to achieving the goals of socio-economic development,” said Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, Adec Director-General.

About 8,017 or 77 per cent of the public school teachers participated in the survey. Female teachers represented 58.7per cent with Emirati teachers comprising 31.1 per cent.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com


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