Cover interview: Poonam Bhojani

When Poonam Bhojani left her IT job at an international bank to raise a family, she never thought she would someday run a group of international schools in Dubai; but that is exactly what happened.

"In the process of raising my sons, and going through their school life and learning, I got very interested in education. I felt that they needed education that was far more challenging than what they were receiving, even though they were receiving very good education at the time. That's when I decided that this is what I wanted to do," Bhojani tells Education Journal of her decision to set up Innoventures Education when we meet at Collegiate American School.

"Dubai was changing at that point a lot of development was taking place, and we were very fortunate to get approval for our case study to set up Dubai International Academy, which started in 2005," she adds.

Dubai's education sector in 2005 was vastly different to the one today. There were fewer international schools, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) did not exist —which meant there was little regulation in the sector —and few schools offered the International Baccalaureate.

In fact, Bhojani reveals, Dubai International Academy, which opened in 2005, was the first IB continuum school in the country, offering all three IB programmes, instead of just the diploma offered in the last two years by most schools.

"Today every other school talks about the IB, but at that time it was very challenging to find teachers, to find professional development courses for teachers, and a lot of effort had to be invested in getting parents aware about the IB in the early and primary years programme, as well as in the middle years. Also, because it was our first project in education, while it was challenging, the flipside was that we were very innovative for our time because we didn't have any pre-set notion of how to run a school, so some very creative things came out of that," Bhojani notes.

Bhojani's role in raising awareness of the IB programme also saw her become the vice president of the Middle East IB Association of Schools (MEIBA), where she has served since 2008.

The 84-member organisation aims to provide help and support to schools offering the International Baccalaureate, while providing a forum for discussions and consultations.

Following the establishment of Dubai International Academy, which opened with 500 students, Bhojani said the school "grew at a very rapid pace".

"Never once did we even have to think about admissions or marketing or anything of the sort. It just very rapidly grew in size and stature because the IB worked very well for our target population," she explains.

However, when the recession hit in 2008, any plans for expansion were shelved, while the Innoventures team focused on strengthening its offering.

At the same time, Dubai's Emaar Properties decided to dissolve its Emaar Education arm, which developed and managed Raffles-branded schools and nurseries in the emirate at the time.

"Following the recession [Emaar] decided that they would focus on their core business. They gave us the management of the Raffles schools and nurseries, so suddenly we grew from being a single school to becoming three schools and nine nurseries," says Bhojani.

At the time, the site for Collegiate American School (CAS) housed a catering college, which was eventually shut down, and CAS opened in 2011.

Today, nearly 8,000 students are enrolled in four schools and 10 nurseries managed by Innoventures Education. While Dubai International Academy, Raffles World Academy, and Raffles International School offer the IB programme, the Collegiate American School, which currently offers classes until Grade 10, is expected to offer the IB diploma from the next academic year.

With Innoventures having suddenly grown from one school to a portfolio of 14 schools and nurseries in 2010, Bhojani says the group is now "going through a phase of consolidation".

"We are building on our strengths before going into more schools because there comes a time when you need to pause and review and strengthen everything," she notes.

The strategy, Bhojani explains, is to attract talented teachers and invest in their professional development. All of its schools are also in the process of earning various international accreditations, including those from the IB, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, and the Council of International Schools.

"Investing in student development programmes, student support programmes, strengthening parent and community relations, strengthening the governance of the schools, investing in technology, investing in more creative resources — this is what we are really focused on," Bhojani says.

Teacher recruitment and development is a topic that she refers back to quite often during the interview, pointing to the fact that recruitment is a challenge "not just in Dubai but the world over".

"We have a recruitment strategy across our schools and we know what kind of people we are looking for. We also invest in referral strategies, so our teachers who know other teachers can refer them for recruitment. Last year we found that about 20% of our recruitment was done that way.

"We invest a lot in professional development and ensuring our teachers have growth within the organisation. This is how we ensure we get quality staff – through continued professional development — by giving them the opportunity because we are a large group so we can have a lot of sharing of best practice," she states.

Bhojani also believes that as people begin to put down roots in the UAE, the nature of recruitment in the sector will also stabilise.

She explains: "Until now, Dubai has been a transient place, so people would come and go. Now that trend is changing and I think that will contribute towards stability in schools in staffing and the student body. There is no shortage of opportunities for professional development, there is no shortage of resources, there is no shortage of opportunities within the educational community here.

"I think the vision of the leadership is a great plus for a place like Dubai, which is so forward-looking, and it's fantastic to see the emphasis being placed on innovation and education for a better world. The fact that there's more competition means that the quality schools have really no cause for worry."

"And yes, innovation is mandatory, and that's what education is all about — it's about innovation, creativity, critical thinking," she adds.

While staff development is a key area of focus for Bhojani, the team places equal importance on personalised learning for students.

"No two children are the same. It's our educational philosophy across the board, and we are focused on personalised learning, which means that every child learns according to that child's pace. That's not very easy to implement, but what we really look at is learning as a series of steps and every student should progress knowing what the previous step was and what the next step is. And every child should be allowed to make decisions about how much they can really achieve.

"The role of the teacher, therefore, changes from being the 'sage on the stage to the guide of the side'. So the role of the teacher is no longer standing in front of the classroom at the blackboard and talking to the children; it's about engaging them purposefully and letting them drive their own learning, and that's something we are trying to focus on a lot in our schools," she enthuses.

When asked whether expansion is on the cards for the group, given the increasing number of international schools in the UAE, Bhojani insists the group is focusing on strengthening its current offering for now.

"The priorities are to continue to strengthen our quality of education through the development of staff, through the enrichment opportunities we can offer our students, and through the engagement with our parent body to develop the schools even further. "For us quality comes before anything else. Therefore, we are focusing on quality, and for the right kind of growth there is really no shortage of opportunity here.

"Right now our size is large enough for us to continue to build the quality within our schools, and that's something that never stops. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said 'in the race for excellence there is no finish line'. And that's really what it is in education — you can keep improving; there's really no end to where you can go. You can continually keep improving," Bhojani concludes.