Abu Dhabi school inspection results revealed

The Abu Dhabi Education Council has released the results for its first year of inspections using the new unified school inspection framework.

A total of 110 private schools were inspected during the 2015/16 academic year, out of which 67 schools were in Abu Dhabi, 39 in Al Ain and four in the Western Region.

Schools in Abu Dhabi are inspected once every 18 to 24 months (every other academic year). The remaining schools will be inspected during the 2016/17 academic year.

Curriculum breakdown for the 110 schools included: 31 American curriculum schools, 25 British, 27 Ministry of Education, 11 Indian and 16 schools under other curricula (such as Pakistani, German, IB schools, etc.)

Under Band A (High Performing) Four schools were rated Outstanding this year for the first time. These schools include Al Bateen - Al Mushrif School, Brighton College Al Ain, Al Muna Primary School - all of which offer the British curriculum - and Raha International School, which offers the IB curriculum.

Twelve schools in the emirate were rated Very Good, while 27 schools were rated Good.

There are 65,144 students enrolled across the 43 Band A schools.

Engineer Hamad Al Dhaheri, Private Schools and Quality Assurance Sector's (PSQA's) executive director noted: "This is the first time we witness outstanding schools in Abu Dhabi, which is a great indicator that schools are doing a superb job, especially those who have shown significant improvement. Out of the 110 schools, 43 schools are Band A, 38 schools Band B and 29 Schools B and C, which means that 39% of schools or a total of 43 schools are at least good or above."

The results show that 38 schools were rated Acceptable (Band B) by inspectors. There are 55,693 students enrolled in schools rated Acceptable.

The majority of schools under this bracket offer the Ministry of Education curriculum, either by itself or in combination with British or American curriculum.

Under Band C (schools in need of significant improvement), 29 schools with 33,968 students enrolled, were rated Weak or Very Weak.

In June, ADEC had announced a freeze on admissions at 24 low performing schools after repeated warning letters to improve standards.

The majority of schools under Band C offer the Ministry of Education curriculum, sometimes in combination with the American curriculum.

All in all, 23 schools improved from Band B to A and four schools jumped from Band C to A. Ratings for four schools were also downgraded.

The new inspection framework looks at six performance standards: student achievement; students' personal and social development and their innovation skills; teaching and assessment; curriculum; the protection, care, guidance, and support of students; and leadership and management.

Results for the year show that 40% of schools performed good and above on student achievement; 62% of schools showed good and above performance on students social and personal development; 39% of schools showed good and above performance in teaching and assessment; 34% of schools showed good and above on the quality of curriculum; 57% of schools provided good and above in protection, care guidance and support of students; and 39% of school leadership and management are good and above.

Al Dhaheri said: "This Framework is a milestone in the development of the education sector, as it is the culmination of the best models of school evaluations and school improvement that were being used in schools across the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Now there is a common and shared vision of what quality education should look like across the nation."

There are currently 186 private schools with 238,632 students enrolled in Abu Dhabi.


ABU DHABI SCHOOL INSPECTION RESULTS (2015/16):