ADEC holds mock exams for teachers as part of TELS UAE pilot programme

The Abu Dhabi Education Council is holding mock exams for 400 randomly selected teachers as part of the Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards (TELS) UAE pilot programme.

ADEC has partnered with the Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE) and its Continuing Education Centre (CEC), to provide an in-school introduction, professional development and testing services for teachers.

Following an initial launch of the project in September 2016, ECAE's Continuing Education Centre delivered 29 separate in-school introductory workshops for the 400 pilot teachers. In addition, more than 40 professional development workshops are being delivered to the participants from different public and private schools as part of the project.

The workshops have been developed by the centre to align to the TELS UAE professional standards and are being conducted by CEC trainers in Arabic and English.

ADEC's higher education expert, Dr Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, explained that the whole point behind the 45-minute mock exam is to ensure the teacher licensing system is able to support the future licensing process for public and private school teachers in Abu Dhabi, who are all required to be licensed before the year 2022.

Teachers undergoing the mock exam, which is being conducted throughout the first two weeks of November, will be encouraged to provide feedback on the test items and systems which will help ADEC and CEC improve the processes for testing.

"Teachers from across different cycles, who teach different subjects, will be given the opportunity to voice their concerns, recommendations, and offer tips on how things can improve. Our focus is to ensure all teachers are content with the new licensing process (including professional development), and that it helps cater to their needs and objectives," explained Dr Baniyas.

As part of the TELS piloting objectives, teachers are also expected to upload evidence against the standards to an electronic portfolio so that the assessment and verification of teachers can be evaluated.

The ECAE will be running a second test in December 2016 lasting one hour and forty minutes so that the teachers can comment on the test. Teachers will also have access to the TELS UAE site where they will be able to create a profile consisting of their licenses, qualifications, degrees and certificates. Furthermore, they will have an e-portfolio where they can upload documentation which provides evidence of their hard work and competence against the standards. This will all help elevate the quality of teaching and learning across all schools equally.