Everything you need to know about teacher licences in Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) launched the Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards (TELS) UAE Pilot Project in September 2016.

Four hundred teachers, randomly selected from public and private schools in the emirate participated in the pilot phase.

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

With the pilot programme now wrapped up, Education Journal Middle East spoke to ADEC's executive director of higher education, Dr Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, about the pilot programme, the lessons learned, and the regulator's implementation plans as it prepares to licence more 20,000 teachers over the next three years.


THE PILOT PROGRAMME

How many teachers participated in the pilot programme?

400 teachers from both public and private schools in Abu Dhabi participated in the pilot programme.


How did the process work?

Implementing the pilot programme itself consisted of different elements. First, identifying the teachers, making sure that their credentials were correct in terms of university degrees, degrees in their own subject, and degrees or professional qualifications in education; making sure that their job performance was good; making sure they have the practical experience; and utilising the existing performance systems – for example the Ada'e performance system within ADEC – helped us to a large degree. Teachers completed various modules (listed below) as well as professional development, and two mock exams.


Which areas are teaches tested on?

In the UAE and also at the national level and the ADEC level, the teacher licencing standards take into consideration various elements. For teachers to be a perfect educator, they need multiple skills. First they have to have the knowledge of their subject – you cannot ignore subject knowledge, similar to any other profession. So one important standard of the teacher licencing is being competent in their field.

The second is having values and ethics because teachers are dealing with children at different ages. And regardless of their age, if they don't have values or ethics, it's very difficult to be a role model, to project their success to others, to have good moral practice.

Professional knowledge is also very important. You may be an excellent scientist but you need to have the ability to teach science. Some people naturally have the gift, but even if they don't, by practice and training, they can improve their skills. So the pedagogical skills are quite important for teachers. And then also lifelong learning skills such as communication, language, classroom management, team building… these are quite important and addressed in the teacher licences.

Finally, the ability to grow themselves – professional growth and professional development. Teachers must update their skills frequently, have professional development, and try to grow in their profession, not necessarily just to become a school principal or director, but also for them to become expert teachers, or consultant teachers, head of faculty, so horizontal growth in their own field.

These are quite important standards that are reflected in the licensing standards for Abu Dhabi Education Council.


Did all 400 teachers in the pilot phase pass the tests and receive their licences?

This was a pilot programme, so none of the teachers have received their licences. They all have to do the test again. The reason we decided that is because we did not want to punish them if they failed the exam. We wanted them to be able to send us their opinion. All the teachers took two mock exams – one was preparation and one was exam, so they are prepared. They don't have their UAE teacher licence, but the benefit they get is their credentials are with us and the process for them will be much faster because they have taken the modules so they don't have to take those again. It was a free practice for them.


What was the feedback from teachers who participated in the pilot programme?

According to the feedback we received, the test was easy for some teachers, while for others it was difficult. And we expected that, because they all come from different backgrounds, and at this stage we did not test them on their subject knowledge – we did not give them a maths or science test. We gave them a general education test with some knowledge of the subject. So for some teachers it was easy because they had good post-graduate education training in pedagogy and lifelong skills. But for some who learned by experience, they found the test a little difficult because they did not have formal training in teaching; those with formal training in teaching found this test easier.



THE LICENSING PROCESS

How long does it take to complete the licensing process?

How long it will take to complete the modules depends on the level of the person. If someone has good knowledge of their profession and has been teaching for a while and they come from a college of education or similar, then they could opt to skip the modules and take the exam directly. We are also working on online modules that are shortened. But if someone has no background in teaching whatsoever and they have no knowledge, and they want to take their time, taking all the modules may take a couple of weeks to study. The modules are equivalent to around 78 contact hours. So the individual teacher can look at the standard and the learning outcomes and content and decide how they will manage it. This is something we learned from our pilot – some teachers said they could complete the modules in a shorter period of time, which is why we're giving them the flexibility.


How much time are teachers allowed to complete the modules and tests?

As far as the exams are concerned, we will give teachers three chances to pass the exam. So within 18 to 24 months if they don't pass the exam in three tries, then it will be difficult for them to get the licence. For the exam, we will offer professional development if they would like to use it. If some teachers feel they already have the knowledge and are prepared, they may opt not to take it. Professional development for exam preparation is their choice.


Which language are the tests conducted in?

In the pilot phase, the test was in English and translated to Arabic for teachers who do not teach in English. However, the challenge was that whenever you translate something, the meaning is lost. We got some funny statements in the test that we had to correct, so we have now introduced Arabic tests for Arabic teachers, rather than translating it.


How much will the licence cost and who will bear the cost?

The suggested cost for the licence is approximately AED1500. We are looking at AED1000 for the exam, AED200for registration, and AED300 for the review of qualifications and documents. The schools and teachers will have to decide who will pay for the licence. Since there will be no exam at renewal, the cost should not exceed AED500. These costs are all preliminary and are not final.


How long is the licence valid for?

The licence is valid for three years. To renew the licence, teachers must complete 30 hours of professional development each year (90 hours over three years). Our advice is for the professional development is for 50% of it to be in the subject they are teaching, and 50% could be in general areas of education. Teachers will not have to take another test to renew their licence. However, there should be no break in teaching during the three years. They must also have no criminal violations… so we have to verify their activities or legal records and things like that. If those are okay and they have taken their professional development, then the licence will be automatically renewed.


Will teachers have to apply for a new licence if they move to a new school before their current licence expires?

No – the same licence is valid within the country. But if they're going to change the subject they teach, then they will have to apply for a new licence. As long as they're teaching the same subject, and the same year group, they can use the same licence. But the payment and agreement has to be between individual teacher and the two schools; the licensing body will not interfere in that.


ADEC's recruitment standards are already quite rigorous, with degree matching requirements, as well as teaching qualifications. Some senior leaders in the industry have expressed concern that teachers with a QTS status who already hold a degree in the subject they teach may be deterred if they find out they have to take a test before being allowed to teach in the UAE. Are you concerned the move might deprive the market?

Indeed, we have to make every attempt to not deprive the market of qualified teachers, and we're conscious of that. It may be possible that for certain countries there will be mutual recognition. We have to make sure our system is flexible enough to not cause a shortage of teachers in the market. But at the same time we cannot say that every single teacher who has a licence from a certain country can come here and just swap their licence for a Dubai one. They still have to do some form of assessment or we at least study their case.


Will teachers with teaching licences or qualifications from other countries be exempted from the exam?

There could be some cross-recognition with certain countries. We are working on the final details. What we are going to do is compare the standards, compare the elements with different countries, and if the elements are similar, we will do it. In some places, you're recognised by virtue of the country. Say, for example, we are thinking about recognising licences from the US, but in the US, each state has a different requirement. So maybe we'll recognise licences from some states fully, and partially from other states. This is why we are not jumping into cross recognition until we see what each licence includes.


What about teachers who may not hold a teaching qualification but have been teaching at a school for over a decade, for example?

In most ADEC schools, recruitment standards quite tough. Take post graduate education for example – the vast majority of teachers in the ADEC system have a post grad in education. While post graduate education is a requirement for leadership positions, it may not be required for teacher positions. So in that regard, we are confident that in terms of qualifications, the majority of ADEC teachers meet the standards. If there are some who don't meet the teaching standards, there will be a grace period for them to fulfil the teaching standards, and we'll probably introduce an extra exam for them as well to compensate for that lack of qualification. This model is practiced in some countries as well, whereby, if you have the majority of necessary qualifications but a segment of it is missing, you can compensate for that by taking extra exams. So we will consider introducing something similar. If there are occasionally some teachers who do not have the qualification and we give them extra chances and they still don't bring their qualifications up and don't perform well on the exams, then, of course, they'll have to find an alternative profession for themselves.


How will the licensing programme be rolled out?

We will licence about 30-40% of teachers during the 2017/18 academic year, another 50% during 2018/19, and then 20% in 2019/20. We are trying to stay ahead a little – our plan is to finish by 2020. We want to keep the final year to handle any challenges we might face.