Home | Dubai forum | Print

ADEC school inspections in Abu Dhabi  

Thursday 17 May 2012 (UAE)   
 
   
      
 

Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) school inspections

Abu Dhabi school inspections were started by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) in 2008 with a preliminary survey prior to more comprehensive inspections carried out in the 2009-2010 academic year. The ADEC school inspections are similar to the Dubai school inspections conducted by the DSIB division of the KHDA. The third round of Abu Dhabi school inspections is expected in 2011-2012 (not 2010-2011).

  • In September 2008, Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, the ADEC Director General, told the Gulf News that ADEC would inspect private villa schools. Villa schools in Abu Dhabi (and other emirates for that matter) have a reputation of being unsuitable for students with cramped conditions and poor maintenance.
  • Schools would be inspected every 2 years, or more frequently for under-performing schools. Schools that continue to have unsatisfactory performance would be closed within 3 years.
  • Starting date for first full inspections was to be in September 2009.
  • The results of the ADEC school inspections would be made publicly available according to a Khaleej Times report 25 May 2009: "An ADEC spokesperson told Khaleej Times that the council is following a policy of transparency and the results will be published at www.adec.ca.ae, its website."
  • "Adec will make full reports available to the public on its website." - The National 23 May 2009
  • "Full reports will be available to the public on Adnec’s website." - Arabian Business 23 May 2009 (their report was just a repeat of The National's report, except for the error for the ADEC acronym)
  • ADEC changed their minds about sharing school inspection results with the public. An ADEC press release 24 February 2010 said "School results will initially be shared confidentially with schools to work towards improvement goals, however the inspection process will eventually move towards full transparency."
  • As of 24 February 2010, ADEC had started inspections but it was not clear how many schools had been inspected, or when inspections would be complete: "Dr. Al-Khaili said that a highly-experienced international inspection teams has already started their work, including inspection of 95 schools."
Abu Dhabi school inspections 2012-2013
  • 29 February 2012 news reports said that the Abu Dhabi school inspection program, Irtiqaa (or Irtiqa'a) will start from September 2012 (a pilot phase will start in March 2012 in 12 schools). ADEC developed the program in association with Tribal, an international school inspection program developer.
  • Some reports said the Irtiqaa inspection program would apply to public (state or government schools). Other reports said it would be for both public and private schools in Abu Dhabi. The Iritqaa section on the ADEC website says All schools, whether private or public, working within the Abu Dhabi emirate are registered with Irtiqaa.
  • Evaluation criteria (8 of them) will be:
    1. academic progress of students
    2. personal development of students
    3. curriculum role in meeting needs of students
    4. quality of teaching
    5. quality of facilities
    6. student support programs
    7. learning resources
    8. school leadership and management effectiveness
  • Grading levels will be from 1 to 8 (1 - Excellent, 2 - Very Good, 3 - Good, 4 - Fair and Developing, 5 - Fair and Stable, 6 - Unsatisfactory, 7 - Largely Unsatisfactory, 8 - Poor). And then banded from A to C (no, we don't know why either): Band A (high performing, grade 1-3), Band B (secure, grade 4-5) or Band C (in need of significant improvement, grade 5-8). Schools with 'A' grades will receive the "Irqaa Award" but no details supplied about what that means.
Abu Dhabi school inspections 2010-2011
  • WAM news reported on 20 September 2010 that ADEC would start private school inspections shortly, with 4 teams for Abu Dhabi city area schools, 4 for Al Ain schools, and one team for Al Gharbia (Western Region) schools.
  • The news release didn't say if inspection reports would be made publicly available, just that they would be submitted to the ADEC Private School Assessment Committee (PSAC). For 2009-2010, ADEC said reports would be made available to the public but then changed their mind.
Abu Dhabi School Inspections 2009-2010
  • ADEC carried out the second round of school inspections in Abu Dhabi private schools during 2009-2010.
  • Inspections were carried out by international inspectors over a 4-5 day period for each school, similar to the DSIB inspections in Dubai.
  • Initial results for 98 out of 184 private schools released on 02 June 2010 were disappointing.
  • The Director General of ADEC, Dr Khamis Mugheer Al Khaili, said in a 02 June 2010 press release, 68% of the private schools that are utilizing purpose built buildings ranked "below satisfactory" and 20% were "satisfactory"; a mere 12% per cent were deemed good.
  • About 70 villa schools were not included in the inspections?
  • Individual school inspection reports, ratings, reviews, and results were not made available to the public as of early June 2010, but might be after results have been finalised. Date of release of reports unknown.
ADEC school inspection procedure for 2009-2010
  • Nine criteria for evaluation
    1. overall school effectiveness and efficiency
    2. student achievement and progress
    3. personal development of students
    4. teaching quality
    5. curriculum meeting pupils' needs
    6. protection, care, guidance, and support of students
    7. quality of school facilities and buildings
    8. school resources and their efficiency to achieve teaching and learning goals and objectives
    9. efficiency of school management and leadership, and their ability to achieve set goals
  • Each of the nine standards will be rated on a nine-point scale from poor (score of 9?) to outstanding (score of 1?)
  • Notification of inspector visits would be provided 10 to 30 days in advance.
  • The two lowest categories are "poor" and "very unsatisfactory". Schools falling into those categories would be shut down. Schools in the next 3 lowest levels would have to improve (or risk being shut down eventually).
Abu Dhabi School Inspections 2008-2009
  • ADEC initiated a first round of basic school inspections in private schools in Abu Dhabi to set a reference point for more comprehensive inspections in future years.
Last update Saturday 03-Mar-2012
Related pages
Related websites (new window)

www.dubaifaqs.com/adec-school-inspections-abu-dhabi.php

Abu Dhabi AUH ABD ADB, Ajman AJM, Al Ain AAN, Dubai DXB, Fujairah FUJ, Ras Al Khaimah RAK, Sharjah SHJ, Umm Al Quwain UAQ information guide

Copyright © www.dubaifaqs.com 2012, Dubai, UAE - United Arab Emirates