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Tuesday 07 February 2012 (UAE)
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KHDA DSIB school inspections in Dubai
The Dubai School Inspections Bureau (DSIB) is the school inspection department of the KHDA. The first batch of Dubai school inspections for 2008-2009 started in October 2008 and covered private and government schools, with schools put into one of 4 categories. The second batch of school inspections for 2009-2010 started October 2009 and included Indian, Pakistani, and Iranian curriculum schools (which were skipped for the first inspections).
- KHDA Dubai school inspection reports 2012 - Indian school reports to be released in February 2012.
- KHDA Dubai school inspections 2011 - Most private school reports released 10 May 2011, Indian and Pakistan school ratings released 22 February 2011
- KHDA school inspections 2010 - list of schools and ratings
- KHDA school inspection reports 2009 - list of schools and rankings
- Results, reviews, and full reports (for 2008-2009 only summaries were released to the public) for Dubai schools for 2009-2010 released 10 May 2010 on the KHDA website.
- Results for Indian and Pakistan curriculum schools were released 17 February 2010.
- Iranian curriculum schools in Dubai are not inspected, at least they haven't been up to the 2010-2011 round of inspections. According to The National on 23 February 2011, Officials at the KHDA said they had to exempt these schools from previous inspections because of their "unique curriculum".
- Add your comments to the Dubai school ratings 2010 topic.
DSIB school inspections 2011-2012
- Indian High School Dubai (CBSE curriculum), and Dubai Modern High School (CISCE curriculum) both awarded an "outstanding" rating according to comments made to the Gulf News by Fatma Belrehif, spokeswoman for the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) (reported 20 December 2011).
- Indian school reports to be released February 2012
- Most other school inspection reports to be released May 2012 (unconfirmed)?
DSIB school inspections 2010-2011
- Other private school reports announced 10 May 2011.
- Inspection results for Indian and Pakistani schools in Dubai will be announced on Monday 21 February 2011, and will be available on the KHDA website on the morning of Tuesday 22 February 2011 (Gulf News 20 February 2011).
- School inspections to start from Tuesday 04 January 2011. Inspection visits are usually 3-5 days long.
- Inspectors will visit 79 public schools and 42 private schools during the second term of the 2010-2011 academic year.
- Poorly rated schools will probably be given a specific action plan to follow for improvement. Highly rated schools might be subject to less frequent inspections. The DSIB boss, Jameela al Muhairi, reportedly said "The inspection strategy is under review, and we will be looking into a plan for unsatisfactory schools, the frequency of the inspections and the period of our visits." (The National 04 January 2010).
DSIB school inspections 2009-2010
| Number of schools | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 February 2010 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 0 |
| 10 May 2010 | 21 | 95 | 66 | 5 |
| Total as of 10 May 2010 | 26 (22) | 106 (97) | 73 (66) | 5 (4) |
- Numbers in brackets for Totals are for 2008-2009 academic year.
- For the 2008-2009 round of school inspections, the KHDA published a brief summary and rating for each school for public consumption, and sent a more comprehensive report to each school.
- For the 2009-2010 round of school inspections, a more comprehensive report was made available to the public for each school (about 15-20 pages), pdf downloads available from the KHDA website. So far for Indian and Pakistani curriculum schools (February 2010).
- Results for other schools for the 2009-2010 inspections will be released in May 2010 according to news reports 20 March 2010.
Dubai schools ratings 2009-2010
- Outstanding rated schools: Al Manhal Kindergarten, Al Nokhbah Model School, Childhood Development Center and kindergarten, GEMS Wellington International School, Kings Dubai School
- Good rated schools: see the list of Dubai school reports 2010
- Acceptable / Satisfactory rated schools: see the list of Dubai school inspections 2010
- Uncceptable / Unsatisfactory rated schools: Al Aqsaa Primary School, Al Basateen Kindergarten Hatta, Al Falah Model Private School, Al Farooq Pakistani Islamic School, Al Hesn Private School, Al Hudaibiah Primary School, Al Khulafaa Al Rashideen School, Al Majd Indian School, Al Maktoum School, Al Mohallab Primary School, Al Shaab Boys Primary School, Al Watan Al Arabi School, Apple International School, Buds Public School, Dubai American Scientific School, Dubai Arab American Private School, Dubai First School, Dubai Infants School, English Medium Private School, European School of Dubai, Grammar School Dubai, Little Flowers English School, Mohammed Noor School, Pakistan Education Academy, United International Private School
DSIB school inspections October 2009
The second year of inspections started in October 2009 for all schools in Dubai for the 2009-2010 academic year, including Indian, Iranian, and Pakistani curriclum schools (they missed out the first time around). New initiatives for round 2 included:
- Interviews with 10 parents at each school (but not with students?)
- Online questionnaire with 20 questions for all parents at the time of the inspections (but not for students?)
- Science programs evaluated from Kindergarten (KG) levels (was not examined below grade 6 for 2008-2009)
- Islamic Studies renamed as Islamic Education and will recived more scrutiny
Total number of schools to be surveyed is 82, made up of 36 government schools, and 46 private schools including 24 Indian and Pakistani schools.
DSIB school inspections for Dubai - April-May 2009
The results of the first batch of inspections, conducted in 69 schools in Dubai (24 public schools and 45 private schools) from October to December 2008, were released on 02 April 2009. The second batch of 120 results were released 16 May 2009, and another 31 Indian, Pakistani, and Iranian schools will be inspected during the 2009-2010 academic year (April to March for these schools). There are about 220 schools in Dubai - both private and government). Results for Indian and Pakistani schools were released 17 February 2010.
| Number of schools | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02 April 2009 | 6 | 34 | 25 | 4 |
| 16 May 2009 | 14 | 63 | 41 | 0 |
| 17 February 2010 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 0 |
| Total as of 16 May 2009 | 22 | 97 | 66 | 4 |
| Total as of 17 February 2010 | 27 | 108 | 73 | 4 |
| Public (government) schools | 5 | 43 | 32 | 0 |
| Private schools | 17 | 54 | 34 | 4 |
| Total as of 16 May 2009 | 22 | 97 | 66 | 4 |
KHDA Outstanding ratings for Dubai schools for 2009-2010
| School | KHDA rating | Dubaifaqs satisfaction rating | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 May 2010 | ||||||||
| Students | Parents | Teachers | Students | Parents | Teachers | |||
| Al Manhal Kindergarten | Outstanding | |||||||
| Al Nokhbah Model School | Outstanding | |||||||
| Childhood Development Center | Outstanding | |||||||
| GEMS Wellington International School | Outstanding |  |
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| Kings School Dubai | Outstanding | |
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KHDA Outstanding rankings for Dubai schools for 2008-2009
| School | KHDA rating | Dubaifaqs satisfaction rating | ||||||
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| 02 April 2009 | 16 May 2009 | |||||||
| Students | Parents | Teachers | Students | Parents | Teachers | |||
| JESS Arabian Ranches | Outstanding |  |
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| Jumeirah College | Outstanding |  |
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| Jumeirah English Speaking School | Outstanding | |
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| Kings Dubai* | Outstanding |  |
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*Kings Dubai ratings for 02 April 2009 from very few votes on Dubaifaqs and should not be assumed to be very representative.
Dubai school inspections background
The Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) is the inspections division of the Knowledge & Human Development Authority Dubai (KHDA) and inspects all schools in Dubai to rate them on whether or not they provide a satisfactory education. Usually schools are inspected by a group of inspectors, some of whom are imported from overseas for the job. These inspectors conduct interviews and surveys with parents, students, and staff, observe teachers, and write reports. As you'd expect with an inspecting body or ratings agency, there is some degree of variability introduced depending on the whim of the inspector in attendance, making the results more subjective than one would hope. Each school should be inspected by more than one inspector so any bias should be diluted by the other inspectors.
KHDA inspections put Dubai schools into one of 4 categories: outstanding, good, acceptable and unsatisfactory. The significance of those categories is not just as an information rating for parents and students, but financial and career oriented also. School fee increases are limited by different amounts depending on the KHDA rating, and some teachers who had less than satisfactory ratings resulting in an overall lower rating for the school, have found their teaching careers in Dubai to be somewhat shorter than they expected.
Some would argue that the KHDA inspection results reflect how well the school prepared for the review (schools knew beforehand when inspectors would visit) rather than the quality of education offered. Schools and sacked teachers disgruntled with the KHDA verdicts are more likely to have this point of view, and to say that it doesn't represent what the school is really like. Residents in the UAE who have more than a passing familiarity with schools in Dubai will spot a few apparent anomalies in the list also.
Note that it is not unusual to see major discrepancies between the KHDA ratings, and the Dubai school ratings on the information pages here. For example, half of the KHDA "unsatisfactory" schools were rated by students, parents and teachers as better than the KHDA "outstanding" Jumeirah College for 2008-2009. The KHDA ratings are determined by inspectors, while the Dubaifaqs ratings are determined by students, parents and teachers. All 4 groups have different measurement criteria and influences. What conclusions can you draw from the disparity between Dubaifaqs satisfaction ratings and the KHDA ratings? Well, for one, bear in mind that voting on Dubaifaqs is a bit of a free for all, so any ratings that just don't look right, probably aren't. And it might be reasonable to conclude that the KHDA ratings indicate that the DubaiFAQs ratings are nonsense and should be ignored. But tell us what you think. Add a comment to the KHDA school inspection topic.
Individual school rating brief summary reports are available on the KHDA website, 3-4 pages as a pdf download for 2008-2009, and the full 20 page report for 2009-2010.
KHDA and school fee increases in Dubai
- Up until 2008, schools in Dubai were permitted up to 16% increase in school fees every 2 years.
- UAE Ministry of Education permits up to 30% in three years?
- From 2009, KHDA set the maximum increase to a lower figure depending on school inspection rating (see table below).
- For the 2010-2011 academic year however, the KHDA said no fee increases were permitted.
| Rating | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual fees increase |
Parent satisfaction survey Dubai Schools
Last update Saturday 07-Jan-2012
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- KHDA Dubai - Knowledge and Human Development Authority in Dubai information
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- KHDA Pakistani school ratings - discussion topic, add your comments
- KHDA inspection results - forum topic, add your thoughts about the results.
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