Tuesday 19 March 2024 (UAE)

Teaching jobs in Dubai UAE 2024

Coronavirus in the UAE: Some information on this website is out of date as a result of measures taken in the UAE to deal with the coronavirus crisis. Confirm with official or authoritative sources.

Teaching jobs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, UAE 2024-2025

Information about vacancies in Dubai schools, careers and teaching jobs, salaries in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, RAK, Sharjah, and other places in the UAE in national and international schools, universities, colleges, training institutes. Scams and fake teaching jobs, how to apply for the best teaching jobs in 2024-2025 for Americans, Arabs, Asians, Europeans, Filipinos, Indians, westerners. Also teacher recruitment agencies, pay scale, benefits, and conditions.

Teaching job scams in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, UAE

For those teachers who, despite reading the above, are still very enthusiastic about sending money to these organisations, please do the following instead. Keep half, and send us the other half. That way we will both be in a better position financially. Ok, you still won't have a job yet, but you're more likely to find one by reading the rest of this page, and the other related pages, than by sending money to those organisations. And at the bottom of this page, there's a list of recruitment agencies for teaching jobs that we know of, and think are worth using. Also a list of fake jobs or educational institutes operating this scam.

Finding a teaching job in Dubai and UAE schools, colleges, and universities

In order of most effective to least effective way of finding a teaching job in a UAE school, especially a good job, try the following (for universities and colleges, the personal approach might be more difficult since they often have stronger firewalls, called Human Resource Departments):

  1. Search for and do some research about schools in the UAE, then make a list of names of schools you might be interested in teaching in. Adjust your CV to suit each school, and write a letter asking for a job. Don't address the letter with with Dear Sir/Madam. Find out the name of the person in charge. Phone the school to ask or confirm that a name is up to date (or at least search online but information is not always correct or up to date - even the school's own website can be poorly maintained). Make sure the documents are free of spelling and grammatical errors - you are applying for a teaching job after all. Learn the difference between its and it's, there and their, your and you're, for example and get it right (a school's website is not "it's website", it's "its website").
    1. If you know a teacher or another employee at a school, give them the letter/CV to hand over to the head. Networking (or Wasta as it's often called in the UAE) usually helps, and the adage It's not what you know but who you know is as true in the UAE as it is anywhere.
    2. If you live in the UAE, you can visit the school personally to deliver your CV/letter. It has happened that people are offered a job on the spot with this method.
    3. Otherwise, make a direct approach to each of the schools in your short list by sending a fax, letter, or email. Our guess is that fax or letter is more effective than email. Follow up the communication with a telephone call a week later if you haven't heard anything, and expect to be fobbed off. If they want you, they'll usually contact you quickly.
  2. Many schools have an employment or recruitment section on their websites. Visit the school's website to see if they are advertising teaching positions, and apply if they are. General online job application forms, when no positions are being advertised, are less likely to find a job quickly. Schools have these to filter out teachers they don't want, and have a pool of teachers they can call on if a job becomes available. Some school operators in the UAE have a separate website and HRM department, for example the GEMS teaching careers website. These websites and processes are part of the game played by employer's rules. As a teacher, you are not in a position to change the game or the rules very easily, but you can make sure you learn how to play the game and adapt to increase your chances of landing a better job and/or pay package.
  3. Try one of the specialised education job recruiting agents in the list on this page. Or any others you can find, but make sure they're reputable. There are plenty who aren't.
  4. Look for teaching job advertisements in specialised newspapers and magazines related to education. The Times Educational Supplement and The International Educator are two that are well known, and it is much more productive to look at them than through regular newspapers.
  5. Look for teaching jobs in UAE based newspapers (the Gulf News is probably the only one worth bothering with as of 2010, the Khaleej Times has a few also but mostly low-paid jobs), or contact UAE recruitment agents.
  6. Try responding to one of the zillions of online job websites that advertise teaching jobs, but really, there are only a handful of Dubai job websites that are even worth trying. Or any other form of online marketing for a teaching job. Remember that if a school uses this method, they are probably desperate, which is a sign that they might not be great places to work (or even a real place) - the chances of falling for some sort of job scam in the UAE are much higher this way. The energy and time required to send an application directly to a real person at a real school is higher than responding to an online advertisement. But by applying directly, the risk of a dud job or scam is substantially lower and more than makes up for the extra energy you expend. Remember also that most people choose the apparently easy way - which is responding to online jobs advertisements. Don't be most people and you'll be a step ahead of them in the game of finding a teaching job.

Remember that in order of effort, the most successful job finding strategy is the most work. That's because it's also the strategy that involves the least effort on the part of the school to find a teacher.

Teacher licensing in the UAE

Minimum requirements for teaching and school related positions in the UAE

Position Qualifications Experience
School principal university degree 5 years school administration or 3 years admin and 2 years teaching
Deputy head university degree 2 years school administration or 3 years teaching
School supervisor university degree 1 year school administration or 2 years teaching
Head of subject degree and teaching certification degree specialty matches subject taught, 5 years teaching experience
Senior teacher degree and teaching certification degree specialty matches subject taught, 5 years teaching experience
*Teacher degree and teaching certification degree specialty matches subject taught, 2 years teaching experience
Assistant teacher secondary school certificate can only work in kindergarten or primary school classes

Best schools for teachers in the UAE

Best schools for teaching jobs in Abu Dhabi
Schools worth trying in Abu Dhabi if you can't find a job at one of the best ones

Consider also the ADEC PPP public schools program. Not for a good school to teach at (ADEC wants good teachers to help improve poor government school education), but for good salary and shorter working hours. Expect to find it professionally frustrating rather than rewarding or satisfying.

Best schools for teachers in Dubai
Schools worth trying in Dubai if you can't find a job at one of the best ones
Best schools for teaching jobs in Ajman, Al Ain, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain (UAQ)
Teacher job satisfaction in Abu Dhabi - mid 2011 survery
  Question summary Public Private
1 Overall job satisfaction 78% 79%
  Satisfaction with salary and pay (not clear which question)? 32% 44%
2 Teaching profession satisfaction 77%1 77%1
3 Satisfaction within school environment 77% 78%
4 Professional development (PD) progress2 87% 85%
5 Self assessment of progress towards personal PD goals2 95% 93%
6 School support towards professional development 75% 80%
7 Self-assessment of teaching abilities and strategies2 94% 94%
8 Self-confidence in performing their job as teachers2 97% 97%
9 Coherence between education system and life in general (or something) 82% 72%
10 Moral and psychological support from school to the teacher 70% 64%
11 Student behaviour in classrooms (higher means participants think behaviour is worse) 76% 67%
12 Independence of teacher 85% 84%
  1. Not clear from report if figures apply to public, private, or both.
  2. There appears to be significant overlap between some pairs of questions - 4 & 5, 7 & 8.
Teaching qualifications and teacher training in Dubai and the UAE

Salaries for teaching jobs in Dubai and the UAE

There is supposed to be a minimum teacher salary of 2,000 dhs/mth in the UAE according to the UAE Ministry of Education (for most jobs in Dubai there is no minimum salary) but some schools try to pay less than that, at least according to several press articles. See the teacher salaries in Dubai discussion. Update (16 June 2010): the minimum might be higher - Gulf News reported that Asian schools teachers are among the lowest paid in the market with the minimum salary fixed at Dh2,500 by the Ministry of Education. Figure unconfirmed. Update again (22 February 2011): the minimum is apparently still AED 2,000 per month - Emirates Business 24-7 reported that Currently, most teachers in schools with Indian curricula earn less than Dh2,500 - just above the UAE Ministry of Education's minimum wage cap of Dh2,000.

A teacher's salary in the UAE often appears to be dependent on nationality. Indians, Filipinos, Pakistanis, expat Arabs from non-GCC countries seem to be paid the lowest salaries (less than AED 5,000 per month is common) but the salary paid is more likely to do with the school having low fees than specifically the nationality of the applicant. Indian, Filipino, etc teachers in places with a better pay scale usually (but not always) get the same salaries as western and Gulf Arab teachers if they have the required qualifications (normally a degree and teaching qualification from a western country or institute). Individual school information pages have salary and pay scale range where details have been provided.

In public schools or government schools, salary range for expat classroom teachers is 1,000-6,000 dhs per month for many schools, but substanitially higher for Emirati teachers, for example in Abu Dhabi, AED 24,000-34,000 per month reported in Feb 2014 ("I used to get Dh24,000. Now I’m getting Dh34,000 ..." - The National, 06 Feb 2014). In private schools, salary range is from 1,000-25,000 dhs per month. Schools with IB, UK or US curriculums usually pay the highest - the better ones are 10,000-20,000 dhs per month from 2000-2010 (with accommodation, flights etc included), at the top of the range secondary school teachers could get over 20,000 dhs per month, possibly up to 25,000 dhs/month in 2024-2025. Indian and Filipino schools pay about 2,000-4,000 dhs per month. Other Asian schools are similar, other European schools are closer to UK/US curriculum schools with their packages.

In our school information pages we have given a teacher salary range if provided, or estimated one if possible. If there is no teacher salary information, the school fees will give an indication of the salaries on offer. Divide the annual secondary school fee by 3 to get a very approximate monthly salary figure, or divide the primary school annual fee by 2. Reduce the result by 25% for profit-making schools. This should give you a mid to high point on the school salary scale.

Teachaway teaching job salaries in Abu Dhabi, and job vacancy applications

Teachaway were advertising teaching job vacancies for Abu Dhabi public schools (government schools) in November 2013 (or earlier). Teachaway were advertising jobs in trilingual public schools (Arabic, Chinese, English) for elementary school level Mandarin teachers starting September 2013 (but possibly more vacancies coming up), with similar pay and benefits. More Teachaway jobs with ADEC schools advertised in December 2013 - High School English and Middle School teachers.

Salary scale for UAE public (government) school and kindergarten teachers and principals (UAE Federal Law number 11 of 2008 - Human Resources)
Position Basic Salary (AED) Benefits (AED) Total (monthly, AED) Total (annual, AED)
Emirati teacher (starting salary) 6,575 4,605 11,180 134,160
Expat teacher (starting salary) 4,850 3,510 8,360 100,320
Emirati principal (starting salary) 6,575 5,205 11,780 141,360
Emirati principal (maximum) 7,675 5,575 13,250 159,000

Teacher Recruitment Agencies and Finding Teaching Jobs in the UAE

The local UAE recruitment agencies and newspapers are not the best source of teaching jobs. The better options are (see end of page for links to relevant websites).

[Merge] Other teacher and education recruitment agencies in Dubai and UAE, see also list of related websites below

[Merge] Recruitment agencies based overseas with jobs in the UAE

Teaching jobs for women in the UAE

Jobs for special needs schools and institutes in Dubai and UAE

List of special needs institutes in Dubai - includes support services, government and private schools and other facilities.

Private Tuition

Teaching job scams and frauds, and fake schools in UAE

New names appear regularly (it's much easier to type a random school name into a job offer email than to build a real school). Be on the lookout for anything suspicious, check with an authoritative source if a school exists for example:

List of hoax or fraud schools and jobs in UAE (this list not comprehensive):

Abu Dhabi

Dubai

Sharjah

Last update Wednesday 11-Mar-2015
Related pages
Related websites (new window)
Sponsored links

www.dubaifaqs.com/teaching-jobs-in-dubai.php (PDF and print version).

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

DubaiFAQs UAE information guide. Copyright © 2004-2024 www.dubaifaqs.com, Dubai, UAE - United Arab Emirates | blog | Facebook | Twitter |