ABU DHABI // New principals at state schools and kindergartens will need to prove they are qualified when new standards for promotion and hiring are introduced in the new academic year.
The Minister of Education, Dr Hanif Hassan, said the process was identified as an area of concern during the ongoing overhaul of the education system and that the standards were part of a “new trend” to make the management of schools more efficient.
Under the new rules, principals will be required to hold a bachelor’s degree in education and have attained an “outstanding” grade in their most recent work evaluation.
Newly hired assistant principals must have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject and have at least six years’ teaching experience.
Candidates for both positions will also have to be proficient in English, as measured by their scores on one of two standardised English tests: at least 500 out of a possible 677 on the TOEFL, or a five out of a possible nine on the IELTS.
Previously, most state school principals were promoted through the ranks. Assistant principals – who often go on to become principals – have typically been teachers who were promoted. Teachers at state schools are not required to have a bachelor’s degree in education.
“The ministry is now moving towards achieving a new advanced phase of public school reform and development,” Dr Hassan said.
“The new promotion standards are a new addition to the quality of education and education services and a new trend for raising the efficiency of school administrations.”
The ministry is also redefining the job of principal to ensure they were involved in long-term planning, from developing curriculums to helping to train teachers.
“We’re moving UAE principals from a managerial, monitoring the budget, ordering supplies role, to a position of instructional leader in the building,” said Dr Terry Brenner, a consultant for the ministry’s office of policy and planning.
The ministry is also implementing a new ranking system for principals.
Newly hired principals with a bachelor’s degree in education and proficiency in English will be classified as level one. Those who have completed an additional certification programme will be level two, while those with a master’s degree in education will receive a level-three designation. It is understood that, in the future, salaries will reflect grade levels.
“Having a good principal is the linchpin to effective schools,” said Dr Brenner.
“The single most influential variable in a child’s education is the classroom teacher. If you don’t have a principal who is a strong instructional leader, you’re not going to hire the right people to put in the classroom. So it continues to come back to the principal.”
At the start of the last academic year, the ministry launched a programme at its 50 Madares al Ghad schools that paired 50 local principals with 37 “principal advisers” from around the world to help them to improve their leadership skills.
Seventy-five principals also began a 14-month leadership training course developed by the ministry and Zayed University. Eventually, the principals of all state schools will be required to undergo the training.
One of the major issues facing state schools is the shift from rote learning. The move is so Emirati students can compete with their international counterparts.
“What we see primarily in the UAE is teacher-directed classrooms and from what we know about how students learn in very different ways, we know that instruction has to be learner-centred,” said Dr Brenner.
“If principals don’t know that, how can they supervise, coach, mentor and provide feedback for classroom teachers?”
Kathryn Lewis and Daniel Bardsley