The capital city of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi is in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf. Being a famous tourist destination, it is one of the wonderful places to live in. Nowadays most parents are migrating to the United Arab Emirates, as a result, more and more schools are matching the demands of schools.
Education System in Best Abu Dhabi Schools
Defining the term Abu Dhabi schools is a challenge for the parents because it is based on parent’s and student’s points of view, expectations, and experience. One factor that can help is the rating that the schools received. They decided these ratings based on a biennial inspection by the ADEK – the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge. But any inspection would consider the parameters that might differ from the parameters that are important for parents. For example, the authorities might consider the study of the Arabic language essential even for non-Arabic students. This might not be a preference for the parents
Now the question arises: if ranking alone cannot help to decide on the best Abu Dhabi schools then how should parents choose the right school?
In the past, people relied heavily on the data produced by ADEK. But now parents are more aware and they depend on the exam results produced by different schools. Now ADEK publishes a survey of parents. So it is the mix of – ratings, academic achievements of students of the school and parents feedback that helps to analyze the best Abu Dhabi schools
There are over 235 schools in Abu Dhabi. In the year 2019, 241,112 students were attending schools. In private schools, there are nearly 14 international curricula that are offered to students. The most common curricula are UK, Indian, US, and others. Most Secondary schools in Abu Dhabi offer these International curricula
According to ADEK, to achieve the goals of Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 set to convert Abu Dhabi’s economy into knowledge-based, the education and knowledge department of Abu Dhabi has been building a hi-fi world-class education system that not only prepares students for future challenges but also motivates them to do some innovation and excellence.
What can be concluded based on inspection?
Inspections happen in the schools to check the quality of education as well as the facilities of the schools. The inspection of schools happens twice a year and every time the changes are implemented. Because of the Covid pandemic, few schools could be inspected in the year 2019 to 2020, and, as a result, no major changes in the education system have happened since 2019.
What do ratings mean?
In 2015, a new unified inspection framework was introduced for school inspection. The complex alphanumeric ranking system has been changed into a simpler format of Outstanding to Very weak. This made the system easy to implement and easy to understand by the parents.
Let’s look into the simplified version of the rating in detail:
- Outstanding – It means the performance of the school exceeds the expectations of UAE substantially.
- Very good – It means the performance of the school exceeds the expectations of UAE.
- Good – It means the performance of the school is up to the expectation of the UAE. ( This is the expected performance for every school)
- Acceptable – It means the performance meets the minimum level of education quality (This is the minimum level for each school)
- Weak – The quality of performance is below the expected level of UAE
- Very weak – The performance of the school is significantly below the expectation level of the UAE.
The inspection is based on the key factors that help to analyze the whole school’s performance. Not only academics but other activities are also taken into consideration.
- Students’ achievement – The grading is affected by the performance of students in English (or native language), Science, Maths, Arabic, and other Islamic subjects.
- Student’s personal and social development, innovation skills
- Teaching and assessment- Teaching and assessment are based on two measures of teaching and effective learning.
- Curriculum-Under curriculum three factors are taken into consideration- Curriculum design, Curriculum adaptation, and implementation.
- Protection, guidance, care, and support
- Leadership and management
How expensive are Best Abu Dhabi schools?
The best thing is Abu Dhabi’s best schools are significantly cheaper than the other schools in UAE. However, some schools have significant fees. For the very good-rated school the average charges are AED 33,933 while for senior classes, the average charge is 53,250.
Conclusion
After checking the ratings make sure you check the academic achievements of students of all the schools. Having said that, I must emphasize that Abu Dhabi has some of the best schools so you just need to do your research and finalize the best secondary school in Abu Dhabi for your kid.