Has the new teacher licensing rule deterred interest here?

dubai — In 2016, it was announced that teachers working in the UAE would soon have to hold a professional teachers licence from the local Ministry of Education.

In June of this year, 106 teachers from across Dubai’s private schools became the first to obtain their licence, following a rigorous training and examination period.

Though school administrations will now be tasked with registering their teachers for the licensing scheme over the next few years — including incurring all costs — has this impacted teachers’ interest in coming over to the UAE? It seems not.

With local teacher licensing not uncommon in the education world globally, many teachers looking to emigrate overseas tend to factor this requirement in while searching for a job abroad.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Clive Pierrepont, director of communications at Taaleem, said what this new move has actually done is created more confidence in the UAE’s strengthening education sector.

“Many of the teachers (old and new recruits) see the licensing scheme as an extremely positive step forward and as confirmation of their professional status; something they are proud to add to their CV.”

This year, Pierrepont said Taaleem is looking to bring more than 100 teachers to the UAE from overseas — mainly from the UK, the US and Canada. This is a figure which tallies up with past overseas recruits for its schools, proving that the newly-introduced teaching licensing has had “no impact on teacher recruitment” for them.

Additionally, a Gems spokesperson told Khaleej Times they will be recruiting approximately 1,400 teachers this academic year — both local and from overseas.

Many of the old and new recruits see the licensing scheme as an extremely positive step.” Clive Pierrepont, Taaleem

“We offer the English, American, Indian and IB curricula, therefore the recruitment of teachers reflects this international diversity.” Although Gems does hire a small number of school leaders from the local and international market, its main focus is to nurture the “current talent and promote from within the company”.

The new teacher

Come September, Irish national Eoin Reilly will be making his way to the UAE to teach KS2 in a British curriculum school.

Seeking out the opportunity to work abroad, Reilly initially toyed with the idea of pursuing a career in Singapore, but it was the large Irish expatriate community in the UAE that swayed his final decision to move here.

“I actually rested on Abu Dhabi because I had heard a lot of good things about the city. A lot of people from my year in college are out there, and the offer package was similar to Singapore.”

He said the experience of a “new culture, the opportunity to advance my teaching experience and the tax free salary”, were his top three reasons for choosing the UAE.

The new policy on teacher licensing did not deter him. On the contrary, he said it will just be the

The teacher licensing policy will be a chance to add another string to my teaching career.” Eoin Reilly, Irish teacher

chance to add another string to his bow in terms of his teaching career choice.

A total of 223 teachers from 15 schools were assessed as part of the National Qualifications Authority (NQA) and Knowledge and Human Development Authority’s (KHDA) Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards (TELS) licensing scheme at the beginning of 2017.

With 106 graduates passing, including a 100 per cent pass rate for Taaleem teachers, (including the only principal to take part, Richard Drew from Jumeirah Baccalaureate School), the longterm aim is to train and fully licence about 25,000 teachers in Dubai by 2020.

kelly@khaleejtimes.com