ABU DHABI // Teachers in the capital's government schools are to become students again as part of the education authority's professional development programme.
About 152 teachers will be sent back to federal universities to complete a year-long diploma on the New School Model and every teacher will be expected to take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam.
"Like athletes who train to reach the highest standards, principals and teachers must also dedicate themselves to continuous professional development," said Dr Mugheer Al Khaili, the director general of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec).
"Our duty towards the UAE's leadership as well as to parents is to make sure student performance is constantly improving, and this can only be done if we have highly trained school leaders and teachers who are willing to spend some of their time improving their knowledge and skills."
Zayed University and the Higher Colleges of Technology will host teachers returning to university. All 152 will take a sabattical to complete the diploma.
Adec will also provide after-school lessons to help teachers prepare for the IELTS test. English teachers must score at least 6.5 out of 9 on the IELTS test to keep their jobs, and teachers of other subjects will be expected to score 5.5.
All teachers will be given at least 18 hours of training in workshops, summer courses and through one-on-one mentoring. Adec said it has employed experts in professional development from Vanderbilt University, the University of Florida and EduCluster Ltd. of Finland.
