Dubai: Recruiting and retaining good teachers for schools and colleges in the UAE is a huge challenge, leading educationists have said.
Talking to XPRESS on the sidelines of a seminar on developing human capital for educational institutions organised by IIR Middle East in Dubai on October 23, they said increasing competition, embarrassingly low salaries and lack of autonomy are among the reasons why good teachers are difficult to recruit and retain. They also point to the lack of availability of qualified staff, with some even raising concerns about how housewives double up as teachers.
Andy Homden, Principal, Jumeirah Baccalaureate School, said: “International education has grown phenomenally and competition for good staff is intense. We have to find ways to identify the right people, attract and retain them.”
The half-day workshop which looked at ways to overcome challenges noted that good people don’t stay in badly run schools. “Compensation is not the only issue, or even the main issue. However, staff have a responsibility to themselves and their family, and will move from good schools if they have to. The package must be regularly reviewed.”
Mathew Goldie Scott of Carfax Education, a consultancy that helps recruit staff for schools and colleges, said: “Salaries are unrealistically low and there is a tendency to fill positions with people who may not be of a high standard. It’s better to have a few good staff and pay them more than have a number of bad staff and pay them less.”
Higher salaries
On the issue of how schools can raise salaries, he said: “They should accept [that] they need to lower their margins in the short term to achieve long-term excellence.”
He said: “The biggest challenge with schools in the Gulf is that they aren’t replicating the excellence of the independent sector in the UK or elsewhere. They are drawing teachers from the state sector, some of whom aren’t able to deliver. This is what’s holding them back.”
He said the turnover of teachers is high because they lack freedom and autonomy. “A lot of them are not happy or competent. They come here for travel or for money. So they will tend to follow the money and go somewhere else.”
Dr Saifuddin Siddiqui, CEO of the Meritorious Group of Institutions from Pakistan which is looking to set up schools in Dubai and Sharjah, said: “What we are finding is that most teachers who are available for recruitment are housewives on their husbands’ visas. They only look at teaching as a way to spend time.”
Dr Hassan El Kalla, Chairman of the ESI Education group from Egypt, said: “Fewer people are joining the teaching profession as it is not considered very attractive. This has resulted in a huge shortage.”
