Linda Johns
- 2008-05-27
There is a worse place in UAE to work for, I taught Emirati candidates "altawteen program" for the Institute of Enterprise development at Abu Dhabi University, just go and visit this place, it is not too bad, start teaching and it is shocking "management are british but they have no quality or results, God knows from where they brough those SSS???? you will be shocked as the following:
1. the program's objectives to develop the skills of the Emirati candidates but:
1.1. The English skills of the majority of the candidates are really terrible. Also, the level of the English of these courses which they have been taught much higher than their English level, which made it very difficult for the teachers to explain this material to them, again, this happened with the employability and vocational programs "the students do these courses after they completed their English courses, these are from "Btec edexcel", they are designed for native English speakers and not for students who speak English as a Second Language", and it is for british not for Emirati, even the material it has to do with the british system for working, nothing to do with the Emirati.
1.2. The students pass from one level to another without asessment "and if there are exams for the English course, they passed eventhough the teachers failed them, no one knows how this happened".
1.3. I had three students passed eventhough two of them never ever submit any assignments and the third doesn't know English at all "again I couldn't understand how this happened".
When the teachers at the meetings suggested on the management to change the English courses and vocational courses to be taylored to the level of the English of students, their background and their abilities, nothing has happened and the teachers and the students till now have been suffering from these complications. I beleive it is the time now to take an action and stop this program from continuing as it is a waste of time, effort and money, as the students get into this program and leave it without even a little bit improvement, I don't know how will they be working after completing these courses.
I look forward to receiving a positive response from you and taking an action regarding this in the near future.
Kind Regards
Linda Johns
arjun Mehta
- 2008-02-07
Y CITY SCHOOL , I HAPPENED TO WORK AT PRISTINE PRIVATE SCHOOL ALQUSAIS DUBAI UAE, THEY ARE WORSE THAN THIS, THEY MAKE U WORK ON A VISIT VISA N BLACK MAIL U FOR THE REST OF YR LIFE.
Alkhaleej
- 2007-02-27
this is a exclusive blog i find here
from:
http://www.alkhaleejtoday.com/
(Saudi Arabia's Best News Site)
Rheno747
- 2007-01-29
That's why you get a master's degree and go for the uni/college jobs instead of those hogwans or "institutes".
Yasir
- 2007-01-29
Verucca,
Seems like you have some sort of rivalry with that school! Well, both of my children attend The City School International and they are quite happy there. I like the system of the school. They have an assembly each morning, which most schools in Dubai don't have. And you have some wrong information, because the Principal is British [and he's a man!!] and he wasn't fired from anywhere. He's worked in the African continent before coming to the Middle east.
I'm quite satisfied with the standard and recently attended a meeting with the Pricipal. Both of my children got good grades, and I'm pleased. Students are supported in every possible way.
So I'd like to end with the statement that please check twice before posting such things. Take a round of the school, the building is lovely! I don't know whats your problem with that school. 
Dave
- 2007-01-13
Dear Verucca,
I am in no position to dispute the core of the complaint against your school. There are of course grasping and inefficient employers all over the world but in Dubai the education system is so well organised and so efficiently managed, operated and monitored that badly run schools are few and far between. I am curious to know therefore, why you have not, apparently, made any complaints to the respective authorities if the school is as bad as you claim.
I am British and I lived and worked in Dubai for almost 25 years from 1978 until 2003. During that time my wife and I raised two children from birth and put them through British curriculum schools in Dubai until their mid teens. The standard of education they received was of the very highest order. Their respective schools were reputable establishments running small classes with well-qualified, predominantly British teaching staff and Principals. Our children, having been educated wholly in Dubai until their mid teens are now attending first-class universities in the United Kingdom having won those places based overwhelmingly on the quality of the education they received in Dubai.
Your remark about your school being dominated by one particular nationality seems to insinuate that this is somehow wrong. In fact, as you well know, foreign schools operating in Dubai are required to follow a particular national or international curriculum. Hence there are a number of British schools, an American School, several Indian schools, Pakistani schools, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Fillipino, Japanese and so on. There are also Montessori schools, which follow the International Baccalaureate. These foreign schools are quite rightly - and by definition - dominated by their respective nationalities of both staff and students. The school you work for will be no exception. Indeed, it will be the norm, so why bother to mention it?
Private schools are businesses and their stock in trade is education. Students are their customers and like any other business, customers provide the revenue. Where else do you expect a private schools revenue to come from? Therefore, it is a commercial necessity for such schools to attract as many fee-paying students as they reasonably can. They have profits to make and expenses to meet, easily the largest of which are the salaries and associated expenses of their staff including you. However, in Dubai each school has to agree its student complement with the Ministry of Education and if this number is later found to be significantly exceeded it is treated as a serious matter and renders the school liable for immediate closure. Thus, instead of exceeding its quota, your school probably has yet to fill it, hence the preoccupation you mention. Also, all schools have to apply in advance for employment visas for incoming teachers and it simply isnt that easy to have such a rapid and easy turnover of teachers as you claim. Finally, the Ministry of Education in Dubai is a highly efficient and properly run organisation and I can assure you that they DO make regular inspection visits to all schools, despite your claim to the contrary, and not all of their visits are pre-arranged.
No Tom, Dick, or Harry can casually open a school in Dubai. There are strict criteria to be met. It has to be in a purpose designed building which itself must be registered and approved for use as a school usually from the time of its design and construction. It must follow a recognised curriculum. The school Principal and staff all have to be appropriately qualified with certificates atteste
johnboy
- 2007-01-07
Any non-professional school will treat English as a commodity that you can buy and sell.Almost all
Korean non-government schools treat the English language as a commodity.Their view of capitalism is make as much money as you can whether you hurt people in the process or not.
AMonk
- 2007-01-07
I'm sorry, but I fail to see how NOT segregating girls and boys "in the higher grades" is a bad thing. Unless children have been separated by gender from the beginning (as is done in single-sex schools), what is so bad about keeping them together when they get older? It is the normal practice in most of the rest of the world.
Please explain this to me.
This is to warn potential teachers and parents who might want to work here or send their children here.
This school is a lost cause! It is working in the name of International standards, but let me tell you there is no standard at all. The management faculty is so shallow that hiring and firing of people is at their whims, without any justification , the emphasis is supposed to be on academics, but it's only on how to get more children in and how to increase the money in the banks, once that target is achieved, the school will go the dogs!
The Managing Director thinks she owns the education system, ,educating people and making money out of education are two different things!!!!She comes under the latter banner!
Please beware of this school, it is in Nadd Al Hamar and it is not an international school, it is a school, dominated by a particular nationality. The Principal is incompetent, and not a qualified educationist, she was apparently fired from her previous school. The school does not meet with any UAE educational standards, there is no segregaton between boys and girls in higher grades! Ministry rules are broken all the time and requirenments for job criteria and admissions is not followed at all.
The Ministry should make surprise visits throughout the year to discover more surprises!