Country Case Study: United Arab Emirates Interview Report

Kayla Washington

EDTC 645

Dr. Leann Derby

Interview Report 1
Introduction

As an educator, the overall goal is to watch the gradual progression of students

throughout your career. Your job is to support each student with both long-term and short-term

skills needed to survive economically, mentally and physically. With the transition into 21st

century learning, tools and resources have become available for us to increase our craft and

practice in the classroom. This has allowed us to give students an out of classroom experience

and opportunities right from their desk. Not only are they able to grow academically, but

students are able to acquire knowledge about many people and places around the world.

Understanding the benefit of global collaboration and experiences in the classroom gives

students exposer to many different cultures, values, and traditions. In doing so, I had the chance

to interview 2 educators from the United Arab Emirates. Both educators teach in the city of Abu

Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is one of the 7 Emirates located in the western region in the United Arab

Emirates. The purpose of this report is to understand the cultural of learning in the United Arab

Emirates through a general, global, and technology teaching perspective.

Interview Questions

1. What is your role in education? How long have you been in education?

Rationale: I was able to gain an understanding about their backgrounds in education and their

educational roles. Understanding their roles, gave me a glimpse of their style of teaching,

educational knowledge, and their future plans as an educator. Lastly, I was able to visualize

many educational experiences as a teacher in the United Arab Emirates.

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2. What are the technology tools used in your classroom and schools? Which do you think is

most beneficial to your students?

Rationale: Understanding the technology tools used in the classroom will give me an

understanding of the technology cultural in United Arab Emirates schools. I wanted to know

how effective the technology in the classroom benefits the student and grade-level.

3. Over the last few years, how have you changed as an educator as we transitioned into 21-

century learning?

Rationale: This question will be used to understand future plans of the education system in

United Arab Emirates. It will allow me to observe the changes within the last few years in the

UAB as it pertains to the growth of the students, schools, and teachers.

4. Are there any opportunities given for professional development, workshops, or trainings in

your school to help you grow as an 21st century educator?

Rationale: Growing as an educator is one thing, but growing as a skilled 21st century educator

is key to giving your students experiences. This question will allow me to understand how

United Arab Emirate prepares their leaders and teachers for instruction in the classroom.

5. As an Early Childhood Educator, what do you think is most beneficial in setting the

foundation through the use of technology? How often do you give your students a chance to use

technology for learning in your classroom?

Rationale: Believing in student success is one main belief of an educator, but I wanted to

understand the depth of how the use of technology is used in Early Childhood classrooms in the

United Arab Emirates. Also, I wanted to know about the lessons that surround technology

Interview Report 3
resources as such an early age.

6. What is your schools vision/ policy for technology? How does your school monitor the use of

student led technology lessons?

Rationale: The vision for technology builds understanding of 21st century skills and digital

citizenship skills in the classroom. I wanted to understand the vision behind the UAB technology

policy and understand how/ if the schools monitor technology led lessons inside the classroom.

7. If there was one thing that you could change as an educator in the United Arab Emirates, what

would it be and why?

Rationale: Understanding the path of their experiences as a teacher and administrator in the UAB

will understand their reasoning for wishing for change in their educational system. Also, this will

help me in view the education system from both a teacher and leader perspective.

Strategy for Interviews

In the beginning of the course, I began to think about a country that I was interested in

visiting. I had heard many great things from friends about the United Arab Emirates. Through

research and seeing and hearing stories I decided to search for potential interviewees for the

assignment. In the beginning of the course, I was a bit hesitant because of the great time

difference between here and UAB. I asked my colleagues and my students parents if they had

any contact information on an educator in the UAB. My principal knew a former employee that

went to teach in the UAB. This was my foot in the door to gaining an interviewee. I was able to

get the contact information from two people. Unfortunately, the only contact information that I

was able to use was through a social media outlet called, Snap Chat. Nevertheless, it worked. I

asked I could email an invitation, but their email addresses are private and they must watch what

Interview Report 4
they post or say online. They suggested that I use video chat on Facebook as a way to

communicate. I sent the invitation, and I began my interview throughout several days. Through

video chat on Facebook, I was able to contact both interviewees early in the mornings because of

the time difference. Here is an example of my invitation.

October 2, 2017

Hi,

My name is Kayla Washington and I am enrolled in Integration of Technology Globalization

class. We have a Country Case Study assignment to complete in a few weeks. I am writing

you because I would like to connect with you in discussing technology integration in the UAE. I

also ask that you share many experiences from your point of view as a teacher. Once we begin, I

have a google form in which you and I can use that will host a number of questions that I will

use for my assignment. I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Kindly,

Kayla Washington

Interview Report 5
Persons Interviewed

Marciae Burke (Video chat via Facebook)

Marciae has been an Early Childhood educator for 17 years in Abu Dhabi. She works in a school

called, Al Naries. This is her 2nd year at her school. She enjoys working with the younger grades

because she feels that she can set the foundation for their future. In the past 17 years Marciae has

watched the educational transformation in Abu Dhabi. As an expert in her practice, she believes

that The future of the United Arab Emirates will build career ready students. With hopes one

day to become an Early Childhood Education Ministry member, she will continue teaching in the

United Arab Emirates.

Daniel Chuda (Video chat via Facebook)

Daniel is an administer in Abu Dhabi. He has been in administration for 7 years. He began

working in education shortly after college, and had dreams of becoming a principal in Abu

Dhabi. Throughout his career he has thought grades 5th 11th prior to becoming an administrator.

As he plans to open up new ways for technology integration for his teachers and students he

believes that, technology is the new pathway to learning. Daniel has been taking many

workshops and training on technology integration leadership. Daniel also plans to become a

principal one day in hopes to run his own school and lead teachers into the world of teaching

using technology. Daniels has been a part of a large forum called Teach for Tomorrow. He

describes this as a large conference that discusses global avenues to inspires teachers, leaders,

and students to engage in the expansion of education.

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Findings and Reflections

Both Marciae and Daniel shared information with me about their schools in Abu Dhabi.

Each had their own perception about how their classroom instruction is delivered, and the

technology resources that the students have access to in the classroom. To begin, Marciae shared

with me that due to a budget cuts, the UAB Ministry of education has decided to phasing out

many Kindergarten teachers. In the United Arab Emirates, a child begins their academic career in

a in a school called KG-2. We know this to be pre-school for our students here in the United

States. With phasing out Kindergarten teachers that means that some students will not have the

opportunity to go to Kindergarten. This leaves students with little to no exposure to school-

readiness skills such as letters sounds, numbers, and print awareness. (personal communication,

October 17, 2017) Though, Kindergarten will no longer be a requirement for students Daniel

emphasizes that technology will take the place of Kindergarten and they will be able to give

students those foundational skills needed to begin school. Amongst these changes, he also shared

that out of 7 Emirates in the UAB only 1 Emirate is ran by the Arabic Department of Education.

The other 6 are ran by the Arabic Ministry of Education. With that being said, Danial talks about

how Abu Dhabi school system hope to be able to expand its technology procedures and policies

within the next few years (personal communication, October 11, 2017). Daniel also shared that

he is doing his best to keep his teacher up on the global trends. But, the lack of teacher-readiness

programs at his school and technology resources limits the mobility that teachers have access to

in the class. (personal communication, October 11, 2017) Daniel continues to have hope in an

effort to provide his school with several classrooms that can be use as Virtual Learning Labs.

These labs will assist in student technology readiness, and it will assist expose teachers to the

Interview Report 7
endless possibilities in teaching (personal communication, October 11, 2017). Marcia shared that

the UAW Ministry of Education has a proposal in place to change the entire education system by

the year 2020 (personal communication, October 14, 2017). In her classroom, students have

access to computers, Ipads laptops, and a Smart Board. At her school, professional development

days are mandatory. Each school is ran differently depending on the principal (personal

communication, October 17, 2017). The most beneficial piece to technology is leaving students

with an impact and experience to move into the next grade. They are able to collaborate and

research many cultures other than their own. In addition to collaboration, Marciae discusses her

role as an Interventionist. Since the average school day begins at 8:00 and the day is over at

12:15, students are only getting about 3 hours of classroom instruction. (personal

communication, November 1, 2017) During these 3 hours, English, Math, Science, and Arabic

are taught. The intervention time is an optional portion to the school day that allows students to

get extra classroom instruction time but it is not required. Instead of intervention time, Daniels

school allows for students to stay after school to engage in projects. This is when students have

the most access to technology with the use of classroom computers and Ipads. (personal

communication, November 6, 2017) Though this time is designated for students to explore things

with the use of technology, there is no system to monitor how effective or how much time is

spent technology in each classroom. Daniel shares that over the last 4 years technology has

increased at the MOE has taken how important technology use can benefit a students academic

and career success (personal communication, November 3, 2017).

These statements support the finds of research of educational technology in the United

Arab Emirates. With teaching for the last 8 years, I also have encountered some of the same

issues in my school system. The increase in technology amongst schools has been a large trend

Interview Report 8
in each grade-level. With the lack of funding, professional development, and outside recourses

instruction and delivery with technology is at a stand-still. For example, the county that I work

for they provide professional development for classroom guided instruction but there arent

many opportunities to grow instruction through technology. My school does have a technology

plan in place, but the number of non-working / old computers, hinders technology led instruction

in many classrooms.

As a school leader, teachers expect things to happen at the snap of a finger with little

resources, funding, and student training I am not able to properly give my staff the assistance

needed to give them access to technology at times (personal communication, November 11,

2017). It is not only the principals job to support the staff with technology readiness training but

the MOE has to provide the funding and equipment. Since most schools in Abu Dhabi are public

and are ran by the MOE, the funds are dispersed among many schools in the large city (personal

communication, November 11, 2017). Marciae also talks about the same issue at her school.

She talked about how Abi Dhabi being such a large city is keeping many students back from the

exposure needed to be successful in their future careers. The MOE has attempted to partner with

independent education sectors such as the Abu Dhabi Education Council and Public-Private

Partnership for Public School Management in an effort to bring funding to schools in the city of

Abu Dhabi (personal communication, November 11, 2017). In the end, partnerships, councils,

and leaders have created a plan to transform each school in the city of Abu Dhabi. The United

Arab Emirates will be able to give students skills to become career-reading through training and

skills taught in the school room through technology integration.

Interview Report 9
Conclusion

While the United Arab Emirates hopes to increase technology integration classrooms,

teacher-readiness programs, and funding they have created an educational culture that sets the

bar for exceptional educational leaders such as Daniel. Daniel has proven that no matter what

barriers will stand in the way of creating his virtual student labs, he will give each student as

much technology integration expose as he possible. Marciae, will continue to share the

knowledge that drives technology instruction from her professional development with her

students in hopes that technology resources will increase over the next few years. The United

Arab Emirates is a large place filled with many cities but places such as Abu Dubai still lag

behind in the growing world of technology education.

Since the interviews, I understand that the United Arab Emirates educational system and

the Ministry of Education are working toward building technology and career-ready student

school culture. By the year 2020, the United Arab Emirates made a plan to change the culture of

the classroom through technology integration. The educational system in the United Arab

Emirates promises to increase teacher technology readiness programs, reintroduce basic

foundational skills through use of technology, and open a student technology readiness program.

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