Sharing Good Practice

BY : PHIL YATES

international schooling , the United Arab Emirates ( UAE ) boasts of the highest number of private international schools in the world . With a large number of schools , comes a high demand for quality educators who will hopefully , for school leaders , stay at their schools for a sustained period of time . Despite this , the UAE has one of the highest rates of teacher turnover compared to other countries worldwide .

A number of problems are associated with high teacher turnover rates , including :

5 A negative effect on school stability , focus , attitudes , job satisfaction , and morale of the whole organisation

5 A loss of curricular continuity and momentum in school-wide improvement initiatives

5 Increased recruitment and remuneration cost implications for schools

Most worryingly , however , all of the above has either a direct or indirect , negative impact on student achievement .

With this in mind , it poses the question , ‘ Are schools in the UAE doing enough to support their teachers to improve retention ?’.

The topic of teacher retention has always intrigued me , so as part of my masters , I completed a research project year to investigate ways in which retention can be improved in the UAE . A total of 109 expatriate teachers completed an online questionnaire , 10 teachers and 4 school principals were interviewed , to explore the topic in greater depth . This drew a wealth of quantitative and qualitative data , and a number of conclusions and reasons , why teachers choose to leave a school were drawn .

The Power of Leadership

School leadership was shown to be the greatest predictor , between a teacher choosing to stay or leave a school . Those leaders displaying transformational leadership traits appeared to be more successful at retaining staff . An issue that many teachers cited was that their leaders were more concerned about student numbers and increased revenue , rather than the students or staff wellbeing . Those teachers who noted that their school leaders were approachable , hands-on with school operational matters and backed up what they preach to others , with actions , were more likely to stay at their school .

The saying ‘ you never get a second chance to make a first impression ’ was pertinent to the research findings . Teachers who had worked at more than 1 school in the UAE , regularly noted that they had a very basic or no induction process at all and that there was no in-house support or CPD throughout their employment . Principals of schools with low turnover rates had a thorough 2-week induction period for new staff , followed by a thorough CPD programme to support staff throughout their employment at the school .

Salary and Housing Benefits

Closely behind leadership , monetary incentives and housing packages were shown to be the 2nd greatest predictor of a teacher leaving a school or renewing a contract .. A common theme that emerged from teachers who had worked in a number of schools in the UAE was that there is a need for transparency between HR departments and teachers when initiating a contract . Many teachers felt that they were promised one thing , but offered something very different upon arriving at the school .

With private schools offering diverse salary and accommodation packages , with additional benefits , teachers stated that they felt that they had the opportunity to ‘ shop around ’ and seek employment at schools that could offer them better salaries . Many participants noted that frustrations at

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Term 2 Jan - Mar 2021 Class Time