Hundreds of teachers sign up for UAE teacher licence scheme

More than 200  teachers from 15 Dubai private schools have signed up to a pilot scheme forming part of government efforts to introduce a mandatory teacher’s licence in the UAE.

Roughly 400 have joined the scheme Abu Dhabi following the announcement earlier this year that the UAE would introduce a nation-wide licensing process for all teachers from September 2017.

Currently there is no unified professional licensing system for teachers in the UAE. The scheme is intended to be fully implemented by 2021.

Under the proposals, schoolteachers, vice-principals, principals and cluster managers working in public and private schools will be subject to licensing, and teachers will have to pass a national examination and show a ‘portfolio of evidence.’.

Teaching candidates will be able to apply for a Provisional Licence. Teachers who meet the ‘initial requirements’ will receive the provisional licence. Details of those requirements were not immediately available from the KHDA.

The second stage will involve self-assessment and training. In the third stage, teachers will take a TELSUAE exam to receive a “UAE-competent teacher status licence”.

In Dubai, the pilot phase is being rolled out by the KHDA, the private school regulator, while British University in Dubai will conduct professional development, training and assessment.

The National Qualifications Authority (NQA) has said the Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards (TELS) and Licensing project aims to meet targets of the UAE National Agenda, aligned to UAE Vision 2021.