Educational Reforms K-12 in Sultanate of Oman and United Arab Emirates Ministries of Education: What worked, What

1. Educational Reforms K-12 in Sultanate of Oman and United Arab Emirates Ministries of Education: What worked, What Failed and Why?What’s Next ? Doing it for, doing it to or doing it with?

2. By: Earle J Warnica Ed D Professor of Education American University of Ras Al Khaimah United Arab Emirates

3. “Education reform isn’t exactly rocket science: it’s tougher,” • Dr. Mick Randall, in The National, 12/28/09

4. Overview • Brief description of reforms in Ministries of Education of UAE and Oman • Were they successful? • What the literature says about making reform work: what does work? • Proposed Reform Model • Conclusion: When are schools “good enough”?

5. Common Features of Oman and UAE Reforms: • both were “top-down” models • both started with reports by outside consultants group • both had a vision: world class education • both hired foreign advisors to lead reform • both had strong support from government

6. Observation by Presenter WHY?? Oman’s reform was a relative SUCCESS. • UAE’s reform was a relative FAILURE.

7. Then why did one reform succeed - while the other did not? Let’s let the literature help us decide.

8. Michael Fullan (1988) “Resistance to reform is a reality to be recognized and to overcome.” “Reform often misfires because we fail to learn from those who disagree with us”. “Resistance can actually be highly instructive”.

9. Judith Zimmerman (2006) “Resistance is a major factor in reform failure” • provided research-based strategies to promote change and steps to overcome resistance: • shared decision-making • professional development • principals’ modeling • preparedness for limiting resistance.

10. Art Costa in “The School as a Learning Community” “changing public education is like. . . moving a cemetery; after you’ve done all the work, you still have a cemetery”.

11. Sergiovanni (2007) . . . building community must become the heart of any school reform effort

12. Hedley Beare (2001) There is a fixation with the status quo of education: “If we remain wedded to the way education is currently provided we cannot imagine other ways. We need some imagination, some fantasy, some new ways of thinking – some magic, in fact.”

13. Roland Barth “Rarely do outside school remedies work their way into the fabric of the schools or into the teachers’ lives, and more rarely into the classrooms. Therefore they only offer a modest hope of influencing the basic culture of the school”.

14. Roland Barth “Too much emphasis has been placed on reforming schools from the outside through policies and mandates. Too little has been paid to how schools can be shaped from within”.

15. Stoll and Fink 'Many of our schools are good schools if only this were 1965'. ‘Are we educating students for our past or their future?’ (Anon.)

16. Peter Senge (1994) “You cannot have a learning organization without a shared vision.” “A shared vision provides a compass to keep learning on course when stress develops.”

17. Michael Fullan (1994) “Neither top-down nor bottom-up strategies for educational reform work; What is required is a more sophisticated blend of the two”. “What matters most is local motivation, skill, know-how and commitment””

18. Kalman R. Hettleman, 2010, “It’s the Classroom, Stupid (School Reform Where it Counts most)”. “education administrators resist change, protect their turf . . .”, and mismanage classroom instruction due to their lack of management skills”

19. Kalman R. Hettleman, 2010, “Management reforms must find their way onto the public radar and into classroom teaching and learning. Even the best and brightest teachers must get more support than they now get. It’s the classroom, stupid. The future of school reform won’t succeed otherwise.”

20. Howard Levin, Stanford Professor of Economics “A school isn’t good enough until it is good enough for our own children. In fact, it’s not only that it must be good enough for our own children, but it must be the dream school we want for our children”

21. What can we conclude from the literature? • The school is the unit of change. • The key to successful educational reform is leadership. • And leadership is not restricted to principals, nor is leadership synonymous with management. • Successful reforms require leadership by teachers and by principals.

22. Applying the Research to UAE and Oman

23. OMAN • Led by Local Omani educators in MoE (the public face of the reform was Omani) • Many Omanis in MoE were sent abroad for graduate study in education and returned to senior leadership positions • Foreign Consultants “advised” and mentored but decision-making was Omani “doing it with”

24. OMAN • Oman’s reform was gradual and spread over several years • All stakeholders were involved, trained, and ‘won-over” – teachers, principals, zone officials, parents, public

25. OMAN • Professional development was comprehensive, and sustained over many years • The vision became their own • Schools have reformed and continue to reform

26. UAE Reforms • Office of Policy and Planning was established to lead the reform – all foreign educators • Ministry was reorganized by OPP • Little to no input from senior MoE staff • After the fact, MoE staff were informed and expected to “buy in”

27. UAE Reforms • Met by “passive resistance” by MoE leaders, zones, principals, teachers • Minister received and approved the reforms • But – most reforms were never implemented • Reforms were perceived to be “foreign”, and could not work in UAE • “Passive resistance’ had become “active resistance”!

28. One bright spot (a glimmer of hope) in the UAE reform movement: Madares Al Ghad (MAG) program ‘Schools of The Future’ has had some success in the approximately forty project schools and is in the third year of implementation. It remains to be seen if the Ministry and government will expand MAG across the nation or simply let it die quietly.

29. A government in a hurry said “Do it for them” But locals perceived that foreigners were there to “Do it to them”

30. Implementation did not happen Implementation never happened even though new standards had been developed or adopted for curriculum, assessment, teachers, principals, professional development

31. Syndrome It could be argued that in UAE MoE: “Talking about reforms is as good as having done them”

32. in UAE reform? • New Minister (2009) • Contracts cancelled for foreign consultants/advisors • New reform plans being developed – virtually the same focus as the previous

33. Maybe this time the reforms will be implemented?

34. A Model for Educational Reform Educational Reform and Improvement Model • School-Based with external input • Bottom-up with Top-down support

36. The Model • individual schools within pods of schools • teachers and principals as leaders of the reforms • MoE Educational Zone in a support role

37. The Model • UAE federal Ministry of Education in role of setting national standards and policies • universities and colleges in collaborative role with schools and pods of schools

38. The school as the basic unit of change • Some teachers and principals in graduate study • Each school adopts its own plans and priorities for change • Teachers and principals enrolled in graduate education programs take the lead in reforming their own school and contribute to the reforms of the pod of schools

39. The school as the basic unit of change • Staff professional development (PD) should be focused at each school or pod of schools; large scale PD program imposed and delivered from above have little impact on schools and learning • Parent and community information and support

40. Pods of Schools • Feeder schools, geographic proximity • Collaboration and support between schools of the pod – teachers and principals • Regular meetings to share and learn together • Joint professional development as needed

41. Ministry of Education Education Zone • Agreement with the reform model, plans; support to each pod and school within the pod to implement • Relaxation of some existing policies and procedures to allow/encourage innovation • Changed role of supervisors to be supporters of reform, not inspectors and maintainers of status quo

42. Ministry of Education UAE Professional development as requested by the schools/pods and within the MoE professional development standards

43. Ministry of Education UAE • Nation-wide standards for curriculum, assessment, examination reform, professional development, standards for teachers • Nation-wide professional development as required for the implementation of the various MoE standards

44. Ministry of Education UAE • Support for education zones and schools/pods reforms through relaxation of existing policies and procedures • Financial incentives and support for zone and local reforms

45. Universities and Colleges • Faculty members involved in each pod of schools: team-work, collaboration, advising, modeling • PD assistance when requested • Graduate programs (M Ed) for teachers and principals • Grad program learnings put into practice in schools

46. So - What can the MoE do?

47. MoE • Trapped with “in the box” thinking (not “outside the box”). • There are so many educational “boxes”: textbooks, teaching methods, examinations, traditional supervisors (promoting practices of the last century), poorly educated teachers, old rules, policies, procedures and ways of thinking, virtually guaranteeing that nothing will change.

48. MoE • An education ministry needs education! • Senior leadership, department directors and key personnel are desperately in need of graduate study in education. • Accept and support a new model of reform

49. How will we know when education reform in UAE becomes a reality? • When Ministry leadership, educators and parents at all levels deem that they will send their own children to government schools. • Until that happens, the schools are neither “dream schools” nor “good enough!