OUR STORY
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is home to thousands of teachers. The country enjoys one of the most diverse education landscapes in the world. There are hundreds of private schools delivering curricula from all over the globe along with government schools delivering the Ministry of Education UAE’s Curriculum or (in the case of the emirate of Abu Dhabi) the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) curriculum. There have been significant investments in education and that is continuing. The leaders of this country have continued to show great support for the development of education.
Like many thousands of teachers, the founders of Teach UAE Magazine came to the UAE to teach. We were based both in private and public schools. During the course of teaching in the UAE, we discovered that in spite of all the investments being made in education, not enough was being done to connect educators with each other and to provide authentic material, proven tips and strategies for educators in the United Arab Emirates. Our research showed that there were very limited forums for teachers to share good practice, learn from each other and grow as professionals. Most educators in the UAE looked outside of the country to the West when they needed inspiration or ideas. It was also discovered that there was not much being written for educators in the UAE or indeed the region. In other words, the UAE was not creating a body of knowledge for fellow educators. Educators were merely consuming knowledge from outside sources.
Teachers constantly expressed the challenge and frustration they encounter when it came to getting relevant information, which was context specific to what they faced in the region’s classroom. They also felt isolated, as they did not know what was happening in other schools. What were other teachers doing? What were the things that were working well in other regional classrooms? They longed to share good practice and benefit from the expertise of their colleagues from all over the country and the region.
There was no media for teachers and education was only briefly covered in the newspapers in a general way and not specifically aimed at the educator. Like teachers in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand among others, teachers in the UAE and the region deserve to have their own magazine and website.
It is often said that if you want something badly and you cannot find it anywhere, then you should create it. This is what happened with us, here at Teach UAE Magazine. We wanted our own local platform for connecting, developing and empowering each other here in the UAE and the wider MENA region.
As such, we pooled our resources, as social entrepreneurs, and launched Teach UAE Magazine in January 2014, which was followed by the first print publication of the magazine in May 2014. This has been an amazing experience and a very steep, but rewarding learning curve for us.
To ensure that our articles remain relevant to educators, we decided that all our original articles will be written by educators who are currently working in the field and preferably in this region.
Our writers address a range of issues affecting education in the UAE, such as but not limited to, the latest policies and legislation, educational research and pedagogy, the latest resources, and any other areas of interest to education professionals. Above all, they share what works in the classroom.
Since our launch, we have enjoyed significant support from educators who have given us great reviews and have endorsed and congratulated us on the work that we are doing. It is now our hope to continue to secure sponsorship to help us continue improving our offerings to educators within the UAE and beyond. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, simply email us at sales@teachuae.com for more information.
