ADEC in partnership with ECAE arrange a 45-minutes mock exam for teachers as part of the TELS UAE Pilot Project
In alignment with the Teacher and Educational Leadership Standards (TELS) UAE Pilot Project, 400 randomly selected teachers from across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, are currently undergoing mock tests that will help determine and support the future licensing process for all teachers announced the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC).
ADEC has partnered with the Emirates College for Advanced Education (ECAE) and its Continuing Education Centre (CEC), to provide an in-school introduction, professional development and testing services for teachers.
Following an initial launch of the project in the presence of principals from 17 Schools in September 2016, ECAE’s Continuing Education Centre delivered 29 separate in-school introductory workshops to the 400 pilot teachers. In addition, more than 40 professional development workshops are being delivered to the participants from the different public and private schools as part of the project.
The workshops have been developed by the Centre to align to the TELS UAE professional standards and are being conducted by CEC trainers in Arabic and English. Furthermore, CEC has provided additional support to the project by providing training on work place assessment and verification to ADEC HQ staff and school leaders from the pilot schools.
In efforts to support teachers on the first TELS mock exam and the success of the project, senior delegates from across different public entities visited the Abu Dhabi-based teachers at ECAE. The delegates included H.E. Dr. Thani Al Muhairi, Director General of the National Qualifications Authority and Chairman of the National Supreme Steering Committee for TELS; Dr. Mohamed Yousif Baniyas, Higher Education Executive Director and Head of the TELS UAE Pilot Project Committee; and Dr. Karima Al Mazroui, P12 Executive Director.
Speaking about the initiative, H.E. Dr. Al Muhairi said that “the project aims at improving the quality of the education outcomes, enhancing teacher’s status and turning the teaching job into a professional practice that is subject to specific conditions and regulations in line with the UAE development plans and 2021 vision.
“Developing a licensing system for teachers is the result of NQA’s fundamental belief that education is the foundation of UAE renaissance. Therefore, adopting unified licensing standards for teachers will serve the UAE education and training sector amongst the three main sectors; General, Higher, and Vocational Education and Training. Teacher’s licensure will also make education an interactive profession within the relevant global changes and will encourage the Emiratization process as well.
All thanks are extended to the Federal and Local Educational Entities for their role and effort in developing and taking part in this project,” concluded Mr. Al Muhairi.
Dr. Arif Al Hammadi, Chairman of ECAE Board of Trustees, said “the College is honoured to have been chosen as ADEC’s strategic partner for the TELS UAE Pilot Project and commended the contribution made by the teachers in the pilot as well as the support provided by the leadership teams in the pilot schools. He went on to say that “as a government entity, the Emirates College for Advanced Education and its Continuing Education Centre are committed to this partnership in support of educational excellence.”
To support the testing phase of the pilot, ECAE and CEC educational experts have prepared an item bank of questions aligned to the TELS UAE Standards. Furthermore, the Continuing Education Centre has partnered with one of the world’s leading institutions for testing systems and acquired the FastTest System to enable online assessments against the professional standards to be conducted. “Our aim is to provide automated testing services that meet international standards and ensure the quality and confidentiality of the assessments,” added Dr. Arif.
ADEC’s Higher Education Expert, Dr. Baniyas, explained that the whole point behind the 45-minute mock exam is to ensure the teacher licensing system is able to support the future licensing process for public and private school teachers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, who are all required to be licensed before the year 2022.
Teachers undergoing the mock exam, which is being conducted throughout the first two weeks of November, will be encouraged to provide feedback on the test items and systems which will help ADEC and CEC improve the processes for testing.
“Teachers from across different cycles, who teach different subjects, will be given the opportunity to voice their concerns, recommendations, and offer tips on how things can improve. Our focus is to ensure all teachers are content with the new licensing process (including professional development), and that it helps cater to their needs and objectives,” explained Dr. Baniyas.
As part of the TELS piloting objectives, teachers are also expected to upload evidence against the standards to an electronic portfolio so that the assessment and verification of teachers can be evaluated.
The ECAE will be running a second test in December 2016 lasting one hour and forty minutes so that the teachers can comment on the test. Teachers will also have access to the TELS UAE site where they will be able to create a profile consisting of their licenses, qualifications, degrees and certificates. Furthermore, they will have an e-portfolio where they can upload documentation which provides evidence of their hard work and competence against the standards. This will all help elevate the quality of teaching and learning across all schools equally.
– ADEC Media
