United Arab Emirates
Teacher well-being – defined as the cognitive, emotional, health and social conditions pertaining to teachers’ work and their profession – has important implications for teaching and learning. This chapter looks at the current state of teachers’ well-being in Dubai’s private school sector and explores how the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) – in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal Government, private schools, the school governors, leaders and teachers – can build on current policies and practices to ensure the conditions that allow teachers to work effectively and to thrive are present across Dubai’s private schools.
In the mid-2010s, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the government agency that oversees the Emirate of Dubai’s private schools, embarked on a “well-being journey” to increase levels of happiness and well-being across the sector. To achieve this, KHDA leveraged existing and new initiatives, drew on emerging practices worldwide, and partnered with a number of institutions and experts. The results have been remarkable. Most stakeholders have high well-being literacy levels and have appropriated the concept of well-being, not only in the form of daily habits but also as a long-term commitment for themselves and the sector as a whole. However, despite these many successes, KHDA’s approach no longer seems to be serving the Emirate’s private school sector as effectively as it might. In many cases, in spite of their best efforts and intentions, stakeholders lack the necessary information, skills or resources to implement meaningful and impactful well-being interventions. This is particularly common in the most disadvantaged schools. Moreover, limited research evidence and monitoring mechanisms prevent KHDA and others in the system from knowing whether measures that are in place or are being promoted are actually supporting stakeholders’ well-being and what the priority issues/groups are. These gaps are particularly concerning as the sector grapples with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals’ welfare and the Emirate’s economy.
High levels of happiness and well-being have wide benefits for individuals, and more broadly for the performance of education systems, the economy and society. As a result, in recent years, there has been growing interest on how education systems can support students’, teachers’ and other non-teaching staff’s well-being. The COVID-19 crisis has further strengthened this trend. While this is in part because the pandemic has aggravated well-being challenges worldwide, it also reflects a better understanding and recognition of the broader value and role of education institutions and relationships. With institutional closures, education institutions have clearly emerged as more than a space for learning. Schools can also foster social relationships and nurturing environments that promote individuals’ well-being and help them reach their full potential.
This report analyses the well-being policies and practices that the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and schools have implemented in Dubai’s private school sector. As background for the analysis that will follow, this introductory chapter examines some of the most relevant features of Dubai’s socio-economic context and private education sector.
What happens in schools is key to understanding whether students, teachers and staff enjoy good physical and mental health, and how happy and satisfied they are with different aspects of their life. School practices and initiatives can help – or indeed hinder – efforts to build a nurturing environment and positive social connections. This chapter looks at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA)’s and Dubai’s private schools’ efforts to foster well-being in schools, highlighting some of the strengths and limitations of the current approach. Moreover, this chapter discusses some of the steps that could help ensure students and staff across the sector are adequately supported in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the years to come.
In the mid-2010s, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the government agency that oversees the Emirate of Dubai’s private schools, embarked on a “well-being journey” that has been transforming practices across the sector. KHDA’s journey started from within. In keeping with the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) and Dubai’s philosophy and in consultation with local and international experts, KHDA made fundamental changes to the organisation’s strategy and management structure with the aim of fostering well-being in its own working environment and among its own staff. Once the shifts in the organisation’s internal processes and culture had been effectively implemented and understood, KHDA began to look outwards, encouraging a change in focus across the private education sector and inviting other stakeholders, including school leaders, teachers, parents and students, to join their journey.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is a strong advocate for student well-being, raising awareness of its importance, introducing data collection tools and encouraging stakeholder collaboration platforms. School-level initiatives have also been introduced across the sector. The goal now is to ensure that policies and practices have a more significant impact in supporting students’ well-being. This chapter will examine how KHDA can facilitate improvements by leveraging the evidence at hand, complementing a whole-school approach to well-being with targeted actions aimed at priority issues, and empowering students.
This chapter provides an overview of the Emirate of Dubai’s well-being journey thus far, as well as the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA)’s current approach to well-being in schools. In addition, this chapter presents the OECD’s analytical lenses, and discusses how it has been applied to Dubai’s private school sector.
The United Arab Emirates’ legal framework implementing the AEOI Standard is in place and is consistent with the requirements of the AEOI Terms of Reference. This includes the United Arab Emirates’ domestic legislative framework requiring Reporting Financial Institutions to conduct the due diligence and reporting procedures (CR1) and its international legal framework to exchange the information with all of the United Arab Emirates’ Interested Appropriate Partners (CR2).
The United Arab Emirates has 95 tax agreements in force, as reported in its response to the Peer Review questionnaire. Twenty-one of those agreements, the agreements with Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, India, Ireland, Japan, Jersey, Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, comply with the minimum standard.
Les Émirats arabes unis comptent 95 conventions fiscales en vigueur, comme l’indique leur réponse au questionnaire d’examen par les pairs. Vingt et une de ces conventions, celles conclues avec l’Arabie saoudite, la Belgique, le Canada, la Corée, la Finlande, la France, l’Inde, l’Irlande, le Japon, Jersey, la Lituanie, le Luxembourg, Malte, les Pays-Bas, la Pologne, la République slovaque, le Royaume-Uni, la Serbie, Singapour, la Slovénie et l’Ukraine, sont conformes au standard minimum.
The United Arab Emirates was first reviewed during the 2018/2019 peer review. This report is supplementary to that previous report (OECD, 2018[2]).
This report is the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) first annual peer review report. Consistent with the agreed methodology this report covers: (i) the domestic legal and administrative framework, (ii) the exchange of information framework as well as (iii) the appropriate use of CbC reports. There is no filing obligation for a CbC report in UAE yet.