Standards, DAP, Assessment...

As I spoke to my international contact this week we came to the topic of standards.  She expressed that the education system in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) is based off of models of the UK, Australia and New Zealand.  This is where the big disconnect comes.  Many of the issues and trends and culture are different in all these places, therefore the standards and year end goals do not meet the needs or match the culture of the students that are being taught.  Much of the material does not take into account that the students are English Language Learners.  Some of the standards many teachers find inappropriate, such as the standard that 3 1/2 year old should learn 25 sight words in English and in Arabic.  According to DAP even in America this standard is just unrealistic and inappropriate.  Students, are just understanding letters and numbers at this age, they should not be expected to learn sight words!!!
My contact also expressed that the assessments that are expected to be done throughout the day and semester is causing alot of stress for the teachers.  She says "tensions are high".  While I am not in an environment where assessment is about 20% of my teaching day, she is expected to do formal and informal assessments along with school-based assessments, as well as, graph students learning each trimester and after each completed theme. 

As far a professional development she says that teachers do not get any input on the topics covered and also the topics have information that is usually taught in a university, therefore teachers usually know the information already.  Overall she feels that their approach to standards should be altered and those that are in charge of the educational system could be more aware of the students that they are serving.

She feels that excellence on the UAE is also contingent on what is being done at home.  If the parents are involved in their child's education they usually do better in school than those students who have parents with little involvement and who do not have an English speaking nanny.

In the UAE there are some similar issues that are happening in the US but as you can see their culture is different and their home life is different.  This makes the comments by Graue (2008) even more relevant that it is important to take into account where a child is coming from when they enter school and the importance of their parental relationship and home life because parents are the first people children learn from.


Reference:

Graue, E. (2008). Teaching And Learning In A Post-DAP World. Early Education &     Development, 19(3), 441-447. doi:10.1080/10409280802065411