I am looking at the list of schools inspected by DSIB [KHDA].
How similar are these inspections to an Ofsted? Are they as rigorous? I notice that they receive an annual grade, which is different to Ofsted. Is everything inspected, including teaching and learning?
Would an 'outstanding' grade raise that school's profile according to the tier system so often spoken of on this site?
Thank you.
DSIB. How similar to Ofsted?
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shadowjack
- Posts: 2140
- Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:49 am
You mean DSIB in Dubai?
I'm not too familiar with their system, except that it's rigorous, requires heavy school preparation, and is annual. There are many grumblings about the vagaries of the system and how results don't match up with other assessments of the same schools.
In my opinion, success in DSIB wouldn't raise a school's reputation outside of Dubai. There are too many questions about why the system seems to be inconsistent or even incorrect in their evaluation of schools.
But within Dubai, it is my understanding that DSIB ratings are linked to how much schools can charge in fees/tuition. And there might be parents who put more stock in the system than educators do.
I'm not too familiar with their system, except that it's rigorous, requires heavy school preparation, and is annual. There are many grumblings about the vagaries of the system and how results don't match up with other assessments of the same schools.
In my opinion, success in DSIB wouldn't raise a school's reputation outside of Dubai. There are too many questions about why the system seems to be inconsistent or even incorrect in their evaluation of schools.
But within Dubai, it is my understanding that DSIB ratings are linked to how much schools can charge in fees/tuition. And there might be parents who put more stock in the system than educators do.
The DSIB process is fairly similar to Ofsted. The one big difference is that, apparently, schools rated highly in Britain don't have to undergo the inspection process again for a few years. However, in Dubai every single school gets visited and inspected every single year.
I don't think that a score of 'Outstanding' is going to raise a school's profile outside of Dubai or the UAE. Look at ASD's score of only 'Good'. ASD is arguably the best school in Dubai, but the sole reason they are rated only 'Good' is because they don't meet the Ministry of Ed's requirements for teaching Islamic and Arabic. For practically every other feature they are rated 'Outstanding'. So I won't say the rating is completely on the money.
I still think the DSIB inspection rating can give a prospective teacher some helpful info. If a school cannot at least pull out a 'Good' rating, then it's not a place I would ever consider as a job. The schools get advanced warning about when the inspectors will come, and they know what the rubric is for evaluation. Yes, both teaching and learning are evaluated. Well, DSIB really stresses that they're focusing on students' learning, but of course they're also looking at teaching. So if a school can't even eke out an acceptable with advanced warning, they're rubbish.
I don't think that a score of 'Outstanding' is going to raise a school's profile outside of Dubai or the UAE. Look at ASD's score of only 'Good'. ASD is arguably the best school in Dubai, but the sole reason they are rated only 'Good' is because they don't meet the Ministry of Ed's requirements for teaching Islamic and Arabic. For practically every other feature they are rated 'Outstanding'. So I won't say the rating is completely on the money.
I still think the DSIB inspection rating can give a prospective teacher some helpful info. If a school cannot at least pull out a 'Good' rating, then it's not a place I would ever consider as a job. The schools get advanced warning about when the inspectors will come, and they know what the rubric is for evaluation. Yes, both teaching and learning are evaluated. Well, DSIB really stresses that they're focusing on students' learning, but of course they're also looking at teaching. So if a school can't even eke out an acceptable with advanced warning, they're rubbish.
Reply
I had to consult with a colleague on this but his opinion was that you should think of them as "Satisfactory", "Poor" and "Run Away" at the upper evaluation levels you cant compare them to OfSted, as the differences between outstanding and good are marginal.
Comment
Sure, but first i want to say this is stretching my expertise. Im relying on a great deal of input from a qualified and trusted but third ., who despite their experience is an outsider in the whole DSIB process.
So there are 4 rating: Outstanding, Good, Acceptable and Unsatisfactory. The opinion as it was discussed with me is:
1) There is no real difference between good and outstanding. That the outstanding ratings were received by schools that were (A) top (funded) ISs that basically whatever scale you use, they were going to be the top of it no matter what. (B) Schools that staged the inspection with everything from bringing in qualified teachers for a day and shifting students around to classrooms that were dressed up and students who basically were "acting".
You should really just lump good and outstanding schools together as the only real difference was how much money the schools had available to spend on "toys" and facilities/equipment.
2) Acceptable really should mean "barely" acceptable in other words acceptable means the schools just barely meant minimum requirements, since the standards for "good" were much higher for a school to achieve, meaning that there was a lot of room for a school to differ between acceptable and good. A school near the top end of acceptable is really different in quality then a school that was just barely acceptable.
3) Unacceptable is really, really bad. The standards for acceptable were so minimal by western and international standards, that a school had to be pretty bad to be unacceptable.
So there are 4 rating: Outstanding, Good, Acceptable and Unsatisfactory. The opinion as it was discussed with me is:
1) There is no real difference between good and outstanding. That the outstanding ratings were received by schools that were (A) top (funded) ISs that basically whatever scale you use, they were going to be the top of it no matter what. (B) Schools that staged the inspection with everything from bringing in qualified teachers for a day and shifting students around to classrooms that were dressed up and students who basically were "acting".
You should really just lump good and outstanding schools together as the only real difference was how much money the schools had available to spend on "toys" and facilities/equipment.
2) Acceptable really should mean "barely" acceptable in other words acceptable means the schools just barely meant minimum requirements, since the standards for "good" were much higher for a school to achieve, meaning that there was a lot of room for a school to differ between acceptable and good. A school near the top end of acceptable is really different in quality then a school that was just barely acceptable.
3) Unacceptable is really, really bad. The standards for acceptable were so minimal by western and international standards, that a school had to be pretty bad to be unacceptable.