Dissertations for Management Leadership and Policy (MLP)

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The Effect of Metacognitive Strategies on Reading Comprehension Ability of Grade three Students in one of the Iranian Schools in Dubai
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2012-07) Tabar, Fatemeh Pashmi
The concept of metacognition, which is defined as ‘thinking about thinking’, has become a case of concern in field of Educational Psychology. Many researchers have highlighted the crucial role of metacognition in reading comprehension ability of students. This study focuses on the impact of teaching metacognitive strategies on reading comprehension ability of grade 3 students in one of the Iranian schools in Dubai through quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection from both students and their teachers by means of test scores and interviews. In order to answer the research questions descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Results of the study shows that the students who received special metacognitive strategy training program for a period of 8-week scored higher as compared to other students who received no treatment. The research reveals that there is positive impact on student’s achievement in reading comprehension, which indicates that metacognitive strategies affected the reading ability of students.
Students’ and teachers’ perspectives about using students’ laptops in a career-based technical high school in the United Arab Emirates
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2012-09) Rahman, Isam Hasan Ali Abdul
The main aim of this research was to explore the students’ and teachers’ perspectives about using students’ laptops in a career-based technical high school in the United Arab Emirates during a time interval of two academic years. The high school goals of adopting the project were to enhance the educational experience of students, to foster learning, and to transform learning into an exciting, fun, and fulfilling experience. Questionnaires were circulated to the students and teachers of the high school after two and three academic years of adopting the One-To-One E-Learning project to ensure the project is doing what it was designed to do and to assess the extent to which the students and teachers support its implementation in their school. The research was conducted over two academic years to own rich data that may construct a solid base for a comparison study. The findings were analyzed and a comparison was held to discover the similarities and differences between the perspectives of students and teachers in the two academic years. One major finding was that the feedback of students was positive and they were clear about their perspectives while their teachers in most of the cases were uncertain and neutral. Another finding is that both of them are supporting the implementation of the project in their school with a high percentage even though they have some concerns. Based on the findings and the comparison, the study suggested conducting a critical review for the policy on adopting the One-To-One E-Learning project in the high school under study, concluded the need for deeper research and wider comparisons, and drew recommendations for further study and implications.
The Impact of Language and Math Proficiency Tests on Student Academic Achievement in HCT
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2012-11) Ghamri, Hend
This quantitative study investigates the linguistic impact of 6 main proficiency and standardized tests (CEPA reading test, CEPA writing test, CEPA math test, high-school English test, high-school Arabic test and high-school math test) on student academic student, as measured by student first year GPA. The sample population of this research are Emirati students from the academic year 2009-2010. They are foundation students, aged between 17-18, who completed their first year in the Eastern Region of the UAE known as Fujairah Emirate. The findings reveal that the adjusted r square value in the model accounts for 42% of variance in GPA – respectable model. This suggests that language proficiency accounts for 42% of the variance in students' GPA, whereas the remaining 58% are explained by other non-academic factors. Further, a key finding of the research shows that CEPA English test, a proficiency test, is the most significant predictor of student academic success (r = 0.390, N = 471, p < .0005, two-tailed). Interestingly, the findings also indicate that the high-school Arabic test is as effective in predicting student academic success as CEPA English test (r = 0.325, N = 471, p < .0005, two-tailed). The difference in correlation coefficient between CEPA English-reading test and high-school Arabic test is 0.065 which is basically negligible. The research also reveals positive medium correlations between the rest of the tests and student academic achievement. High-school math test was not a significant predictor as indicated when using a regression analysis; hence it is not considered in the correlational analysis. This research also reveals that there is no significant academic difference between male and female students in GPA (t= 0.565, df= 469, p=0.572 > 0.05). Additionally, this research concludes interesting finding that shows no significant difference was found between high foundation and the low foundation students in GPA (t= -0.806, df= 469, p = 0.420 > 0.05).
The One-to-One Laptop Initiative in Science Classes in the United Arab Emirates High Schools
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2013-03) El Sabbagh, Maha Mostafa
Technology has affected education in several ways. This study investigated the one-to-one laptop initiative in the Applied Technology High school in the United Arab Emirates. It examined the implementation of laptops in science classes, teachers and students attitudes and how the initiative affected the students’ academic achievement. The data collection tools used were teachers and students questionnaires and students mark review. The results of the study suggested that teachers and students had positive attitudes as well as some negatives during the implementation. It also concluded that students have achieved better when they use laptops to study science. The study concluded with implications and recommendations for better implementation of one-to-one laptop initiative in schools.
A Study on Effect of Problem solving on student's achievement
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2013-04) Dannawi, Dana Musbah
The investigation is about the importance of teaching problem solving and critical thinking in schools and including it in the curriculum, to prepare students achieve the best quality of thinking in the society and be more involved in the society. The study focuses on the gender difference and the use of cooperative learning in teaching problem solving, how it affects on their performance. The study was on 10th graders in U. A.E., Dubai private school, under the implementation of cooperative learning. A comparative data collected by pre-test and a post-test to study the student's achievement as well as a questionnaire to study the cultural background of the students. The study showed there is significance in performance in aspects, gender and student's achievement, but no significance in culture.
Factors Contributing to the Decline of Arabic Language
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2013-06) AbuBakr, Asmaa Fathi Younis
This dissertation project is a contribution to the issue of proficiency of Arabic language among native speakers. The paper investigated some factors affecting proficiency of Arabic language for Arab secondary students studying the Ministry’s Curriculum at International schools that offer British curriculum in Dubai. The study identified the reasons for that from the points of views of various stakeholders: students, parents and teachers. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data was collected, analyzed, validated and interpreted using systematic techniques. The research presented a wealth of suggestions from past studies and brought attention to some government initiatives. The researcher hopes to add more insight into this subject and argues that if schools continue to neglect mastering Arabic, there will be serious threats to the language that endanger Modern Standard Arabic language in the local community. The research strongly argues and defends the hypothesis that enhancing the Arabic language and maintaining its standard is a shared responsibility. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing the Arabic language. The goal of the current study is to raise awareness to the danger of using English as the medium of instruction at a very early age. The study draws attention to various suggestions that are addressed to the Ministry of Education, to KHDA and to private schools in order to contribute to the development of Arabic Language in UAE. It suggests techniques to enhance the instruction of Arabic in the Emirati context. Planners at the Ministry of Education, KHDA and at the Ministry of Higher Education can use the results of this study to assist in designing futuristic goals or curricula. In addition, the results of this study can help Arabic language teachers in Emirates understand the extent and effectiveness of self efficacy and innovation in instruction on their teaching outcomes.
Correlation between Experiential Learning and Optimism among College students
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2013-11) Shemaili, Noora Bani
The purpose of this study is to investigate if there is a relationship between experiential learning and optimism among college students. The field of study is one of the female federal colleges in the United Arab Emirates. The sample size is 162 students which can be considered numerically meaningful for correlational study. The literature supports the study through the theories and other studies. A mixed method approach was used in this study centred on questionnaire and interviews to reach final conclusions and resulting recommendation. The mixed method approach gives a much more holistic view of the many issues directly related to the experiential learning and optimism and its impact on college students. The collected data and analysis provided by the researcher present clear evidence of the compared two principals. The findings proved that students involvement in the experiential learning process has a positive, lasting impact on student emotions particularly the level of optimism.
The Factors That Influence Emirati High Schools Student When They Choose a Higher Education Institution in Dubai
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2013-12) ALFARDAN, HANAN HASSAN ABDULLAH
This study investigates the factors that influence Emirati high school students when they select a higher education institution in Dubai. The sample of the study was Emirati grade 12 students from two private and two government schools in Dubai. A questionnaire was the instrument used to explore the factors that influence their college choice decisions and the information sources they depend upon when seeking information about universities and colleges. Factor analysis was the statistical technique used to analyze and simplify the data. Based on this analysis technique, the findings showed that there are two major factors that influence Emirati high school students’ college choice: academic and personal factors. After a comparison of means, the variables that influence high school students’ college choice were ranked by importance. The results are as follows: accreditation, student attainment, student educational aspirations, employment, availability of program majors, advice from others, cost and location.
A study of Emirati Undergraduates Students’ Perceptions of Cooperative Learning
(The British Univesity in Dubai (BUiD), 2014-02) Al Rasbi, Sumayya Naajem
The purpose of this study is to investigate the Emirati students’ perception of using cooperative learning to progress their learning process. The study site is one of the Higher Colleges of Technology campuses in United Arab Emirates. The sample size is two hundred and twenty four participants that have been selected randomly from different programs. This study combines both the quantitative and qualitative research methods which include questionnaire and interviews to reach the final research findings and researcher recommendations. The findings of this research prove the importance of using cooperative learning to improve the students’ learning process. The final overall recommendations indicate the need to increase the usage of cooperative learning techniques to ensure a sustain improvement of students’ learning process.
THE IMPACT OF PRINCIPAL’S LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT STYLE ON SCHOOLS’ PERFORMANCE AND STUDENTS’ ACHIEVEMENT
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2014-04) Aboutrabi, Wassim Charif
The aim of this study is to measure the influence of the principal and leadership management on the achievement of the students and the schools’ performance. Additionally to check and examine if they are implementing and using the strategies that are designed by Bolman and Deal (1992) when they are taking their decisions and judgments in order to improve their schools.
Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies in Freshmen University Students
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2014-05) El Mekawy, Asmaa Ahmed
Metacognitive awareness presents a prerequisite for metacognition development among individuals. Researchers confirm that instruction of metacognition should be domain specific to motivate learners to adopt the practices that enhance their cognition and metacognition. Hence, the measurement of metacognition should be also domain specific. This has encouraged us to use Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI). The richness of the academic context in a country as U.A.E. is in desperate need for more investigations in the field of metacognition of its local and international students, and teachers. In this study, we examined the level of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies of freshmen university students (N = 169), followed by an examination of the reported strategy use of a subsample (n=29) compared to their actual strategy use when reading for studying. The results were quantitatively analyzed. One of the main findings in this study is that the students have medium to high levels of awareness, yet lack consistency between their self-reported and actual strategies. These findings and more are discussed in details demonstrating the theoretical and empirical implications.
Evaluating the Effects of School Curriculum on Students’ Critical Thinking Skills
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2014-06) Boucif, Malika
The development of critical thinking represents a key objective of all school curricula, and any authentic education must include the development of critical thinking. This study examined the critical thinking skills of students in grade 12 (N=100). The participants study in different private schools that offer different school curricula; American Curriculum that is aligned to Connecticut Standards in Site A, British Curriculum aligned to the English National Standards in Site B, US curriculum that is newly aligned to Common Core State Standards and New Generation Science Standards in Site C, International Baccalaureate in Site D, and another US curriculum that is aligned to CCSS and Connecticut Standards in Site E. Critical thinking was assessed using the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Version X. This test measures four critical thinking skills: Induction, Deduction, Credibility, and Identification of Assumptions. It has been discovered that grade 12 students enrolled in different school curricula score widely different scores on the Connell Critical Thinking Test. That there are a number of differences in critical thinking skills between those students who are enrolled on different school curricula that is sourced from the USA, the UK and on the International Baccalaureate Curricula. And that a number of observational relationships could be evidenced between students’ GPA and scores in the Connell Critical Thinking Test when compared to a number of variable factors that included retuned SAT scores. However, the main difference is where a number of demographic variables were present that provided evidence that impacted considerably affecting students’ critical thinking skills. The study also found out that skills such as assessing the credibility of observational reports and identifying assumptions were not well developed among grade 12 students. The findings from the study suggest that school curricula may have an effect on students' critical thinking skills. However, this research did not look at instructions within the curriculum; thus, the reported differences cannot be exclusively attributed to the school curriculum.
Distributed School Leadership, Perceptions & Practices
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2014-06) Abdalla, Amani Ahmed
The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of distributed leadership among Teachers and schools’ Principals, the variation between perceptions and practices and how distributed leadership can impact teaching and learning. There are several factors that affect distributed leadership practices in schools. This study has focused on the Teachers’ and Principals’ understanding of “shared” leadership. The aim was to reveal features that support schools’ Principals and to assess whether or not distributed leadership is well-practised in their schools. A mixed methodological approach was chosen comprising a study of literature and statistical data, a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and observations. The data was then analysed and triangulated in order to provide effective and useful data. The analysis of the results reveals that all the respondents understand the concept of distributed leadership as they agreed that distributed leadership enhances the teaching and learning process. However, there is a gap between perception and practices of distributed leadership in their schools. These variations could be directly associated with school Principals as owners of distributed leadership practices, in particular, factors that relate to teaching and learning or review of practices and policies. However, some of these practices may not relate to Principals because Stakeholders or the School Board can be involved in major decisions or having insufficient budget for teachers’ training. On that basis, the study highlights such variations between perceptions and practices, as it explains their limitations and outlines further research suggestions.
A Study on the Perceptions of UAE Private Secondary School Mathematics Teachers on the Impact of CPD Program Improvement
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-01) Abdallah, Lara Nabil
Continuous professional development (CPD) comprises a range of learning activities that allow professionals to continue to learn and develop throughout their careers. The growing demand for better improvement in mathematics education and students’ achievement calls for effective CPD. Mathematics teachers need effective CPD programs or activities that enhance their skills and trains them to set high expectations for their students. This study explores secondary mathematics teachers’ perceptions of the impact of conducted CPD program on improving their teaching strategies in implementing the new mathematics curriculum in a private school in Dubai, UAE. A mixed methods approach was used with both quantitative and qualitative methods. The instruments used are the secondary mathematics teacher feedback form (SMTFF), teachers’ reflective journals and interview forms. Participants’ responses revealed that collaboration between teachers and relevance of promoted content should be the main focus of any CPD program. The implications from these key findings explore how different contributions such as continuity and collaboration can be developed to make CPD programs more efficient and relevant. Throughout the study the constant issue that emerged was the need for a paradigm shift in CPD content and methods of delivery to insure that attendees are leaving CPD sessions with useful ideas and activities that are applicable inside their classrooms.
Raising Emotionally Intelligent Child
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-03) Al-Sudani, Marwa Saleh
The most famous model for testing the emotional intelligence of a child is “self-awareness, assertiveness, self-regard, self-actualization, independence, empathy, interpersonal relationships, social responsibility, problem-solving, reality testing, flexibility, stress management, stress tolerance, impulse control, happiness and optimism.” Therefore, parents, guardians and teachers should do more than showing concern and appreciation of the child’s activities and engage their emotions as well. We adopted a mixed methodology to gather and analyze data from 270 children with the permission and assistance of 8 teachers and atleast 270 parents. The teachers and parents were served with emotion logs and questionnaires to fill at the end of the week. Overall, 14 hypotheses were supported while others 1 was rejected. Our research shows that children with higher emotional intelligence are good at consoling themselves, overcome challenges faster, are healthier, attentive, are very sociable and perform well in academic endeavors. As discussed in this study, the best way for raising an emotionally intelligent child is emotional coaching which above all covers empathy as a powerful process of relating with their situations. This study concludes that emotional coaching is effective for children up teenage or adolescent ages. Emotional coaching should be a home philosophy and school policy. The parents, guardians and teachers should handle emotions as natural events. These caregivers must always listen to a child who is angry, moody, sad and showing all sorts of behaviour. This study concludes that the caregivers must establish a network of support where they communicate with each other about the children’s behaviour so that a standard handling procedure is in place. Often an angry child’s treatment at home is different from school and this causes all sorts of problems to their overall emotional intelligence. The caregivers need to explain to the child that it is okay to be angry but there are limits of behaviour that will be tolerated. Finally, whatever the action preferred by the caregivers, dismissing, disapproving and laissez-faire response to children’s behaviour must be avoided at all cost.
A Description of Preschool Parents Perceptions of Kindergarten Readiness
(The British Univesity in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-04) Dinar, Eqlima
Children as young as three are being assessed whether they are ready or not for kindergarten by examining their academic skills which have raised parents’ concerns about their children’s ability to be successful in formal schooling. Parents are a child’s first teacher and their beliefs about readiness affect the kind of experiences and materials which they provide for their children and knowing their perceptions could benefit teachers, schools and legislators in this region for improving the quality of early childhood education. Kindergarten readiness is a complex construct that involves multiple dimensions of children development. This descriptive survey study was conducted to describe preschool parents perceptions about the skills that they believe are important for their child to be ready for kindergarten. By utilizing the National Education Goal Panel framework of readiness, an online questionnaire was constructed and distributed to a convenient sample of 76 parents of 3 to 4 years old children who are enrolled in the United Arab Emirates preschools. Parents reported that Social and Emotional domains were most crucial to children’s success in kindergarten yet they focused on academic instruction when engaging in activities with their children. The findings of the study can be utilized to better inform parents about the skills that are crucial for readiness, help teachers in designing better instructional experiences and aid legislators in planning and implanting policies that could improve the quality of early childhood education in the country. Further research is still required on this topic that can be on larger scale so that it would generalizable to a bigger population.
The effectiveness of school leadership on teachers’ performance and student achievement in Palestine
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-05) Abuaqel, Abdullah Hussein M.
Effective and successful leadership is always considered the corner-stone in the teaching and learning process. It plays a vital and tremendous role in the process. The Principal and his administrative team took the whole responsibility to enhance student learning inside and outside of classrooms. There is no doubt that they have an effective influence as they represent the role model and the superior example to be followed. The pedagogical aim of this research is to explore the relationship between schools’ Principals and Teachers, and its effect on student achievement. The variation between perceptions and practices and how this relationship can impact teaching and learning process. There are several factors , theories and concepts that play an effective role in this field. This research has focused on the Teachers’ and Principals’ practices and how they affect student achievement. A mixed methodological approach was chosen , Both qualitative and quantitative methods of research were used in this research to reach the final conclusions and resulting recommendations. Rather than using a single-method approach, which would limit the findings and data sources, the dual-method approach gives a much more holistic view of the many issues directly related to the relationship between schools’ Principals and Teachers, and its effect on student achievement. The collected data and the analysis provided by the researcher present clear evidence that leaders and teachers input has a tremendous impact on students’ academic achievement and the overall school environment as well. The results also showed that principals in the target area apply practices that are helpful to students’ achievement and this was proven through the high degree of satisfaction in the teachers reflectionand responses to the relevant items in the questionnaire. The research asserts that the principals' performance and its effect on teachers is directly proportional to the school performance and the results proved this conclusion.
Teacher Effectiveness: A Case Study Using Value-Added method to measure teacher effectiveness in one UK Curriculum School in Dubai
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-07) Bdeir, Raed
This study aims to identify whether value-added is a valid way of measuring a teacher’s effectiveness. The research will investigate whether effective teaching has an impact on value-added. Results from international studies which have used value added to measure teacher effectiveness have proved inconclusive. While researchers in the United States of America (USA) found that this method was limited in measuring a teacher’s effectiveness, those in the United Kingdom (UK) found it to be a useful tool for identifying good and weak teachers. The lack of research in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into the use of value added as a means of determining whether or not a teacher was effective acted as a foundation for this study. The researcher selected one private school in Dubai offering the UK curriculum in which to carry out this research. Results were obtained by a process of triangulation using a mixed method research type. A sample of male and female students from years 10 and 11, taught by a mixed gender sample of teachers was selected. The students’ end-of-year results in biology, math and physics were compared with their IGCSE exam results in these subjects. The teachers’ appraisals were also scrutinized to see if there was a link between the quality of teaching reported in classroom observations and exam results. The research revealed that good teaching did have a positive effect on students’ outcomes, thereby confirming that value added is an appropriate tool to measure teacher effectiveness.
A Study of the Influence of an Intervention on Environmental Education/Awareness and Behavior on Middle School Students in the UAE
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-11) Abu Shamat, Reema Maher
The environmental issues have become a great concern for many nations recently. It is the vision of UAE and its wise government to address such problems and concerns to protect the environment and to preserve the natural resources of the country. Unfortunately environmental issues are not a subject under study in schools. This dissertation aims at finding the amount of awareness raised among middle school students about critical environmental concerns after a period of classes that lasted for two weeks. The students were pre-assessed through a test about environmental issues to measure their degree of awareness of the issue, and the next step was to provide instruction for them in a two weeks course about the environmental critical concerns. The students were given the test again to do it after their new knowledge, and the results of the two tests were compared. The students were given later a survey to have insights about their opinions about the whole process of introducing environment based course content into their school curricula. The results of the study indicate noticeable increase in the students’ awareness about environmental issues after a two weeks intervention course about EE and the students reflected that they are interested in the practical side of the course. The study concluded that EE is essential and it should be integrated into schools’ curricula.
Examining the Impact of School Inspection on Teaching and Learning; Dubai Private Schools as a Case Study
(The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2015-12) Alkutich, Mohamad
School inspection is one of the most challenging aspects in education; it represents an approach of accountability in teaching and learning. Moreover, school inspection provides policy and decision makers with accurate information about the current state of education in their respective institutions. The main purpose of this study is to examine and determine the impact of school inspection on teaching and learning in Dubai-based private schools, and to give some recommendations into how to conduct effective school inspection that would positively influence teaching and learning. The methodology that used here is largely qualitative, with some elements of a quantitative approach. Questionnaires, interviews, a focus discussion group and documentaries are the main research instruments of this study. This research included 37 participants; 2 inspectors, 4 head-teachers and 31 teachers, from 4 private schools, who follow different types of curricula, from all grades of performance according to inspection reports conducted in the 2014/2015 academic year. The findings show that school inspection has a significant role in school improvement, especially in teaching and learning. Teachers acknowledge the feedback that inspectors give to them. However, school inspection also has a negative impact on teaching and learning; for instance, it forces some schools to show activities they have never done before. Moreover, the school inspection reports and recommendations, in some cases, are superficial and are not related to the school context; moreover, they often do not show teachers how they can respond to criticism in the reality of their teaching practice. Nevertheless, the relationship between inspectors and teachers is not that positive, especially in some subjects, such as Arabic language and Islamic Studies. This piece of research suggests some areas for the betterment in school inspection, such as giving more importance for SSE School-Self evaluations, shortening the notice period, visiting schools at different times throughout the academic year, making such visits every three years, as well as ensuring that school inspectors have a high degree in education and in the subject they inspect. Nevertheless, it recommends establishing an independent school inspection system. On the other hand, this study suggests further research on the accountability of teaching and learning in Dubai in specific subjects, such as Arabic and Islamic studies, because reality shows that the recent intervention and policy have not been as fruitful as expected.

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