JREPT: Vol 3 No 2

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https://bspace.buid.ac.ae/handle/1234/1741

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    Arabic Language for Expatriate Parents in Dubai: An Innovated Unit of Learning from an Andragogical Approach
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-10) Razem, Reem J.
    Since the Arabic Language (AL) is a compulsory subject in private schools in Dubai for non-Arabic-speaking expatriate pupils, AL training is being offered to expatriate parents by volunteering school-teachers to foster learning Arabic and promote parental engagement in their children’s Arabic learning. However, without a properly devised unit of learning based on parents’ needs, specific course design models and adult learning approaches, parents' motivating factors could be hindered which, might discourage them from further pursuing this learning journey. Therefore, this paper aims to design an innovative Unit of Learning (UoL) based on identifying expatriate parents’ language needs through a needs analysis tool, in one of the British private schools in Dubai. The needs’ analysis reveals that expatriate parents expect to learn Arabic language and culture through experiential and functional learning that link to their roles in life. Thus, this paper presents a designed UoL entitled, ‘Arabic Language for Expat Parents,’ which aims to involve parents in their children’s learning of Arabic as an Additional Language (AAL) in Dubai private schools. The designed UoL is underpinned by three theories: progressivism, andragogy, and authentic learning. Ultimately, this paper aims to encourage schools to increase their engagement with expatriate parents and act as catalysts for Arabic language and culture learning in Dubai and the UAE context at large.
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    Editorials
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-10) Abukari, Abdulai
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    Exploring the Perspective of a School Leader on Authentic Leadership Theory in Practice: A Case Study at a Private School in Dubai, UAE
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-10) Saleh, Hanadi Ahmad; Shaker, Enas Ghazy
    Authentic leadership is essential in today's society due to the economic, technological and environmental challenges confronted by the school leaders in the twenty-first century. This study explores the authentic leadership theory in practice from the perspective of a successful leader at a private school in Dubai and to find out how authentic leadership theory is practiced or could be practiced by school leaders in the context of the UAE. The authentic leadership theory informs the theoretical framework for this research. The research design adopts a qualitative exploratory case study and uses the lens of constructivism as a research paradigm. Semi-structured interview was used to collect data; this involved in-depth interview with one school leader who was purposefully selected. The findings show that the practice of the school leader reflects the characteristics of authentic leadership evidenced by self-awareness, internalized moral perspective and balanced reasoning. However, evidence also shows absence of relational transparency in the leader’s practice as it could be difficult in some situations. These findings could be useful for practitioners to add value to professional development programs for training how the authentic leadership theory can be translated into practice.
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    Exploring the Principal’s Role in the Retention of the Novice Teachers: A Study in an American School in Dubai, UAE
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-09) Shaker, Enas Ghazy; Saleh, Hanadi Ahmad
    Schools commonly face educational challenges due to in-part novice teachers’ turnover. The purpose of this study was to understand the principal's perception on how he/she perceives his/her role in novice teachers’ retention, and to explore how the principal's perception plays a part in understanding how he/she endeavors to support the professional growth of novice teachers. The study adopted a qualitative research approach using in-depth semi-structured interviews. The study participants were eleven school leaders along with the human resources department in an American Private School in Dubai, UAE. The collected data were interpreted into various themes, including responsibilities to hire a new candidate, basis of hiring new teachers, inspection visit of Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) and conducting professional development sessions. Data revealed that giving the leaders the opportunity to inspect the needs of every individual novice teacher, thus, allowing for particular needs of each teacher to be met through specific learning opportunities, would be more effective than espousing holistic plans designated for all beginner teachers. The significance of this study lies in its focus on the necessity to retain novice teachers.
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    The Influence of 'Teachers’ Leadership Style' on Primary Students’ Learning Outcomes in a Private School in Sharjah, UAE
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-10) Radhwan, Mina
    Nowadays, there is a perceptible consideration towards teachers’ leadership styles. Different types of research on educational leadership signify that transformational leadership style, particularly charismatic leadership, is considered as a catalyst for enhancing the results of students. Educators play a vital part in the learning process of both the school as an organization and students of the school. Also, high enthusiasm for learning shows positive learning in the classroom. In the primary level, students are more affected by the charisma of their teachers. This research investigates the influence of 'Teachers’ Leadership Style' on primary students’ learning outcomes. A qualitative approach was used through semi-structured interviews with fourteen participants; participants were three Heads of departments, six primary teachers, and five parents who reported on their instructors’ leadership in addition to their classroom behavior and learning. Findings suggest that the participants believe that there is a positive link between teachers’ charismatic leadership style and students’ achievement. Additionally, the results indicate that there are a variety of crucial factors that might have a direct effect on linking between teachers’ style and students’ results.
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    An investigation into links between UAE STI Policy and the Federal Universities STEM Majors’ Enrolments, Graduates and Research Development: an evidence-based exploration of the impact of UAE STI policy
    (The British University in Dubai (BUiD), 2020-10) Khreibi, Rima Abou
    The current study investigates the impact of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) STI policy initiatives on STEM majors’ enrolments, graduates and research and development within Higher Education Institutions within the UAE. A sequential exploratory mixed method approach was used, which involves initial qualitative stage of data collection and analysis exploring to what extent the STEM programs enrolments, graduates, R&D has changed, while the second stage interprets and explores the findings using quantitative data analysis. In summary, the research findings show that STI policy has influenced STEM majors HEI enrolments in two federal universities: Zayed University (ZU) and Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), where there was an accelerated enrolment like other countries, such as ASEAN and BRIC countries. The major STEM enrolments were seen in the engineering, and computer sciences. Zayed University-Dubai had greater STEM majors’ enrolments compared to Zayed University-Abu Dhabi. HCT STEM majors’ graduates showed no significant differences from AY 2010 to the AY 2017; the latter shows that although STEM enrolments have increased in HCT, graduates of STEM are consistent and unchanged, meaning that somewhere during their tertiary education, students are not continuing their studies in STEM majors. In terms of United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), there has been a decrease in STEM programs enrolment, while STEM graduates in UAEU has stayed steady at 1/3 STEM majors compared to 2/3 non-STEM programs. The results confirm previous studies findings and expectations where it showed that more male students than female students enroll in STEM programs in both HCT and UAEU. In terms of R&D, UAEU has shown improvement on the global ranking, ZU has shown a slowdown in R&D. Therefore, in terms of R&D, the impact of STI policy could not be ascertained and further investigations looking at detailed HEI data are recommended.