Rising demand for teachers abroad has left some schools in the Emirates struggling to fill posts, experts have said.
More competitive salaries offered by schools in Asia, Australia and the UK are thought to be partly behind the difficulty in recruiting core staff.
On Tuesday, days before the start of the new academic year, at least four UAE schools posted last-minute adverts for teaching roles.
Job descriptions on Dubai Teachers' Network Facebook forum offered several "immediate start" positions in subjects including maths, music and physical education.
Gavin Walford-Wright, an HR officer at UAE education provider Taaleem, said stronger offers from overseas was one reason for the issue.
He said schools in Asia had been targeting international teachers in the Middle East by offering "inflated salaries to secure growing demand".
“We have been hearing reports that there has been an increased number of teachers declining contracts at a later stage this year [in the UAE],” he said.
“This is notably coming from counter offers from their home countries that have teacher shortages, such as the UK and Australia.”
Teaching roles in the UAE have long been seen as attractive given the competitive, usually tax-free salaries on offer.
But a growing demand for private education has resulted in a significant increase in the number of schools being built, leading to stiffer competition for staff.
Last year, 13 new schools opened in Dubai alone, with a further eight expected in the emirate by 2020.
The move will create 13,000 more places for pupils, said officials from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, the education regulator.
While it is relatively common to see a small number of last-minute positions being advertised close to the start of term, Mr Walford-Wright said several factors could be contributing towards the unusual rise this year. "Often, student enrolment numbers increase rapidly at the end of summer, with new families coming into the market," he said.
“This puts class ratio numbers over the limit and it ends up creating the need for new classes.”
He also said teachers planning to move to the UAE did sometimes change their minds at the last minute.
“Another factor we hear of is that inefficient HR procedures at some schools lead to delays in contract issuance,” he said.
“This often unnerves staff new to the region, who are reluctant to commit themselves to a position without the proper paperwork in place.
“A proactive, experienced and knowledgeable HR team is essential for successful onboarding of new staff and avoiding crisis management at the beginning of a school year.”
Garrett O'Dowd, founder of Teach and Explore, an overseas educational recruitment agency based in Ireland, said two teachers who moved the UAE last month left because of a breakdown in communication with school staff.
"Two brand-new teachers who moved from Ireland to Abu Dhabi rang me in a panic on Saturday," he said.
“They turned up to a filthy apartment provided by an independent private school in the emirate.”
The principal of the school agreed to put them up in a hotel for three nights.
But after the teachers tried, and failed, to meet him in person to discuss other concerns they had about their contracts, they got cold feet and returned home.
“They ended up flying back to Ireland on Sunday as they didn’t want to proceed with the teaching position,” he said.
The principal was contacted by The National but declined to comment on the issue.
Teach and Explore has been placing Irish teachers in UAE schools for several years.
Mr O’Dowd said while his recent experience was not a regular occurrence, it could reflect badly on all schools in the country and put teachers off moving.
He also confirmed that the growing demand for teachers elsewhere in Asia, and a resulting increase in salaries there, was affecting the UAE.
“The salaries on offer in Asia are now consistently beating the UAE,” he said. “This was not the case before.
“In some schools salaries have stagnated and come down in the UAE.”
Mr O'Dowd also said some schools in the Emirates were now offering teachers shared accommodation as opposed to individual flats.
"A lot of schools are tightening their belts, which is causing a lot of experienced teachers to look elsewhere."
Series information
Pakistan v Dubai
First Test, Dubai International Stadium
Sun Oct 6 to Thu Oct 11
Second Test, Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tue Oct 16 to Sat Oct 20
Play starts at 10am each day
Teams
Pakistan
1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Imam-ul-Haq, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Asad Shafiq, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Babar Azam, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Bilal Asif, 9 Yasir Shah, 10, Mohammed Abbas, 11 Wahab Riaz or Mir Hamza
Australia
1 Usman Khawaja, 2 Aaron Finch, 3 Shaun Marsh, 4 Mitchell Marsh, 5 Travis Head, 6 Marnus Labuschagne, 7 Tim Paine, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jon Holland
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
if you go
The flights Fly Dubai, Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, and Royal Jordanian all offer direct, three-and-a-half-hour flights from the UAE to the Jordanian capital Amman. Alternatively, from June Fly Dubai will offer a new direct service from Dubai to Aqaba in the south of the country. See the airlines’ respective sites for varying prices or search on reliable price-comparison site Skyscanner.
The trip
Jamie Lafferty was a guest of the Jordan Tourist Board. For more information on adventure tourism in Jordan see Visit Jordan. A number of new and established tour companies offer the chance to go caving, rock-climbing, canyoning, and mountaineering in Jordan. Prices vary depending on how many activities you want to do and how many days you plan to stay in the country. Among the leaders are Terhaal, who offer a two-day canyoning trip from Dh845 per person. If you really want to push your limits, contact the Stronger Team. For a more trek-focused trip, KE Adventure offers an eight-day trip from Dh5,300 per person.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
