Developing a Quality Teaching Force for the United Arab Emirates: Mission improbable

Acquiring enough quality teachers has been an insurmountable problem for many developing countries, largely because of chronic resource shortages. Usually the tension between the need to staff classrooms and the desire to have fully qualified teachers is resolved in favor of quantity. Could quality also be achieved if sufficient resources were available? This case study reviews efforts at implementing a teacher supply policy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where oil revenues have provided adequate funds to support schools. The UAE's policy has had three goals: to supply enough teachers, employ more national teachers, and raise quality in the teaching force. Sufficient numbers of teachers have consistently been provided, and the number of national teachers has increased. Still, expatriate teachers dominate UAE's classrooms, and serious questions are raised about the quality of the teaching force. Several policy alternatives are suggested as part of a concerted effort to address the quality issue.