92445 X1` October 2014 – Number 135 Reimbursable Advisory Services Series Steering Dubai’s Education Reform through Incentive and Accountability Drivers Simon Thacker1 Introduction: As Dubai has grown over the last two decades, the demand for private education has grown with it, a reflection of the number of expatriates settling in the city and the various curricula on offer to cater to expatriates. Today, 88% of all students attend private schools. Recognizing the need to establish a specific governmental entity to oversee the sector’s expansion, the authorities moved to create the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) in 2007.2 Given the city-state’s unique context (in which a majority of the population are expatriates, not Dubai School Children in Class (2013) Emiratis), the immediate challenge for this new public institution was to identify an appropriate Now, some five years later, the KHDA has returned approach for regulating a private education sector. to the World Bank requesting a review of these governance initiatives. A World Bank team, working About that time, the Road Not Travelled (2008), the in close collaboration with counterparts in the World Bank’s Education Flagship for the Middle KHDA, and in consultation with the wider East North Africa, was published. It put forward the stakeholders in question (private school owners, hypothesis that education systems in the region heads, teachers, and parents), has now completed could be improved by promoting better governance, that review and their findings are presented in this the idea being that effective and efficient national report. policies, programs and services require the improved interaction between government and An Overview of Dubai’s Private Schools: Today, constituents based on transparency, accountability Dubai’s private school students (both Emiratis and and participation. It was the central tenets of this non-Emiratis) are enrolled in 158 private schools approach, dependent essentially on oversight rather offering a mix of 15 different curricula including for than intervention, which appealed to the KHDA and example the Indian, UK, US, UAE, International so the policy framework from that report was Baccalaureate, Pakistani, and others (fig.1). The adopted, adapted, and put into place in Dubai. share of students in private education has been increasing steadily (fig.2) -- a trend which is perhaps most surprising for Emirati students – and will 1 The author works in the Education Global Practice (GEDDR) of likely continue to remain constant, as private school the World Bank. This Quick Note was cleared by Harry Patrinos, student numbers in Dubai are increasing at a long- Practice Manager, GEDDR. 2 The Ministry of Education of the UAE remains in charge of the public provision of education. term annual rate now estimated at between 7 and 8 Ensuring that children in Dubai have access to high 3 per cent. quality educational institutions and that they Figure 1 graduate with the knowledge and skills needed for their active participation in a high-value, knowledge-driven economy are two strategic impulses guiding the education initiatives of the KHDA in support of the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015. The Objective of the World Bank Review: The main objective of the review was to understand what has motivated KHDA’s policy initiatives, what principles have guided design, how they were operationalized, and how they function in real life situations today. Conclusion: The KHDA has put in place a system that is uniquely adapted to the private education landscape in Dubai. In a sector that includes fifteen Source: KHDA, March 2014 distinct curricula, the design of the inspection framework is both generous enough to successfully The Challenge: In the meantime, Dubai’s capture all aspects of the rich diversity of the city- participation in TIMSS and PIRLS 20074 showed that state’s schools, and yet able at the same time to focus although student learning was rated higher than attention on the importance of improving education other participating MENA countries, it was below quality across all these kinds of schools. The KHDA the international average in grades 4 and 8 in approach is entirely transparent, openly mathematics and science and reading in grade 4. accountable, and has strong stakeholder The results also showed that there was wide participation – all hallmarks of good governance. It variation and disparity across schools offering has not only stirred public discussion about the different curricula and between public and private importance of school quality but also more schools. These results were similar, too, for PISA significantly created higher expectations among scores for 15 year olds. Quality, in other words, education consumers and providers. would be improved in the sub-sector. After just five years in operation, 51% of students are now in good and outstanding schools, compared to 30% at inception, and steady improvement has been seen in overall student achievement in TIMSS and PISA results. There is nevertheless much to be done. Many schools still remain only ‘acceptable’ and so KHDA must continue to work to refine the system to help incite them to improve. How can KHDA do this? How can KHDA continue to enhance the accountability mechanisms and procedures in play? The findings reveal that the complex, interrelated elements of the KHDA approach, while working, 3 4 Estimate from KHDA could be leveraged to greater advantage: TIMSS stands for Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. It is an internationally comparative assessment of student learning in mathematics and science for students around the world which  Disseminating information on all aspects of provides data about trends in mathematics and science achievement over the system has generally had the intended time. It is carried out every four years in Grades 4 and 8. PIRLS stands for Progress of International Reading and Literacy Study and is result of improving accountability: school conducted every five years on Grade 4 students. ratings, in particular, one of the key October 2014 · Number 135 2 elements in the KHDA approach, are useful when they focus attention on, and drive, Contact MNA K&L: Gerard A. Byam, Director, Strategy and Operations. improvements in quality; policymakers, MENA Region, The World Bank. however, cannot rely exclusively on these Preeti Ahuja, Manager, MNADE means alone because very real constraints, Regional Quick Notes Team: technical or material, may prevent certain Omer Karasapan and Mark Volk schools from improving. Tel #: (202) 473 8177  The incentive mechanism in place, where The MNA Quick Notes are intended to summarize lessons learned from MNA and other Bank Knowledge and Learning schools may increase their fees if they activities. The Notes do not necessarily reflect the views of receive better ratings, might be nuanced: at the World Bank, its board or its member countries. the moment, it serves only as an incentive to those schools near the cut-off for a higher rating. This is why we suggest that other kinds of incentives might be explored.  Competition between schools has increased, which is in turn promoting some school improvement, but incompletely: schools that have failed to progress over several years are expressing some discouragement with this aspect of the system. The road KHDA is traveling is a very significant one because it is demonstrating how innovative governance designs can help a public institution steer an expanding private education sector towards quality improvements. In this respect, there are valuable lessons emerging from Dubai. KHDA’s approach represents a new best practice, a solid model worth replicating in other private education markets. As demand for private education increases in many countries around the world, Dubai’s experience shows that incentives and competition in a governance-oriented approach to regulation need supplementary measures to ensure that all schools are sufficiently incentivized to participate in the drive towards better quality. Governance reforms rank high on the development agenda of many countries, particularly in regard to service delivery in education, and so KHDA’s undertaking stands as a significant venture for Dubai, the Region, indeed all countries interested in the governance of the private provision of education. October 2014 · Number 135 3