The Reading Warehouse

"It's useless, they're Emirati."

Moneer Moukaddem has heard this belief expressed far too often from private school teachers when discussing Emirati students' lack of academic attainment. While it's true that Emirati students in private school attain less than their expatriate schoolmates, the reasons particular to this context are multifaceted and complex.

"It's useless, they're Emirati." examines why such students have low academic attainment in their own country and presents a Cultural Competency Framework as a tool for teachers, school leaders, and government bodies to understand and reverse this trend.

Beginning with a brief history of UAE education, Moukaddem explores current attitudes among teachers towards Emirati students, outlines his mixed-method research strategies, interprets data gathered from focus groups and questionnaires, and applies that data to cultural competencies. His research seeks to answer three questions:

• Are Emirati students somehow predisposed to underachievement?
• What role do teachers play in Emirati student achievement?
• What, if any, is the influence of parents, school leadership, and government bodies?

Moukaddem's conclusions reveal the need for change among all educational actors involved in UAE private schools if Emirati students are to return to their proper place at the center of educational policies and practices.