Parents, students and teachers can take a greater role in the overall success of a school when they are allowed to be active participants in the decision-making process. And with the roll-out of a new virtual platform, ‘We Make Our Policies’, members of the wider education community are now being encouraged to put forwards their own thoughts and ideas.
Launched by the Ministry of Education (MoE), this new platform highlights the real partnership between the key roles of students, parents and educational staff in creating future education policies. Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, explained: “The ministry strongly believes in the importance of integrating the roles of students, teachers, parents and educational policy-makers. The platform is a tool that will make all of them cooperate in drafting educational policies more creatively.”
Al Hammadi added that the ministry is adopting an approach based on transparency and effective partnerships that will enrich the educational movement, establish a framework for the ministry’s relations with its partners, and benefit Emirati schools.
The platform was implemented in response to the launch, by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, of a project to prepare for the next 50 years in the UAE, which aims to encourage the country’s citizens and residents to present ideas and designs for the future of the nation.
This new platform highlights the real partnership between the key roles of students, parents and educational staff
Parents throughout the UAE have been very positive about the new platform, with one mother, Jane Leigh, believing it to be a “crucial” move, commenting: “It’s great that we now have an opportunity to give our opinions and ideas on education policies. I think parents have some very innovative ideas about the best ways our children can be taught.”
It is not only parents who are encouraged, with many teachers also optimistic about how ‘We Make Our Policies’ can influence education in the future, believing that their views can help to improve students’ learning skills. Indeed, many teachers have wonderful ideas on good education policies, but until now they have not had the opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. However, this new virtual platform brings a wide range of people into the conversation, allowing them all to contribute to policies and programmes that will ultimately boost performance in the classroom.