The Trusted Partner for Developing School Inspection Skills in the GCC

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting growth and change in the GCC, Etio's (formerly Tribal Education Services) Inspection Skills Training is our flagship training course that brings the best of our 20 years’ knowledge and experience in school quality assurance to GCC governments and education professionals.

As the selected trusted partner for school inspections by OfSted (the UK Education Quality Assurance Agency), Etio started the Inspection Skills Training course as a mandatory prerequisite to being deployed for school inspection work. Recognised by OfSted as a quality mark for the skills needed to be an excellent school inspector, the course was attended by thousands of school inspectors across the UK and was used as a vehicle by OfSted to ensure the education workforce were up to date with the latest quality frameworks and requirement. Etio's Inspection Skills Training has left a lasting impact with the large-scale upskilling of the school inspection workforce in South England.

As part of our commitment to our work in the Middle East, Etio launched the Inspection Skills Training course with the first cohort in the U.A.E in 2014. Since then, Etio has trained thousands of school inspectors from across the GCC.

Under focused leadership and national investment, the education systems of the GCC countries have developed at an incredible pace. This growth has placed significant demand on the need for a highly skilled education workforce. While there is an important role for expatriate educators in the GCC countries, the focus of development is on ensuring a high quality national workforce. Etio's Inspection Skills Training course plays an important role in supporting educator workforce development through bringing best practice quality assurance skills to support national education systems.

The school inspection process requires specific skills of inspectors to be competent. These include analytical thinking, communication, information synthesis, technical report writing, data analytics and visualisation and a deep understanding of national inspection frameworks. These practical skills are covered in the 4-day course which is delivered either face to face or online by an expert facilitator. A key feature of the course is the practical application of the assessments which are conducted ‘on the job’ during a live inspection event. The course facilitator acts as both a mentor and assessor during the live inspection to ensure candidates are demonstrating the necessary inspection skills in collecting evidence, applying the framework, analysing and synthesising information, engaging the school community and quality ensuring judgements and reporting. The outcome is education professionals with the tangible skills to excel in a school inspection process.

Etio is proud to have partnered with the progressive governments of the GCC to be a small part of the significant national developments in education. In the U.A.E the quality improvements in education are apparent in the assessment results from the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) where the U.A.E schools scored the highest in the GCC and close to the average of OECD countries[1]. Additionally, the rapid increase in enrolments in higher education in the U.A.E and Emirati students abroad over the past 5 years demonstrates the levels of achievement of those graduating from the K12 school system.

These system level outcomes are the result of the positive inputs by the government ministries and agencies in the U.A.E, including the significant investment in quality review and improvement of which Etio has had the privilege to be part of by preparing the education workforce with skills in quality assurance to make lasting change.

The role of the Inspection Skills Training course in launching careers is explained by Mrs Pamela Mundy, Director of Education for NEOM in Saudi Arabia.

‘When I completed my inspection skills training with Etio in 2008, I had no idea the experience would propel me to another level of my career. The course, and subsequent inspection experience allowed me to gain deep insights into quality assurance and best practice that I have brought to my international work. Because of my training and experience on OfSted inspections, I have gained the trust of international Ministries and Agencies and been able to offer my experience to support their education quality assurance developments’.

A prominent Emirati education leader explains how the Etio School Inspection course provided the foundation for her career in leading quality assurance policy and practice in the U.A.E government:

‘I completed the Etio Inspection Skills Training course in 2015 when I was just starting out in my transition from Head Teacher to School Leader and eventually into my Policy role in the Government. The course taught me both the philosophical foundations of a quality system and the practical skills to apply the U.A.E framework. Understanding the best practices of OfSted has allowed me to apply this to a U.A.E context and shape a ever evolving version of school review that is relevant to improving education systems in an Emerati context’.

[1] See: https://www.oecd.org/publication/pisa-2022-results/country-notes/united-arab-emirates-74e92cf9/