Does a premium fee-paying school provide a better education than a mid-market one?

As the old saying goes, ‘you get what you pay for!’ and none can be truer than in the fee-paying school system in Dubai. Dubai has some of the best schools and higher education opportunities in the Middle East with over 200 private schools offering a private education to around 300,000 Emirati and expat students.

This is a huge number of students and for the schools providing them with their unique, challenging, and at times extremely expensive education, their accountability, in terms of standards, sits with the KHDA, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai’s regulatory authority for education.

The inevitable question on the lips of most parents is does a premium fee-paying school then provide a better education than a mid-market one and how or where do parents get their quality assurance from?

The private schools are indeed very closely monitored, and there is certainly a system for accountability. As part of its initiative to raise standards across the region KHDA inspects and then releases the inspection results on the performances of schools in Dubai. It gives an overview of strengths, weaknesses and success stories of the schools; and in more recent months there has been a direct link between standards and the ability for the schools to individually raise their fees. This ensures that parents know the grading that their child’s school has received and the then likelihood of any increase in fees.

Of the 176 schools were inspected in 2019

·      17 – rated outstanding

·      28 – rated very good

·      74 – rated good

·      52 – rated acceptable

·      5 – rated weak

With 18 schools improving their rating.

According to the School Fees Framework, private profitable schools in which the quality of education is declining as assessed by Dubai School Inspection Bureau will not be allowed to increase their fees.

Meanwhile, private profitable schools, which maintain their ranking (evaluation) will be allowed to increase their fees by the same value of the education cost index.

But what does this mean in terms of parental choice? Are the premium rate schools really so much better than the mid and lower range settings? What do the fees actually pay for?

So, what does the money pay for?

-      Experienced and highly skilled staff; the ‘human resource’ in the education setting come at a premium, increased demand has meant that educators with the necessary skills and commitment are not cheap with as much as 75-85% of a school’s budget being spent on staffing.

-      Facilities; the swimming pool, the technology, computer and science labs, classrooms that are equipped with ICT and technology to enable different learning styles, multi-purpose auditoriums and music, arts and crafts rooms and associated equipment, sports facilities such as a sports fields and facilities for all of the age ranges, specifically the early years foundation stage and key stage one and two and Years 12 and 13.

-      Experiences and enrichment; guest speakers, opportunities to be involved in local, national and international competitions, activities and events.

-      High quality resources as an inclusive part of the price, parents will find that high fee paying schools and mid-market plus schools will consolidate all costs into the school fee, rather than break down the cost into separate fees, which may either mean resources are a core part of the school service and abundantly available or to make it easier for parents to pay one amount which may be preferred by some.

This is not conclusive, so is there really a difference?

I believe there was a time when high quality education was reserved to high fee paying schools who attracted the best staff, built state-of-the-art facilities, but as it can be seen nearly 42% of schools in Dubai achieved a good rating, many of these and higher rating schools fall into the mid-market price point. Which now means, parents have a wide variety of choice for their children linked to their financial circumstances. With the increased growth of schooling in Dubai, several mid-market schools have high quality buildings and facilities which provide the value for money! A term seldom used in International schools; very few schools would claim or even publish their value statement in terms of fees linked to value added in achievement. Until something like this is not in practice, we will never be certain on the value high fee-paying schools add and if there is a high return on investment point (student overall achievement and progress).

Some final tips on what to watch out for when selecting a school:

-      Look at the website and see if the school ethos, vision and mission align to yours

-      Research the social media of the school to see the frequency, type and quality of events

-      Sports in a school is a good indicator of quality, if there are many choices and regular competitions then this is a good sign of quality education

-      Secondary options and pathways help, even if your child is of primary age; secondary school options can be costly and having a variety of options indicates that the school is willing to invest in a breadth of subjects for students

-      Call the school and see what kind of service you will receive, high quality school in any market understand the importance of customer service, no different to a bank call centre or phone company, you expect consistent quality service each time.

-      The quality of teachers and their experience, if you are looking for a US school, establish what percent of the teachers are from the US. This is not an indicator of teachers from other parts of the world, but more to do with the commitment from the school to bring the essence of a US school internationally. 

-      Facilities, most schools will have appropriate facilities so this can serve as a red herring, but it is important for you to have a list of facilities you want from your child’s school and then see what market schools offer such facilities.

-      Staff attrition is a key indicator of the quality of school, if the attrition rates are very high then this does not mean the school is not of a high quality as there may be several genuine reasons for this, but it does give parents an opportunity to ask questions about it, schools will happily respond and explain the reasons.

One can only imagine then that it is as it appears; the better the ranking of the school, the higher the fee… but the direct correlation of fees to high quality education is not entirely confirmed though there is clearly a link. It will be interesting to see how the market changes in the next decade with several new schools who are focusing on high quality education at a value come in. 

Article written by

Nav IQ

Principal | CEO

GEMS Metropole