War in the Middle East: schools rally support as uncertainty looms

“Things are pretty bad at the moment. Constant bombing, missile interceptions and sirens,” is how one leader describes life in the Middle East right now.

“We’re hearing explosions as drones are being shot down above our apartment,” says another.

A third recounts the moment when it all began on Saturday: “I can’t tell you how frightening it was. It was in the sky over our house, so all of the doors, walls and windows rattled.

“We have no idea how long it will go on for. It is extremely frightening, but I am trying to stay strong for our children and staff.”

Across the Middle East, educators in international schools are facing huge disruption and fear as the fallout from the bombing of Iran and subsequent retaliations causes shockwaves across the region.

Lessons from the pandemic

Despite uncertainties, schools have moved quickly to respond to requirements from the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Bahrain to switch to distance learning - a return to pandemic-era measures but under very different circumstances.

For example, Alan Williamson, CEO of Taaleem, which oversees 16 schools across the UAE, told Tes it is now “operating strictly in line with guidance issued by UAE authorities and regulators” - something the experience of the pandemic has helped with.

“Digital platforms allow us to maintain continuity of learning and curriculum progression,” he adds.

Liz Lamb, regional managing director for the Middle East at Nord Anglia, says its schools are also “online ready”, so moving to remote teaching has been seamless, and they try to mix both asynchronous and live lessons as appropriate.

“Families don’t always want ‘live learning’, as they may be busy with other priorities during a crisis. So, we try to provide a blend of live and pre-recorded lessons,” she says, although she adds that they ask principals to try and ensure at least one live session a day as a minimum.

“This enables pupils sheltering in place to check in with someone outside the family,” she adds.

Moving to online teaching

Abbie Goodson, deputy head of secondary at Compass International School Doha, says the school has also moved to a balance of online and offline lessons.

“The learning hours are reduced and online delivery is kept minimal for short check-ins and content delivery,” she says.

“This looks slightly different at the various phases through our school, and we are trying to strike a balance between keeping things ‘normal’ to offer an escape from the unsettling situation outside.”

Gemma Thornley, principal of Arbor School in Dubai, adds that they, too, have balanced their approach based on phase: primary pupils are receiving asynchronous learning and secondary students a mix of live lessons and online learning, “with a lean towards more live lessons for exam groups”.

She says feedback has been “incredibly positive” so far, not least because it is ensuring a sense of continuity for children, something where, again, lessons of the pandemic came in handy.

“We can focus less on the mechanics and more on the human side,” Thornley adds.

Being there for the pupils

A leader in Bahrain agrees that focusing on the human side has been important to help pupils settle in this new reality.

“Sunday’s lessons were focused not on academics, but just allowing kids the time to connect, to allow them to talk, to share how they’re feeling,” they say.

However, the leader admits it has been very challenging, not least how relentless the shelter-in-place warnings have been and the near impossibility of teaching live lessons under such circumstances.

”[Monday] morning, we woke up and sirens started going off at 8.07am after lessons started at 8am, and so we pulled learning online and said it was not safe and we would work on Google Classroom, and staff will still be on email,” they explain.

Unsurprisingly, attendance has been low, at around 50 per cent (although the leader says this is “not bad” given the circumstances), and making the children feel supported has been a top priority.

“I sent a letter to our pupils saying how proud I was of them and how it’s really frightening, and that being frightened is OK, it’s normal, and that we’re a community. I told them that if they need anything to reach out. We’re here for them,” they say.

Focus on wellbeing and support

Kausor Amin-Ali, principal of Frontline International School in Ajman, agrees that checking in and focusing on wellbeing has been fundamental to their approach.

“Our focus has been wellbeing and support for our school community, who are either directly or indirectly affected by recent events, and we have been well-supported by local authorities”, he says.

“Our health and wellbeing team have ensured a sense of connection, not isolation, with check-ins for both our pupils and workforce, many of whom have extended family in regional conflict zones, triggering flashbacks of trauma.”

Williamson at Taaleem concurs that while “academic continuity” is important, ensuring strong “emotional reassurance” for pupils is vital.

“We are providing guidance to school leaders and teachers on how to respond to pupil questions in calm, age-appropriate ways, reinforcing a clear message: safety is paramount, adults are acting responsibly and collaboratively, and children are supported both academically and emotionally,” he explains.

Mark Leppard, headteacher at the British School Al Khubairat and chair of the British Schools in the Middle East (BSME) association, says the school has been proactive in trying to help parents do this, too.

“We have been sending information for parents on guidance around how to talk to children in times of conflict and crisis, as well as sharing British Embassy updates with our community and the BSME community,” he says.

Concerns over lost learning

Another leader in the UAE admits that this is challenging, due to the mix of cultures and how they are choosing to talk to their children, and how differently they are all affected.

“We have so many nationalities and cultures, it makes it very challenging to support - some children know exactly what is happening, some parents haven’t told them, and some have family trapped overseas,” they say.

What’s more, even with this focus on supporting pupils as best as possible, there is a clear awareness that it will have a huge impact on pupils’ learning, especially those in crucial exam years.

“I’m concerned with my grade 12 International Baccalaureate and GCSE students, because they are under so much pressure at the moment, and this is not going to help at all,” says one leader.

A school leader based in Abu Dhabi echoes this, saying they are “worried sick about all of the children, but especially our exam classes”, adding that they were already short on time because of Ramadan and the reduced school hours it brings, plus a longer December break of four weeks instead of three.

“We have struggled to fit everything in as it is. This has made the impact even worse. Some of our students had issues with the internet today. If this continues, it will have a major impact on exams in particular, alongside lost learning for all,” they add.

Long-term emotional impact

The leader in Bahrain says they are also worried about the long-term emotional impact on pupils.

“I am actually concerned about the delayed impact on pupils, and this is something we’ve spoken about with the heads of schools, because this is not normal, not at all,” says one leader.

“We will have to look at ways in which we can support pupils as much as possible because it’s the pressure, delayed trauma and anxiety that’s going to be prevalent, and we’ll have to address that when we get back to some sort of normality,” they add.

Sean Sibley, principal of Doha English Speaking School and BSME country representative for Qatar, agrees, adding that “the most significant long-term impact may not be academic - it may be emotional”.

“Much will depend on how adults model calm and perspective,” he adds.

Staff recruitment concerns

Of course, though, it is not easy for teachers to be unmoved by the events. “It is very unnerving and worrying having no idea whether you will be safe or not,” says Goodson in Qatar.

Given this new reality, some leaders acknowledge there could be an impact on staff retention.

“I imagine people will want to go, especially more of the Western staff from the UK, the US or Canada, who have that luxury of choice,” says the leader in Bahrain.

Another leader concurs, saying they already fear it will have a major impact: “I can’t tell you how concerned I am about recruiting for next academic year. It is already a tough market, and this will make it a million times worse.”

“A lot of people will leave, and nobody is going to want to come here,” they add.

Cautious decision making expected

Sibley in Qatar agrees there are going to be “understandable concerns” around how this will impact recruitment and retention.

“International education relies on mobility and confidence. When regions experience instability, even temporarily, it inevitably factors into decision making for prospective staff and their families,” he says.

In particular, he says there may be “more cautious decision making from overseas candidates, greater scrutiny from families relocating with children and a need for schools to articulate their crisis planning and wellbeing provision during recruitment”.

On the retention side, meanwhile, Sibley says there may not be an immediate exodus as “many families are deeply rooted in the Middle East through long-term employment or business commitments”, although he notes the schools that fare best in this situation may depend on how they manage this situation.

“Schools that demonstrate care and stability during challenging periods may actually strengthen loyalty among existing staff,” he adds.

Impact on international market

More broadly, there are also questions about what it will do for market growth.

For years, the UAE, in particular, but also Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, have been growing rapidly, with many new schools scheduled to open - from high-end developments by the likes of Nord Anglia to a state academy opening a school in the region.

However, that could be at risk, with Tony Atkinson, school development manager at ISC Research, saying the key will be how long the conflict lasts.

“If disruption is brief, the impact is likely to be very limited. If the conflict extends or escalates, we could see deeper effects on expatriate population growth, corporate mobility programmes and investor appetite for new build campuses,” he says.

He notes that the region has been resilient to external shocks in the past, and investment has remained strong.

“During Covid, enrolments dipped a little, recruitment pipelines stalled and some expansion projects were paused. Yet growth resumed quickly once mobility returned,” he says.

“Previous regional tensions and oil price shocks produced similar patterns. Capital became cautious, but it did not structurally exit the sector.”

Working through the crisis

Atkinson adds that, given how much economic growth is contingent on education supply, there will be work done to help schools work through this crisis.

“Governments remain committed to diversification and to positioning cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi as global hubs,” he says. “The pipeline is therefore more likely to be repriced and phased than abandoned.”

However, that again depends on the length of the conflict and how all-encompassing it becomes.

“The longer the conflict continues, the more those medium-term assumptions about mobility and confidence come under pressure,” he says.

“So the key issue is not whether the sector can absorb a shock; it has done so before. The question is whether this becomes a short-term disruption or a sustained change in the risk profile of the region.”

That is a question to which no one has an answer, and is perhaps the hardest aspect for schools to manage - both for children and adults.

“I think it’s the uncertainty that’s really getting to people,” says a leader in the UAE. “Like the rest of the world, we are just waiting and watching the news. It could be resolved quickly by diplomacy - or not. So we are just going one day at a time.”

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