In the face of rising demand for private schooling in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar, a lack of affordable schooling options, monopolistic behavior of private education providers, and unpredictable government regulations have created a complex and unequal education sector. This research employs a mixed methods comparative approach to explore the ways in which private education providers navigate the regulatory schooling environments and assess the impact on education stakeholders in the UAE and Qatar. The study finds that there are considerable socioeconomic differences in terms of who has access to schooling and that a growing for-profit education sector may be deepening existing inequities in both countries, leaving poorer expatriate families only able to access low-quality education or in the worst cases, unable to access education at all. The promise of non-profit providers as a viable alternative to ensure access is explored.

Research over the past twenty years has found that fathers play an important role in their children’s development. However, the literature on fatherhood is still limited, particularly in the Arab world. This paper uses data from a mixed-method pilot study of sixty-one Arabs residing in the United Arab Emirates to examine the nature and impact of father involvement in the Arab region. The findings indicate that Arab fathers score highly on the good provider role, but low on responsible paternal engagement, which includes father involvement in the child’s education and related activities. We also find that the more positively involved a father has been in his child’s life, the higher the child’s self-esteem tends to be. In addition, the results show that experiences of father involvement vary according to the gender of the child, socioeconomic status, and nationality. These findings have important implications for understanding the nature of Arab father involvement and serve as a prelude to a larger study of father involvement across the Arab region.

Over the last three decades, continued expatriate population growth across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar has created an unprecedented demand for private education. However, a combination of a lack of affordable private education options, monopolistic behaviors of private education providers, and a mix of government regulations have resulted in serious issues surrounding access and quality. This policy paper presents the nature and implications of private school provision for access and equity in K-12 education in the UAE and Qatar. We find that, across the populations of these countries, there are considerable socioeconomic differences that determine who has access to private schooling. As a result of increasing growth in the for-profit private education sector in both countries, poorer families are ultimately left less able to access quality education than are their wealthier counterparts. The potential of non-profit schools to create greater equity and accessibility is discussed, and recommendations for policymakers are offered.

"Gulf nations are described as blessed twice, firstly by the discovery of hydrocarbon resources and secondly by convenient access to the expatriate pipeline coming from nearby countries (Arnold & Shah, 1986). Throughout recent history, dependency on temporary foreign workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has steadily increased. In the education sector, Arab expatriate teachers account for a significant percentage of the teacher workforce, therefore playing a critical role in determining the quality of the national education systems. This policy paper presents results from a study exploring the perceptions of Arab expatriate teachers in the UAE and Qatar regarding the push and pull factors drawing them to work in the two countries and the implications of this phenomenon for education systems and these countries overall."

The impact of socioeconomic status, family, and school experiences on the school continuation decision has been well-documented in Western literature. To date, however, no empirical studies have been conducted on the Gulf region. Using a sample of 149 dropouts and 347 non-dropouts, this study is the first to apply a mixed-methods comparative design to explore the patterns and trends in male dropout rates across government schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Importantly, the study finds that the effect of teachers on a student’s decision to stay in school can be as strong as family influences. Consistent with previous literature on other parts of the world, dropping out in the UAE is associated with low socio-economic background, poorly educated and/or uninvolved parents, and de-motivating school experiences marked by unsupportive teachers and disruptive peers