Welcome to the Al Qasimi Foundation’s Policy & Practice Blog
The Policy & Practice blog highlights works and discussions that impact our community, inform policy decisions and best practices, and affect the social, cultural, and economic development of our emirate, the UAE, Gulf region, and beyond. Below you will find our blog posts, op-eds, and reviews.
Want to contribute?
In addition to discussing the Foundation’s own research findings, best practices, and priority areas, we welcome contributions from local and international academics, practitioners, policy makers, as well as our peer organizations and partners. If you would like to contribute, email grants@alqasimifoundation.rak.ae for more information.
It is estimated that one in 20 children under the age of 15 are affected by some form of physical or mental disorder. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the most common developmental disorders ...
The Gulf Council Countries (GCC) are undergoing transformations in education reform, social policy, and the promotion of increased civil competence among their residents. Research’s role in analysis ...
This blog will address two key questions: first, what barriers exist in Ras Al Khaimah that make women reluctant to seek breast cancer screening? And second, what can we do to help alleviate these ...
To understand students’ experiences of learning online during the pandemic, I spoke with 17 students from nine countries. These students all have access to some form of digital learning. They attend ...
As the COVID-19 pandemic impacts everyday life around the world, schools have increasingly switched to distance learning. While this is pragmatic, there has been little time to reflect on the ...
Global philanthropy’s tasks and responsibilities are changing with the wreckage that COVID-19 is creating, shaking up the ways we –as foundations– work. At the same time, philanthropic giving ...
For students, teachers, professors, administrators, and parents, social distancing has brought on an unexpected set of challenges, as schools across the UAE have suddenly moved from the classroom ...
How does a pandemic affect for-profit schools? Does the for-profit model of education protect the interests of students, parents, and academic staff? How COVID-19 could be a turning point for ...
Teachers, we have all discovered, are not merely supervisors of learning content, they are an integral and irreplaceable part of a child’s education and life. So what else is it that teachers give us?
Why exactly is ECE important, what does good quality ECE and care look like, and how can parents in the UAE ensure their child receives the best education and care possible?
One of the buzzwords of a 21st-century classroom is digital literacy. The Tech Edvocate, in one of its blog posts, defines digital literacy as using information technology and the internet to create, ...
Looking back on our achievements over our first 10 years, here are 10 key things we’ve learned about creating a successful, community centered, organization.
In our recent background paper for the Arab States 2019 GEM Report, we explored how there are a significant number of migrant workers with school-aged children living in the GCC region. In fact, in ...
Every January the Al Qasimi Foundation issues its call for Faculty, Doctoral, and Seed Grant applications. While always happy to offer individual guidance and feedback, the grant awards committee has ...
Over the past few decades the number of philanthropic organizations focusing on the education sector in the MENA region has grown. Although in the early stages of development, this philanthropic ...
One in four people will struggle with a mental illness during their lifetime. Mental illness is an umbrella term for a wide range of mental health issues and disorders. They commonly have no outward ...
According to the World Health Organization, more than 60% of women residing in the UAE are currently classified as obese. In addition, it is reported that 25% of boys and 41% of girls (aged 6-10 ...
The aflaj waterworks of Ras Al Khaimah are a testament to human ingenuity, yet they have largely been abandoned due to declining water tables, waning date palm cultivation, and lack of maintenance.
When you think about language policy, or public policy in general, you might imagine long government documents or declarations, such as the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Vision 2021 or its Arabic ...
Cultural awareness can be the key to fostering classroom engagement and building positive relationships with students, ultimately making teachers’ jobs easier. It also helps teachers build ...
Although the United Arab Emirates (UAE) education system ranks first among Arab countries, the system as a whole is currently achieving well below the Organization for Economic Co-operation and ...
Adequate and affordable housing is a basic human need. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), housing is treated as a right of every Emirati national. How impactful have the national housing programs ...
A reflection of the last 10 years of AQF research with topics on education related to boys, school quality, teachers, privatization, father involvement, and philanthropy in the region.
The Al Qasimi Foundation College Preparation students can study at either a university or English language school for between 3-4 weeks. Students that study at a university can take a wide variety of ...
Now having had that three months of experience behind me, I can confidently say that traveling to Ras Al Khaimah to work with the Al Qasimi Foundation was one of the best decisions I could have made ...
The Foundation spent 2018 listening to our stakeholders and focusing on the sustainability and strategic direction of our work. We also deepened and widened our partnerships and collaborations on ...
Issues of recruitment, retention, and integration of healthcare professionals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), such as doctors and nurses, require attention, as the majority of these healthcare ...
Much innovative thinking is underway on increasing the influence and utility of Standard Arabic. One potential area for exploration concerns the script. The Arabic script has evolved mainly to meet ...
During the UAE-Vietnam Teacher Exchange Program in March 2018, UAE teachers conducted the first stage of action research projects comparing the UAE and Vietnamese education systems, looking at ...
Over the past few years, innovative out-come based funding models have been receiving increasing amounts of interest from governments, philanthropic organizations, and NGOs worldwide.
Dr. Helen Abadzi, writing for Al-Fanar Media, discusses how the near-absence of inflection in English has helped make it an international language. And that has spoiled the prospects of Modern ...
AQF Executive Director Dr. Natasha Ridge, writing for Edu Alliance, discusses the challenges of preparing GCC students for higher education abroad. While the domestic higher education sector in the ...
Philanthropic support to education has been rapidly growing across the GCC region over the past two decades. However, there has been a shortage of research and discussions related to the implications ...
AQF Executive Director Dr. Natasha Ridge, writing for Alliance Magazine, reviews the new report Philanthropy in the Arab Region. The report makes a valuable contribution to understanding ...
In most of the Gulf, 'heritage' is separated from 'modern' daily life. Unlike other cities, Ras Al Khaimah is different; it mixes buildings from multiple time periods. Encounters of heritage are part ...
AQF Executive Director Dr. Natasha Ridge, writing for Al-Fanar Media, looks at how the role of the father is changing in the Middle East. She explains her research, which found that Arab father ...
Studies show that arts education improves students' learning outcomes and soft-skill development. Organizations and policymakers should consider it as a way to foster innovation and creativity, ...
Gulf philanthropic organizations have become increasingly prominent actors in the global education arena. While they are often working to support inclusive and equitable quality education, there is ...
