Teaching English in Dubai should be your next move
This city is a hub of innovation, whether it’s creating cutting-edge curriculum or dreaming up the world’s largest indoor ski slope. The diverse students in Dubai classrooms all have one thing in common: they are inspired to learn! When school’s out, teachers enjoy sailing, skydiving, riding camels, and tanning at the beach during Dubai’s 365 days of sun each year.
What is the average teaching in Dubai salary?
If you stay up at night wondering “How much do teachers get paid in Dubai?”, prepare yourself for a good night’s sleep. Teaching English in Dubai is one of the top paying jobs in the UAE. Salaries for teachers in Dubai usually range from 2,800 to $3,500, depending on experience and the type of school. Bring on the dirhams!
Some schools also offer teachers competitive benefits packages, including health insurance, roundtrip airfare for an annual visit home, and a local apartment rental. Be sure to look for these things in your contract, and get anything promised to you down in writing before you arrive.
What are the requirements for teaching in UAE?
There are a wide range of schools in Dubai with differing requirements for their teaching staff. To get their foot in the door at Dubai’s best schools – where salaries and benefits packages are the most impressive – teachers will need: a Master’s degree in a relevant field, a teaching certification, and at least three years of experience. Other midrange schools accept teachers with Bachelor's degrees, experience requirements varying by position.
If you’re looking for your first teaching job, Dubai may be a tough sell, but there are private families looking for tutors and non-profit schools looking for teaching interns and volunteers. These may not be your dream jobs, but are all great ways to get your teaching career off the ground while enjoying the Dubai lifestyle.
Note: Teaching English in Dubai falls into two camps: the top schools usually follow American or British curriculum, and these schools want teachers with training from the source. In other words, the best American schools in Dubai prefer to hire North American native speakers with teaching certifications from a reputable American or Canadian institution. Likewise, schools that follow British curriculum restrict hires to teachers with certifications from the UK (think CELTA instead of TOEFL, if you’re angling for ESL jobs in Dubai at a British school).
Yes, if you’ll willing to jump through a few extra hoops. Most English teaching opportunities in Dubai are limited to certified teachers, because to obtain a work permit, the UAE Ministry of Education requires teachers to be “properly qualified”, which most interpret to mean “have a teaching certification”. However, this does not need to be a full degree. Consider getting your TEFL, TESOL, or CELTA certification before applying to teach English in Dubai. It will pay for itself in your teaching salary in Dubai over a few short months.
If you don’t have a degree and getting certified isn’t in the cards, there are still ESL jobs in Dubai for you, especially if you are a native English speaker. So if you don’t have a wall full of framed certifications, it is still worth throwing your resume in the ring. Be aware that salaries are based on experience and qualifications, however; so not having a degree will cost you (literally).
What are the types of teaching opportunities in Dubai?
Teaching opportunities in Dubai are as diverse as they are plentiful. Popular teaching opportunities in Dubai include ESL jobs, private tutoring, and international test preparation. For those that want to stay on campus, just not in front of the blackboard, there are also plenty of other education jobs in Dubai to consider. Since most students (young and old) living in Dubai have advanced English, there are also opportunities to teach other subjects in English, including math, science, art, and technology.
Private Schools
There are many private schools in Dubai catering to the city’s large affluent class. The language of instruction at most private schools is English, so there are always a plethora of opportunities for foreign teachers, whether in ESL programs or subject classes.
Language School
As a global city, language schools in Dubai offer everything from German to Chinese. The most popular language schools teach English to adult expats, who need it for daily business communication. Some of the best ESL jobs in Dubai are at language institutes, so if you’re all brushed up on your past participles and subordinate conjunctions, this may be the educational environment for you.
Public School
Like everything else in Dubai, the public education program has grown rapidly over the last few decades. Public schools are now open to all Dubai residents; however, Emirati students can enroll for free, while non-nationals pay annual fees. Public schools may be nominally less lucrative than comparable private schools, but foreign teachers will gain unique insight into the UAE’s ambitious education reforms.
Private Families
Regardless of where and what you teach in Dubai, expect to encounter students who are eager to learn. Teachers will also notice that both public and private education in the United Arab Emirates make liberal use of information technology in the classroom. Be prepared to hit the keyboard and engage students both on and offline.
--- About Dubai ---
Dubai is a city of skyscrapers, ports, and beaches, where big business takes place alongside sun-seeking tourism. Because of its large expatriate population, it feels like a Middle Eastern melting pot, and the atmosphere is generally tolerant. Religious affiliations are not a prominent aspect of city life. Islam is the majority religion, but churches and Hindu temples coexist with Dubai’s mosques.
Dubai is a relatively crime-free place where administrative efficiency and openness to business have encouraged astounding growth. However, criticism of Dubai’s authoritarian government and ruling elite is not tolerated, and there persists an atmosphere of discreet corruption.
The western area of Dubai benefits from small stretches of sandy beaches, which have helped to catalyze the city’s tourism industry. Dubai’s rulers have sought to increase the city’s limited seafronts, and, in the absence of natural offshore islands, developers were encouraged to construct giant man-made islands off the coast of the city. The most famous of these is Palm Jumeirah, which has the shape of a palm tree. Others include the “World” islands, a cluster of small islands positioned to resemble a world map when viewed from above.
Dubai straddles a natural inlet called Dubai Creek on the southern shores of the Persian Gulf. For more than a century, the area was Dubai’s centre, because of the early city’s reliance on fishing, pearl diving, and maritime trade. Lining the creek are the oldest buildings in Dubai, most of which date from the 1960s and are rarely more than two stories in height. In the Bastakiyyah quarter, on the western shore of the creek, some much older buildings have been restored, and many of these feature the distinctive wind tower design that was imported by Persian merchants early in the 20th century.
The new city centre is a string of skyscrapers lining Sheikh Zayed Road. Notable among these are the Emirates Towers, which were built in the late 1990s and early 2000s and which house a hotel and government offices. Close to Sheikh Zayed Road is the Dubai International Financial Centre, housed in a futuristic arch-shaped building, and the Burj Khalifa, which at the time of its official opening in 2010 was the world’s tallest building; it was named after the president of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Abu Dhabi, Khalifa ibn Zayed Al Nahyan. To the west of the skyscrapers lie several affluent suburbs, most of which house substantial villas. On their periphery lies the Burj al-ʿArab, a giant sail-shaped tower which is home to a luxury hotel. Farther west are new clusters of skyscrapers surrounding a man-made marina and several man-made lakes
Like much of the Persian Gulf coastline, Dubai has a year-round hot climate. Humidity is high in the summer months and moderate the rest of the year. The coldest winter month is usually January, with lows of about 15 °C (49 °F), while the hottest summer month is July, with highs of more than 40 °C (104 °F).
Dubai’s population has grown steadily over the past two centuries, from just a few thousand local inhabitants to well over two million. Most of the early population increases were due to merchants from neighbouring countries choosing to relocate to Dubai’s business-friendly environment. In the later 20th century the city’s construction boom led to a huge increase in the number of South Asian and an influx of skilled expatriates from all over the world who play an important role in Dubai’s multi-sector economy. Expatriates in the city vastly outnumber native Emiratis.
The local population is predominately Muslim, and most of the expatriate population is also Muslim, although there are significant Christian, Hindu, and Sikh communities. Given the tolerance of the ruling family toward non-Muslims and the city’s focus on business, the various communities coexist harmoniously, although there have been occasions when foreign residents have broken decency codes or drug-use prohibitions.
Contrary to popular belief, Dubai does not have an oil-based economy. The little oil wealth it did enjoy between the 1960s and the 1990s was used to enhance other sectors of its economy by building physical infrastructure. Trade remains at the core of Dubai’s economy, with the city operating two of the world’s largest ports and a busy international air cargo hub. The Jebel Ali free-trade zone was established in the 1980s to attract industrial investment; activities based there include aluminum smelting, car manufacturing, and cement production.
