Parents to be asked 20 questions about their child's school

The Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) Parents' Questionnaire will be available to parents four weeks before their child's school inspection is due.

The school will give each family a user name and password for the online questionnaire, along with a step-by-step guide on how to fill it in. They will have seven days in which to complete the process.

The 20 questions range from how happy the child seems, to what transport they use to get to and from school. Parents are asked to rate the teaching of Islamic Education, Arabic, mathematics and science. There is also a section at the end of the survey in which parents can give any other comments they wish to make.

Jameela Al Muhairi, Chief of DSIB, said: "We want school principals to encourage parents to take part in this online survey. It is important that parents have the opportunity to tell us about their child's experience at school.

"We know it will be a challenge to engage all of our parents because, of course, we cannot insist that parents must co-operate. However, we hope that principals will be creative in the way they approach this exercise; perhaps they could put a laptop in the school reception area and support parents who need help, for example."

For the first batch of inspections (October-December 2009), 75,276 user names and passwords will be distributed. The answers will remain confidential and no school will know what individual parents have said. A summary of survey findings will be included in both individual school reports and the DSIB Annual Report next year.

The answers will be analysed by the DSIB, which comes under the umbrella of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).