In light of the ambitious reform that the education sector in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has undergone over the last decades, the present study attempted to delve into the challenges inherent in change management, and precisely into the barriers and resistance to change encountered in the schools operating in Al Ain city. Hence, a qualitative study was conducted, seeking to record school-principals’ views on the barriers and resistance confronted with in the educational reforms implemented. The results entail weighty implications for education policy formulation in the UAE, as the highly centralized structure of the UAE education system was indicated as a major barrier to educational reform, interrelated with all the other barriers identified in the study, while additionally clashing with the flexibility demanded in order schools to keep pace with the exigencies of the knowledge economy. It should be noted though that the study was susceptible of significant limitations as regards the subjectivity of responses and a limited sample.
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In-Text Citation: (Alamassi et al., 2015)
To Cite this Article: Alamassi, S. M. S., Al Jneibi, F. S., Al Kaabi, F., Dela Cruz Recio, C. H., El Zaatari, W., & Panitsides, E. A. (2015). What Hinders Educational Change? School Principals’ Perspectives in the UAE Context. Multilingual Academic Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 3(1), 43–59.
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