Arabic & Islamic Teacher (Arabs & non-Arabs) (KG-Cycle1) Immediate start – GEMS Education

This role is for an Arabic and Islamic Studies teacher at a GEMS Education school in Abu Dhabi, covering the KG to Cycle 1 age range and teaching both Arab and non-Arab students, with an immediate start. GEMS Education operates a large network of private schools across the UAE, and this position sits within that network’s early years and primary provision, where building foundational language and cultural literacy skills matters as much as formal subject content.

Day to day, the teacher plans and delivers Arabic language and Islamic Studies lessons suited to very young learners, differentiating instruction for students who are native Arabic speakers alongside those learning Arabic as an additional language. That dual-audience teaching context is a distinctive part of the role, requiring lesson planning that keeps both groups genuinely engaged rather than defaulting to one pace. Beyond lesson delivery, the role includes standard school responsibilities: assessment, parent communication, and contributing to the broader school community and curriculum standards GEMS schools are known for.

It suits an experienced early years or primary teacher with strong Arabic language teaching credentials and, given the Islamic Studies component, familiarity with delivering that subject appropriately for a young, mixed-nationality classroom. Patience, warmth, and strong classroom management for very young learners are essential, alongside the subject expertise itself.

With an immediate start, this role suits a teacher who is already in the UAE or able to relocate quickly and begin contributing to the school community without a long lead-in period.

Arabic and Islamic Studies instruction is a core, often government-mandated, part of the curriculum at private schools in the UAE, which makes this teacher's classroom performance directly relevant to the school's regulatory compliance and its standing with education authorities, alongside its educational mission. For young learners specifically, this is often the stage where a child's foundational relationship with the Arabic language and with Islamic Studies content is formed, whether that child is a native speaker deepening literacy or a non-Arabic speaker encountering the language and subject for the first time. A teacher who manages that dual-audience classroom well protects the learning experience for both groups, which matters directly to parent satisfaction and the school's reputation among the diverse family base GEMS schools typically serve. Because this is an immediate-start vacancy, filling it with a capable teacher quickly also protects continuity of instruction for the affected classes, avoiding the disruption that comes with an extended teaching gap at a foundational stage of a child's education.

Teaching within GEMS Education provides access to one of the largest private school networks in the world, which typically means structured professional development, exposure to established curriculum frameworks, and a genuine internal career ladder for teachers who want to move into subject leadership, year group coordination, or broader pastoral and inclusion roles over time. Specializing in Arabic and Islamic Studies for a mixed native and non-native classroom is also a distinctive professional skill set, since teaching a language and its associated cultural and religious studies content to genuinely mixed-ability, mixed-background young learners requires a level of differentiation expertise that is highly valued across the UAE's private education sector specifically. Working in Abu Dhabi within a well-established school network also offers the practical benefits that come with UAE private school employment more broadly, along with the professional credibility of GEMS Education's name on a CV when considering future teaching roles across the region. For a teacher early in their KG or primary career, this role builds deep expertise in early years language acquisition and differentiated instruction that is transferable to any international school setting with a similarly diverse student population, which describes a large and growing share of schools across the Gulf region and beyond.

• Bachelor’s degree in Education, Arabic Language, Islamic Studies, or a related field
• Recognized teaching qualification (such as a PGCE, B.Ed, or equivalent)
• Experience teaching Arabic and/or Islamic Studies to young learners (KG to Cycle 1 age range)
• Ability to teach both native Arabic speakers and non-Arabic speakers in the same classroom
• Strong early years classroom management and behavior guidance skills
• Excellent communication skills with young children, parents, and school colleagues
• Familiarity with UAE curriculum and cultural expectations for Islamic Studies instruction
• Availability for an immediate start