Psychologist Senior Specialist

Company Overview:

Since the establishment of the union of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, education has received the utmost attention of the founding leader, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may Allah have mercy on him, and his founding brothers. They believed that education was the cornerstone of building an enabled community that could keep pace with the advancements. Over the past decades, the wise leadership of the country was keen on building an educational system that matched its counterparts in the advanced nations. It harnessed for this purpose all the required capabilities, to achieve the country's agenda and national vision in this regard. Sincere efforts have also been made to develop education and adopt the best systems that achieve high-quality education outputs, to achieve the future visions and aspirations of the wise leadership.

Since investing in human capital is the main objective, the UAE has been keen on establishing the Ministry of Education and creating the appropriate environment to build pioneering Emirati schools, in terms of standards, form, and content they provide. It also made sure that such schools provided high-quality educational environment and owned the most technically advanced tools to be able to graduate generations that could pursue their university education confidently in higher education institutions to fulfil the requirements of labour market.

The MOE has also provided a smart learning system and high-quality digital platforms, side by side with the continuous development of school curriculums, according to national learning standards, assessment policy that is based on assessing for learning, and highest quality standards that match the best international practices. Various learning tracks, moreover, have been provided to support the capabilities and skills of students and achieve the country's strategy of encouraging the culture of creativity and innovation through providing the students with the skills of the 21st century and motivating them to have new ideas that relate to the reality they live in and foresee the future. This will eventually help in finding radical, sustainable solutions to the major issues, improving competitiveness, and supporting smart government in its attempts to keep pace with global advancements, advance education, and push it to broad horizons of excellence, leadership, and competitiveness.

Department Definition:

The department develops inclusive education policies, standards, and programs for students of determination and learning disabilities, including detection and diagnosis tools, and identifying academic and professional paths, and the needs of students and staff. It also works to ensure the readiness of the educational field by building databases, identifying training programs, activating partnerships, and implementing awareness campaigns. It follows up on the quality of application in educational institutions and linking them to licensing and evaluation standards in accordance with international best practices and institutional quality standards.

Job Definition:

A senior psychologist is responsible for technical supervision and capacity building for those involved in the implementation of psychological care programs in the educational field, through the preparation of regulatory frameworks and professional standards governing the work of the psychologist. It is also concerned with developing and codifying psychological detection, evaluation and diagnosis tools and adapting them to the characteristics of students and the country's environment. It works to analyse its results to support decision-making and improve the quality of psychological services provided. This comes in line with the needs of the field, the vision and strategy of the Ministry, and the best practices in inclusive education.

Main Job Duties & Responsibilities:

• Preparing the annual plan for psychological care programs in order to achieve the strategic objectives of the Ministry, supervising their implementation and measuring their impact in the educational field.
• Providing technical support to psychologists, organizing their distribution to schools, determining their quotas, and evaluating their annual performance.
• Developing psychological care programs, and preparing proposals for providing the necessary tools, scales, and psychological tests.
• Develop and codify psychological assessment and diagnostic tools and adapt them to the UAE environment, and ensure that the assessment and diagnostic standards adopted in the field are applied.
• Preparing the annual plan for training programs for psychologists, and designing and implementing training materials in accordance with the latest international practices.
• Developing professional manuals and models in the fields of psychological counseling and behavior modification programs, training those concerned in their application and following up on their implementation in the field.
• Providing psychological interventions for emergency and complex cases, and transferring specialized expertise to psychologists.
• Preparing field studies and researches in the field of psychological care, and analyzing their results to support decision-making.
• Preparing the annual final report on the achievements of psychiatric care programs and submitting development recommendations.
• Contributing to the achievement of management initiatives and indicators in accordance with the approved plans
• Perform any other tasks assigned by the line manager

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor of Psychology.
• A postgraduate degree (master's or doctorate) in clinical psychology or educational psychology is preferred.
• Obtaining courses or professional certifications in statistical analysis, test construction, or standardization of educational measurements is considered an added advantage.
• Proficiency in English.

Work Experience:

• Practical experience of at least (8) years’ experience in the field of psychology, provided that it includes experience in evaluation and diagnosis in special education.

Specialized Knowledge and Skills:

• Advanced knowledge of psychological assessment and diagnosis methods and codified tools and scales in the field of special education and inclusive education.
• Ability to coordinate the development and codification of assessment tools and their adaptation to the UAE environment.
• Prepare and develop professional frameworks and procedural manuals for psychiatric care programs.
• Psychological data analysis skills and indicator extraction to support decision-making.
• Knowledge of psychological intervention strategies and evidence-based behavior modification programs.

General Skills:

• Leadership skills, technical supervision, and capacity building of psychologists.
• Planning, time management, and prioritization skills.
• Communication skills and working in multidisciplinary teams.
• Technical reporting and recommendation skills.
• Problem-solving and data-driven decision-making skills.