KHDA Framework for Dubai Maths | Times Tables Software

The Inclusive Education Framework asks Dubai schools to implement tiered support packages for SEND students within mainstream classrooms. This isn't about withdrawing children to separate rooms or creating parallel programmes. The whole philosophical weight of the framework sits on the word *within*. Students of Determination should be learning alongside their peers, supported in ways that don't single them out or make them feel different.

For maths, this has direct implications. A Year 5 classroom doing times-tables practice, for example, can no longer simply mean one worksheet for most children and a different, visibly easier one handed to a specific pupil. The framework pushes schools to find approaches where differentiation is built into the activity itself, invisible to the student.

The KHDA is also putting real emphasis on reducing stigma. That phrase keeps appearing in everything I'm reading on this. The goal is that a child with dyscalculia, ADHD, or processing difficulties sits in the same lesson, does the same activity, feels the same sense of belonging, and is still being supported at the right level. That's the standard being set.

I'll be honest: maths is one of the toughest subjects to make genuinely inclusive, especially around fluency and times-tables. There's a reason so many children with SEND develop maths anxiety specifically. Timed drills, public recitation, visible scores on the board. These are the things that research, and frankly, common sense, tells us create pressure and shame for children who are already finding it harder.

The real challenge isn't identifying that a child needs support. It's providing that support without making the child feel labelled.

From the schools we've been speaking to, this tension is exactly what SENCOs and classroom teachers flag most. They know who needs help. They're frustrated by resources that don't let them help discreetly. And now, with the KHDA framework coming into full force, that frustration has a policy deadline behind it.

Tiered support in the KHDA framework starts at Tier 1: universal, high-quality teaching that works for every child in the room without requiring a separate programme. For maths fluency, this means the core activity itself has to flex.

When I looked into what this means practically for a Year 4-6 classroom, a few things stand out. Teachers need tools where:

1. Difficulty adjusts automatically to each child's level, so no one is doing conspicuously easier work.
2. All students are participating in the same activity together, not in separate tracks.
3. Teachers and SENCOs can monitor progress for individual students without that monitoring being visible to the class.

Multiplayer formats are particularly interesting here because the social dimension is built in. If every child in the room is playing the same maths game, the activity *is* the inclusion. No one is pulled aside. No one gets a different sheet. The child with SEND is fully in the game.

I work for XTables Champions, so I want to be straightforward about why I'm mentioning it here. We built our platform specifically for children with maths anxiety, SEND and neurodivergent needs, and the KHDA framework describes almost exactly the problem we set out to solve.

Our Smart Level Matching means every child in a multiplayer game is playing at their own level simultaneously. A child who finds times-tables genuinely difficult is in the same game as their peers, competing and collaborating, while the questions adapt quietly behind the scenes. No one in the room can see that the levels differ. The child feels part of the group, not accommodated away from it.

Our SENCO dashboard gives the adults the visibility they need without that visibility affecting the child's experience. Teachers and SENCOs can track progress, spot gaps, and plan interventions, all without the child ever feeling observed or singled out.

We use games that children already know and love as the vehicle for that practice, because engagement is not a nice-to-have for children with maths anxiety. It's the precondition for any learning to happen at all.

As our founder Gal Darrash puts it, "We built this for the child who dreads maths, not the one who loves it. If it works for that child, it works for everyone."

That's genuinely what the KHDA framework is asking for: provision that starts from the most vulnerable child in the room and works outward.

The 2026/2027 academic year is close. If you're in a senior leadership role at a Dubai primary school, or you're a SENCO trying to build your provision now, here's what I'd suggest thinking about.

Audit your current maths fluency resources against the tiered support model. Ask honestly: does this activity work for a child with dyscalculia in a mainstream class, without adaptation that singles them out? If the answer is no, that's a gap the framework will flag.

Look specifically at whole-class practice tools, not just individual intervention programmes. The framework's emphasis is on inclusion *within* the mainstream lesson, which means the tools you use for the whole class matter as much as your specialist support.

And think about peer engagement. One of the things I keep seeing in the conversation around neurodivergent learners is that social connection is protective. Multiplayer and collaborative formats aren't just more fun. They actively reduce the isolation that makes maths anxiety worse.

If you're a school leader, SENCO, or maths lead at a Dubai or Abu Dhabi primary school preparing for the KHDA Inclusive Education Framework, I'd genuinely love to hear from your team about what you're working through.

XTables Champions was designed for exactly this kind of provision, and we're at an early stage where conversations with schools are how we learn and how we help. Visit xtableschampions.com or get in touch directly to talk about how our platform supports Students of Determination in mainstream maths lessons, and how it maps to what the KHDA is now requiring. We're happy to walk you through it, no pressure, just a real conversation.