Government schools in Abu Dhabi, as part of wide-scale educational reforms undertaken in the whole of the United Arab Emirates, have undergone massive school improvement developments over the past seven years. Over the course of these years, the reality of student life for those in government schools has been widely altered. This research explores Abu Dhabi government secondary school students' perceptions of the school improvements, and whether these are influencing their ideas about what it means to be a teacher today. Perceptions of Emirati students were compared to those of non-Emirati students. A total of 471 students were surveyed in order to answer the questions: what are their perceptions of the educational reform in Abu Dhabi and what are the implications of these to teacher recruitment?