Teacher education in Saudi Arabia

Since every institution aspires to have qualified, trained and experienced academic staff, it is imperative for the institution to provide opportunities to its members of staff to develop themselves and be fully conversant with the latest technology, up-to-date methodology and strategies of teaching. Rightly regarded as committed students, the teachers need to equip themselves well with the most progressive methods of teaching. Needless to mention, we live in the age of dynamism. If the teachers are static, not moving ahead to keep abreast of time, it will be fatal to the development the students. The present paper attempts to make a comparative analysis of the status of the professional development in India and Saudi Arabia. Though the comparison may sound inapt for many reasons, the study seeks to shed light on the actual status of the teachers’ development activities undertaken by two countries. Since total comparison is not possible, the study is based on an institution in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and an Academic Staff College in India.

Journal of Education and Learning, 2020

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) considers education a top priority, and more emphasis has been placed on this following the 2016 announcement of Saudi Vision 2030. Since then, the country has witnessed several economic and social changes. As a result, the Kingdom has initiated a plan to invest in human capital through education to diversify its economy and increase employment. This includes educational reform with regard to primary and secondary education geared toward preparing students for higher education and the workplace. However, several factors may hinder the successful execution of this plan. This report will provide insights into factors such as cultural dimensions, learning profiles, the English language proficiency gap, and information on borrowing educational models from the West. It will also include some suggestions and recommendations to enhance teacher education programmes so that positive educational reform may be achieved effectively.

This study aims to highlight factors affecting the quality of education system in Saudi Arabia as well as the organizations’ effectiveness. As these issues have risen because of the number of unqualified Saudis in the workplace who are also not prepared to work in the private sectors. Moreover, it is also revealed that the large and increasing percentage of expatriates is not giving the opportunities for the local to get hired. However, it is also found that the workers’ qualification is related to the quality of education they have attained. Theses raising issues, made the government to introduce an employing program “Saudization” for the organizations to give the priority for the employing to the locals and graduates.

Developing teacher training programs is one of the essential objectives of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030. This research highlighted one of the Ministry of Education's initiatives, the Optimum Utilization of Teaching Staff Project (OUTSP), to enhance teachers' knowledge and skills. This research focuses on the Family and Everyday Life Skills (FELS) program under (OUTSP). The study provided the results of 23 universities in 2021-2022 and 24 universities in 2022-2023 in more detail. For the data analysis, Microsoft Excel was used to show the results of the universities in different years. The results show that the universities' performances generally increased for both graduation classes, which could explain the increase in university performance. The research concludes that (FELS) as a program of the (OUTSP) project is an effective achievement for teachers' development through professional training program. The research further concludes that it is possible to provide adequate teacher training programs to teach (FELS) subjects to teachers from different specializations. The study recommended further qualitative research to understand the program's effectiveness better.

2015

This study investigates some cases that occurred in the development of public education in Saudi Arabia, a country that aims for major development in public education. Very specific cases were chosen for their importance in the development of education, such as technology integration, curriculum development and the teaching process, secondary school development, and professional development. These cases have proved effective and successful in the development of education in many countries. However, despite the considerable efforts of the Saudi Ministry of Education to improve and expand the excellent education, these cases are experiencing difficulty in meeting their objectives and the demands of stakeholders. At present, financial constraints do not pose a problem in Saudi Arabia. However, there is a problem in planning for implementation and this research has revealed that for that reason, the cases studied have not contributed to the development of education in Saudi Arabia. A mo...

Palgrave Macmillan, 2021

This book is a comprehensive study on the education system of Saudi Arabia, placing the reforms and changes it has undergone in the past two decades within the context of the historical evolution of the education system. An education system cannot be seen in isolation of the society; it plays a significant role in shaping the individual, state and the society, that in turn, have a bearing on the education system and its evolution. Therefore, this book locates Saudi education in the backdrop of the changes in the society, how they have facilitated or hindered the education reforms and how the education reforms have impacted the society. The book does not ignore the immediate trigger for the beginning of a comprehensive reforms process but goes beyond it to find much deeper socio-political and economic rationales that paved the way for the reforms. It provides a nuanced understanding of the interplays of various socioeconomic as well as political factors that have shaped the education system in Saudi Arabia.

Research in education, 2019

Education Review, 2024

An edited volume of 32 chapters, this handbook is a collection of review studies and empirical research highlighting teacher education programs, challenges, pedagogical innovations, and practices in 15 countries of the Middle East: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen. It is composed of five sections: perspectives on teacher education (8 chapters), innovations in teacher education (7 chapters), subject-specific teacher education (5 chapters), redesigning teacher education—challenges and potentials (7 chapters), and teacher professional development (5 chapters). With contributions by 59 authors affiliated with 36 universities and educational institutions, this handbook brings together the most recent trends in teacher education in the Middle East as reported by expert and experienced educators in their respective regions.

Athens Journal of Education