Job Discussion Forums

[EYEBALL]

Anyone who has been at King Saud University PYP knows it is an extremely screwed up place to work. There are so many things wrong, it�s hard to list them all at one time. This thread is to get some dialogue going so maybe some management who can do something about it, can see from the teachers� perspective.

From unqualified management/support staff in their job only due to what managers they are friends with or related to. To badly chosen curriculum, lazy, spoiled students who don�t want to learn and companies who don�t give a damn about employees and cheat them every chance they get. Upper management interested more in looking good on paper than really educating, teachers with no authority at all, but get blamed for everything.

Worthless training and staff positions that are nothing more than hiding places for people who can�t teach, but tell teachers how to. Waste of time �professional training� from people who can barely teach the class. Lots of incompetents who get promoted because they are the same ethnicity as the managers who make the choices.

Observations that are useless because no one teaches that way, it's unrealistic and it�s a complete waste of time. Buzz observations and NOW on top of it all, spot checks for teachers who can�t tell students not to leave, but have to stay in class until the last second because management has no better judgment or ideas.

Please feel free to add to the list or just add your observations about this program�����..

[nomad soul]

Hate to say it, but this is nothing new. If you read through this forum, you'll see this same scenario---in various degrees of "screwed-uppedness"---in other Saudi university PYPs. Welcome to the Kingdom.

[scot47]

Some places are less bad than others. KSU has a grim reputation.

[intrepid traveler]

[fledex]

I taught in some PYPs where the teacher's perspective actually mattered to the PYP director. The reality is that KSU relies on contractors like Bell, Edex, and ICEAT to get their teachers. When you go through them, you aren't anything more than a paycheck for the contractor. Your perspective won't even be recognized by anyone in the university administration.

[Grendal]

hey long time no see Mr. fled B fraw Ex!

Yes the situation is grimmm here and as long as I get my pay then...'frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.'

I am serious. Think not about what you can do for the Kingdom, but what the kingdom can give you. Oh, it can give you a lot of unnecessary stress that's for sure, but it can also give you a nice sized American (prefer to spell it american) dollar bank account back home.

The buckets are filling and lately the shit bucket is getting close to the brim. I may let it overflow onto innocent bystanders because I want the other bucket a little more full. I can see the future of education here as a fiasco. I can also see that nothing will get done about it. The saudization process will guarantee this. Used to be with foreign managers things were thought through and even brought up before deans and vice deans. Now new management under saudi control will only think about when to go nap and eat more kapsa.

New teachers coming to saudi arabia should be the bearded type (beardos). They'll fit right in and actually contribute to the chaos as an accepted member of the disestablishment. All foreign non-bearded white skinned teachers will be at a disadvantage here as they should be. Why suffer the infidel to live? This is not the only institution that is flawed they are all flawed as an innate feature in their structure.

Princess Noura University is another example of grand stupidity at work. Ask teachers there whats happening and they will not tell you for fear of losing their jobs. They will however come on Dave's and vent a bit but face to face on campus they are as sheep led to the slaughter. Lead teachers and coordinators are foreign but have no actual saudi class time experience. This is a problem because they are trying to cram New Zealand type ELT down the throats of female saudi students who don't want to and aren't interested in learning their way. If they would take the time and actually teach a semester there then they would understand female student needs. What you learn in your Masters of Education courses back home does not apply here on this planet of saudi arabia. So lay off the teachers there and take the log out of your own eyes first before trying to take the splinters out of teachers eyes!

As you can see I can go on and on, but I will stop and give it a rest because I don't want to set a really negative image of the education system here.

cheers

Grendal

ps. venting here. had a real bad driving experience this morning!!!!!

[plumpy nut]

Teachers generally come here for the money. Most of the students that are serious or have high levels of readiness are taught by Muslim English speakers that are proficient in Arabic also.

[CANDLES]

Most jobs anywhere in the world are done for 'money', except maybe being doctors, nurses...those are 'callings'.
So Middle East/Gulf/ etc, where it's 'tax free', are going to be honey to the bees...
So let's not get on our high horse and say we go these countries for the 'love' of teaching...
I've met some really awful women teachers who were racist, look down on their students and generally thought that as they were 'white', 'westerners',
they felt it was their moral duty to malign the students and their culture.
The over zealous, religous ones who've gone there to the holy land are just as nauseous as above.
Very rarely does one find 'normal' teachers/women, who you can interact with and be on the same wavelength. Thankfully there are some about!

[scot47]

Everywhere I taught in KSA between 1970 and 2011 I met teachers who were misfits, maclontents, drunks, islamophobes, weirdos and psychotics. I also met some reasonable, personable and cultured people.

[johnslat]

I guess I was really lucky. I had good, professional colleagues, some of whom have become lifelong friends.

I encountered very few "misfits, maclontents, drunks, islamophobes, weirdos and psychotics."

But then, I always seem to hang out with the wrong crowd

Regards,
John

[fledex]

[milliman]

[intrepid traveler]

[EYEBALL]

[plumpy nut]