Job Discussion Forums

[veiledsentiments]

I haven't seen anything here that I never heard repeatedly while I was in the gulf from the late 80's to early 00's...

I think the students are slightly better prepared now... there are more private institutions, some of whom enforce higher standards and others of whom it is more about keeping that tuition coming in...

VS

[eha]

Ah, but you weren't in UGRU, were you?

[veiledsentiments]

Naturally I did not teach in every institution, but I do have many friends who have taught there and am familiar with some of their problems through the years. Each of us can only generalize based on our own knowledge and that we have discussed with our fellow teachers. The mistake that many make is to generalize to the whole Gulf based on the situation in one university.

In the Gulf context, 'standards' will always be an elastic term which will be very different from that in other countries. Every institution that I worked in discussed 'standards' - and sometimes we even actually knew what they were - and sometimes we even got to enforce them and fail students. Personally, I found that there was much discussion of 'values' and 'content' - but it was more talk than action - and generally management was merely looking for everyone to shake their heads and agree. (not all that different from most of the world...)

I do recall the situation at UGRU/UAEU where they had hundreds of students who had been doing foundations for years (and years...)... and it is what led to HCT forming the CERT program to 'inherit' this level. I felt that it was a mistake of Sheikh Zayed to promise every citizen a university education - it is the same mistake that Nasser made in Egypt. But, that carries us rather off topic. UAEU was known to have a top down management... and the situation varied by department (rather like Kuwait U). I suspect that is still true.

VS

[kuberkat]

This thread (unabashedly intended as a sulk, I confess), has turned into something very encouraging. If not encouraging in terms of the environment in which we find ourselves (and I agree with VS that teachers in their native countries face many of the same problems), at least it shows that there are teachers in the Gulf who actually do care about what they are doing. Since the demand for teachers in Oman has gone up (while compensation has plunged), recent recruits might not quite be the cream of the crop. It is heartening to find that the (shrinking!)pot of gold is not the only motivation for teachers here in Oman.

[veiledsentiments]

I'm glad that all this gave you some optimism Kuber...

But, I have to point out that the salaries in Oman have actually gone up a tiny bit in Riyals. What has happened is that the exchange rates for those who don't live on Riyals or US Dollars have tanked.

VS

[eha]

Yes-- that's what I was saying; I find it extremely encouraging that people even discuss such issues. In the Gulf institutions in which I've worked (several, and not all in the same country), real discussion was discouraged --- although I agree with VS: there was always a lot of rhetoric. But if you moved out of the realm of rhetoric, and wanted to discuss--let's say, WHY teachers go along with so many administrative and academic anomalies; or EXACTLY what happened in such-and-such a case as opposed to the gossip version-- well, good old 'Don't-you-dare-rock-the-boat;-I'm-doing-fine' invariably kicked in, not to mention all the other mindgames that people in denial play. The hardest thing of all, I find, is the pressure to maintain the facade -- of efficiency, of harmony, of professionalism. I've worked in some pretty chaotic situations; but chaos is fine with me; it's the 'virtual reality' of what education has become, that I find so difficult to deal with. And yes, it's the same, worse, even, in the West, because of the behaviour problem. Does anyone read the Times Educational Supplement website: the Staffroom forum? It's enough to get you through tomorrow's quiz; at least here, most of the kids are relatively pleasant!

[veiledsentiments]

It makes one wonder why any of us stay in education for as long we do/did. Absolutely true about the 'virtual reality' of it all... rather matches up with the idea of Dubai being the "hong kong" of the Gulf... which used to crack me up. errr, no... the people of Hong Kong actually... ummm... work.

VS