Job Discussion Forums

Gnocchiman · Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Limbo

As I look at my surroundings at UAEU UGRU, I can't help but get the feeling that things are beginning to shut down a bit. Added to this are the numerous rumors flying left and right that UGRU itself will be gone in a couple of years as well as other foundation programs in the UAE and the Gulf.

I'm curious as to what others are hearing/feeling/predicting. Is it mass paranoia, or are things about to shift dramatically?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

So, are they planning to teach everything in Arabic? I don't see how they can do away with the foundations as long as the students arrive with such a low level of English (and math and everything else)...

VS

Gnocchiman · Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Limbo

two words: High School

nomadykaty · Joined: 03 May 2004 Posts: 60

VS, for being the resident guru, you seem to be out of the loop. Haven't you heard from your friends at HCT recently or read the threads. HCT is going to be a monster. There is talk about shrinking foundation programs at the university level and letting HCT pick up the slack.

They've raised the CEPA score for universities and added a math component. Students who can't get in to the universities will have an option of going to a HCT in their Emirates.

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Now, now nomady ... you know the rules ... that which VS doesn't know of doesn't exist ...

globalnomad2 · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 562

Nomadykaty, your entry is unclear to me. HCT taking up the slack in what way? By enlarging their own Foundations program? Or by admitting more students into CD1? How does that make HCT a monster? The largest campus has only 2,000 students which is very small by Western standards. My undergraduate college was perfect at 7,500 students with a 200-acre campus.

bje · Joined: 19 Jun 2005 Posts: 527

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Yes the children must snipe rather than address the actual question/problem.

So the cure is going to be the 'high school' programs that we have been reading about for the last couple years here.

... that's going well so far... not...

I have spent years listening to and reading about the various educational fantasies of the Gulf educational systems, but from my many friends who are still there after all these years, very little has changed as far as the level of the students who arrive every September.

I don't think I would stay awake at night worrying about the disappearance of the Foundations programs anytime soon. But, one does get jaded.

Whether they switch the 'foundations' to secondary school or pre-university as it is now, they will still need the same number of teachers.

VS

Iamherebecause

Gnocchiman · Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 68 Location: Limbo

hafniumite · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Posts: 18

Abu Dhabi university are setting up a K-12 school on the same campus as their university in Abu Dhabi, the Petroleum Institute is also setting up a high school, and then there are the 5 or 6 IAT campuses spread throughout the country. These begun life as a spin off from the HCT.

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

Iamherebecause · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:05 am Post subject:

knoxso · Joined: 07 Jan 2007 Posts: 19

I'm curious. There appears to have been a large demand for teachers with MA's and such in the Gulf region over the last decade or so. I'm assuming that these academic qualifications became a requirment because employers in the region wanted some of that high level attainment to rub off on the students they would be teaching.

With a move away from college and university education and the focus shifting towards secondary or primary education, will the pool of over qualified teachers who have little or no experience teaching 6-14yr olds have to retrain?

What I'm trying to say is, will Dr. so and so who wrote a thesis on such and such be able to teach English, in a contemporary and constructivist manner, to 25 or so children who have yet to learn the rudimenteries of classroom etiqette? Will they have the classroom management skills?

Iamherebecause · Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 6:59 am Post subject:

I think where the potential shift of emphasis from tertiary foundation programmes to school education is concerned we are looking at the 12 or 14 - 18 age group rather than the 6 - 14 age group you mention.
But the point remains that someone whose experience is principally with adults or near-adults in the tertiary sector does not have the skills and experience to deal with secondary style teaching without retraining or a refresher course of some sort.
School teachers need appropriate training including child psychology, dealing with discipline, different classroom management skills from those brought to bear in the tertiary sector etc. If school posts which may become available are offered to unemployed tertiary teachers with MAs in ESL or AL rather than school teaching certificates in EFL then it's not going to solve anything.