Job Discussion Forums

[oxford123]

Effective from Sep. 2010, all instructors/lecturers working at ELI, King Abdulaziz University will have to be MA holders at least. Even the BA holders working now there will be kicked out (no contract renewal ) no later than this coming June, and only MA & PHD holders will dodge axing !! This information has been confirmed by many reliable insiders in the workforce department...Alas[/b]! too bad !!

[doner]

Good luck finding native speakers on the money they pay.

[scot47]

The obsession with doctorates is a common feature in Saudi educational institutions.

[oxford123]

I think the whole issue is being stirred by an illusion to get accredited by a certain American institution (which, it seems, stipulated that the staff in ELI are underqualified !!) hence their insistence on raising the qualification threshold to PhDs and MAs at least ! this will make their chances fewer to attract native speakers though !
Thank God where I work, the boss does't give a damn to my lousy BA !! is it beacuse i'm a native speaker ? YEPPPPPP

[lazycomputerkids]

[johnslat]

Dear lazycomputerkids,

"They often seek better pay and position elsewhere upon arrival and too often consider teaching a nuisance and its success a matter of a student's willingness to appreciate their expertise by mere implication."

During my time at the IPA, almost all my colleagues were MA or PhD holders (I have an MA in English Education.)

I can't say that among the literally hundreds of such colleagues that I worked with, I ever found the above (in bold) to be the case.

Regards,
John

[lazycomputerkids]

John

I would not argue another's experience. Moreover, yours: Given the thoughtfulness, articulation and self-effacing quality of your posts. I'll offer so sweeping a statement to which you offer contention should likely be revised for its convenience and challenged to offer support.

In short, the statement is too cynical to be believed.

And yet, would you agree the nature of our business becomes less cooperative and more competitive and proprietary?

LCK

[johnslat]

Dear lazycomputerkids,

"And yet, would you agree the nature of our business becomes less cooperative and more competitive and proprietary?"

Well, first I need some clarification: Are you writing about the employers, the employees or both?

If it's the employees, I've found very few colleagues - virtually none - who favored competition over cooperation. Maybe it's part of the nature of teaching, which, after all, is to share what we have/know with others. My colleagues were always most generous in offering help in the form of information, advice and/or materials to other teachers. Perhaps that's not so in the experience of others, but having been around a while (thirty-two years teaching) in a number of different locations (at least a dozen,) it's always been what I've found to be the case.
If it's the employers, well, for almost all of them it IS a business, and so I
suppose that competition is the name of the game in many cases. But never having been an employer, I can't really speak from any first-hand knowledge.

Regards,
John

[oxford123]

is it legal to sack teachers simply beacuse their degrees don't meet accreditaion requirements? sacking BA holders in ELI means sending 2/3 of the staff to kingabdulaziz AIRPORT by July 2010 with a final exit stamp on their passports !! then, wait a minute guys! what's this insane obsession with accreditation? can't they just teach the kids and work quietly? someone explain this mystery

[scot47]

They are not being sacked. Their contracts are not being renewed. "Accreditation" is a buzzword in Saudi institutions of higher education at the moment. Clearly someone in the Ministry in Riyadh think