Qatar’s Supreme Education Council (SEC) has announced plans to fill some 900 teaching vacancies in existing independent schools and openings at newly built schools across the country.
In a statement released today, the SEC’s Director of Human Resources Ibrahim Rajab Al-Kuwari said more than 36,000 people have applied for the jobs, which would involve teaching different scientific and literary disciplines.
The move comes at a time when Qatar’s government-funded secondary schools are struggling with a lack of experienced educators, having problems with unruly students and experiencing some of the lowest standardized test scores in the world.
The schools follow an Arabic-language curriculum, and comprise mainly of Qatari and Arab expat students.
Hiring criteria
About 7,000 of those applying for the new teaching positions are from Qatar. Al-Kuwari said most of these candidates had already been interviewed, and hiring should proceed before the 2014-2015 school year begins.
According to the official, all teachers will need to be interviewed and take written tests as part of the qualification process.
The selection criteria will also favor educators from certain cultural backgrounds, the statement said, adding that a selection committee will travel to the following countries to vet candidates:
- Saudi Arabia;
- Egypt;
- Jordan;
- Morocco; and
- Tunisia.
Some 1,160 Palestinian teachers will also be interviewed in Egypt and Jordan.
Qatari teachers will also be sought after. Due to a shortage of local educators, exceptions may be made to hire Qatari teachers with less experience, the statement said.
Other efforts are also underway to improve the quality of education at the nation’s independent schools. In March for example, Qatar said it was working to help bridge the gap between the public and private schools here, through the newly launched Teach for Qatar program.
Selected recent college graduates and young working professionals from various backgrounds will enroll in the program to learn how to be educators. Those who qualify are expected to be placed as full-time teachers in various independent schools in Qatar for two years.
Thoughts?
25 years later I still remember my Jordanian teachers. They were tough with us and that’s the only way we could learn. I hope no Egyptian teachers are hired.
Interesting insightful comment.
Tragic comments.
Why not Egyptians?
Cause they can’t teach and no one takes them seriously
I think it’s across the board with any nationality now. I’m sure Qatari teachers are able to handle them but anyone outside of that cannot. See my response to Abdulrahman. This is not 25 yrs ago.
And I think you paint with a very broad brush.
“And I think you paint with a very broad brush.”
Very ironic coming from you.
lol I was just about to say the something XD
“And I think you paint with a very broad brush.”!!!
Behave children. And stay on topic or I’m sending you to the principals office.
His ignorance and stupidity never surprise me.
And I need not say anything as you just spoke for me and others. lol
I cannot say I have many good memories of my teachers, at least in terms of how they taught. However, most of them did at least have the ability to manage the class and school and the students feared them.
That seems to not be the case now. I know and have met a lot of the teachers and they seem to be at the mercy of the students. Things I’m sure are different from 25 yrs ago where students respected not only their teachers but someone elder to them. Not so much now. The ones I know and met say they are spit on, hit and not respected in any way for the most part. And the teachers cannot discipline them as they are afraid for their jobs. This goes even to the university level. Similar to anyone who tries to instill some authority from outside the tribal clan.
The countries listed are giants of education 😛
“An exception may be made for Qatari teachers with less experience.” That’s the first step in . . . a direction. Yikes.
Why not? Where would these teachers gain experience if not here? Also, being a Qatari is big plus in this case.
True education has nothing to do with fearing the teacher, controlling and ruling the classroom. It is about emotional intelligence, creating a comfortable atmosphere and a respectful relationship between teacher & students where open communication serves all. It’s about learning how to learn. Doing this takes years of experience and guidance.
In-the-classroom-experience under the guidance of a master teacher is what aspiring teachers need. Not a “Because of your nationality you are hired.” approach.
I’m going to ignore the whole “True education has nothing to do with fearing the teacher” as it has nothing to do with what I said here. Resorting to putting words in someone’s mouth is a rather weak approach to just win an argument.
Perhaps you’d need me to expand more on why it’s a good idea to “possibly” make an exception for Qatari teachers in terms of years of experience. Alas, I neither have the time or energy to do that in great detail, so I’ll just say this:
1) Just because someone has less experience, or even new, does not mean they’re not good their job. God knows I’ve seen plenty of examples in all types of jobs (From doctors to tea boys) where someone with less experience did a better job.
2) What 1st hand experience do you have with public schools in Qatar? Probably none. Me? 12 years, during which I had 3 different Qatari teachers (one might’ve been a Bahraini). No context, they were better at their job than most of the other non-Qatari.
i never thought of coming here to argue, just to share thoughts. there’s no need to get all fired up and make things a “me vs. everyone” scenario. relax, buddy.
Welcome to Doha News. lol
Could’ve fooled me 🙂
“I cannot say I have many good memories of my teachers, at least in terms of how they taught. However, most of them did at least have the ability to manage the class and school and the students feared them.”
I believe you DID say that.
In different comment, with a different context, that had little to do with this discussion here.
Same story and same context. How’s it different?
They would hire a Qatari teacher with less than 5 years experience… But they won’t an Egyptian … Which makes sense
Qataris will at least command some discipline in the classroom where the other nationalities are mistreated by the students and know theres not a dam thing the teachers can do about it. Control is at least half the battle it seems here.
Hiring Qatari teachers to teach in their own schools is an excellent move. For some time I have pondered on the apparent lack of vocational drive amongst locals to move into areas like teaching. I know it was not a problem before but it seems to be one now. I think this is the first step towards recognizing and owning the problems developing in the next generation. However it will take some strength and guts to walk into a classroom where the risk of being disrespected is very high.
Wasn’t a problem before? Maybe for women since education was one of the few fields where they could get a job without having to work in a coed environment. Many of them were excellent teachers too.
For the men though, being a teacher was one of the least desirable jobs due to both the work load and hours. Not to mention the pay was never that good.
Usually teachers don’t become teachers for money. It’s one of the few altruistic professions around. It’s a calling to make their society better.
I think the hiring of Qatari teachers is a great idea but it will be a slow process. If the students don’t respect you then all is lost. And it’s not because expats are not good at their job. From the posts here I see that Egyptians are not thought of well and I’d say that goes for anyone outside the clans of Qatar. Most are terribly afraid of meting out any discipline for fear they will be brought up on some trumped up charge within the school if not worse with the authorities. It’s not their abilities, its where they are from. That being NOT Qatar.
Just look what happened to the Nepalese guy at QA. The students constantly harassed him, called him monkey, etc. And all the guy said in response was “How would you like it if everyone thought you were a terrorist”. All of the sudden he has somehow disrespected Islam, thrown in jail and job lost and deported. Why? Because 2 snot nosed bratty 12 yr old Qatari boys could show no respect to not only an elder but their teacher as well. And that at a private school.
Will be interesting to see how they react when the Qatari teacher is in charge. But to throw a new teacher into a classroom brings about the same problems seen in other careers here. No foundation to build on and still given positions over their heads. Without proper training and mentoring, even if the mentor is an expat, they will not succeed.
These are similar structural problems as experienced by my old employer in the Abu Dhabi Education Council. Qatari students in Independent schools sound like they’re running the show as everyone in the school is afraid of being sacked, arrested, or deported for standing up to them. Only disciplined Qatari administrators can bring order to such a situation; but the best admins are being sucked up by the government sector, and the scarcity of qualified Qataris in posts more highly sought, like judges, lawyers, and other leadership role makes teaching a comparatively lowly position. The government could throw buckets of money at their schools, but the Abu Dhabi Council wasted millions on the same kind of schemes for little gain. Sadly, it may make sense to just let the Independent schools fall by the wayside and be replaced by a wholly private system.
Good luck for the Arab expat students.
What area of expertise do these Palestinian teachers have ?
Whining and crying instead of getting on with it… Hehe bad taste ?
Did you really just post that?
yes i did, why do you care so much about what i say about egyptian and palestinian teachers.. i though you branded yourself as a western expat?
Bad taste to say the least. I’m used to you guys going off on Jews not your “brothers”. A bit, no a lot, insensitive and I doubt you’ll get any “up” votes for that one. Maybe from LIOLI. but I guess from you faux ivory throne all the little people are fair game. Obviously money can’t buy class. Something Egyptians have in spades over you lot.
I am but married to an arab.
Welcome to the internet
Ay yes and I hope I’m not the only one buying your western expat married to an Arab Cinderella story… يعيني بالعربي اترك عنك هالسوالف و خلنا حلوين بلاش وسترن اكسبت و بلاش إفري تاور يا افري
I speak but cannot read arabic. Your choice to believe or not. Really could care less.
To be so sensitive about your own culture and religion…oh wait a minute that’s the problem. Here you’re all so egocentric that nothing but this tiny kaka of land exist for you. You’re right, ‘welcome to the internet’. Where small minded people hide behind a screen and keyboard. As I said obviously money can’t buy class. Like putting lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig.
I agree, his comment was completely inappropriate and I don’t really understand why he feels that way… :/ Having said that, whilst I understand your frustration, I cannot accept being labeled as “egocentric” and caring only about this “kaka of land”. Again, I know you were frustrated, but you can’t generalize an entire population. If someone stoops really low, don’t stoop to the same level 🙂
I agree. The “all” was not supposed to be in there. And sorry for the reference to the land.
But people like this ARE obviously egocentric as there are people from everywhere. I have no tolerance for them. Obviously. : )
It does feed into the perception that Qataris and Gulf Arabs in general feel superior to other Arabs and obviously from that post, no matter their hardships.
You know what desertCard, I think you’re misunderstood… You are a nice guy! Sorry about calling you miserable, but you do get carried away at times 😀
I usually respect your comments, but, seriously, not cool
You can’t tackle systemic and widespread behavioural issues unless two things are achieved – parents of those children acknowledge that there is a problem and schools (government) believes in a long term solutions as opposed to a short term one. The government can implement policies whereby parents involvement in school related activities and education becomes a matter of priority – changing the perception of parents is the first step in the right direction. Secondly, teachers training programs and collaboration with other local schools is a step in the right direction, but it has to be a meaningful program, one that stems from the schools and teachers themselves rather than from the top where by the team it reaches the classroom is irrelevant or out of date.