Looking For Schools in Saudi Arabia

One of the searches that expat parents do before they leave their country of origin to relocate to Saudi Arabia, is to find schools, and preferably good ones, for their children.  It used to be a daunting task because not much information was out there.  Your best bet was to become a serial expat forum member asking loads of questions that had been asked before and being sent to numerous links for answers hidden in their depths if you could be bothered scrolling that far.  The other day I came across Kurrasa.   Kurrasa has made the job of finding schools in Saudi so much easier.  Not only does the site provide a comprehensive list of all schools in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and other cities in Saudi Arabia, they are also working on providing a wealth of information about each school

Kurrassa lets you know the grades taught at each school, their location and contact details, whether the school is an international or national school, and a co-ed or single sex school.  You can delve further into each school and find out mission statements, admission policies, school facilities, school fee costs and, for most, photographs.

The most important part of the site for parents though, is its parents review segment.  The site is still relatively new on the Saudi information scene so the reviews are in the throes of being built up, but I think it's still possible to get an idea of the running of the school from the information currently available.  The reviews would be aided by a star system if there weren't a few minor glitches to the set up.

The site also offers a section for potential teachers to provide their CV's and, from what I could tell, this is one of the drawbacks of the site at the moment in that, those looking for work are putting messages regarding their intention to teach in the parent review segment.  The other people messing up the star rating system are parents with questions who, instead of contacting the schools directly, are posting their queries on the website review area.  It appears that, in order to complete your message, you have to offer a star rating.  This means a number of schools are receiving single star ratings possibly where they shouldn't be.  So if you use the site, read the reviews carefully to weed out the schools suffering a low star rating because teachers looking for work are using the wrong section, (and, quite frankly, the inability to read and correctly use a  website would make me immediately cross them off my 'potential teacher' list), or parents with queries are doing the same.  Despite this minor, though irritating drawback, (I think it's irritating),  I can see the Kurrasa website very quickly becoming a valuable resource for parents searching for schools.

Of course the quality of education available in this new and foreign land is just one of the concerns confronting expat parents intending to uplift their offspring and move them overseas.  A number of other considerations are just as important especially if you have children who are not that excited, or are perhaps nervous, about the move and have a few ideas of their own about what is important regarding their schooling.

The language in which the classes will be instructed can be a major issue.  Your child may be less than happy to be sent to an English speaking school when they aren't very good at the language.  I know one family whose older son is at a French school while their younger daughter is at the American School because their son did not want to have to learn English to complete his senior years.
If you are looking for a specific curriculum, such as American, British, French or even Australian, Indian, Filipion or Pakistani, that will influence, and in some cases limit, your choice of school.  And if you don't find a school with a similar curriculum to that at home, your children run the risk of being bored or feeling overwhelmed.  We found this an issue when we first moved overseas to Australia.  Our daughters spent the first year repeating work they already knew because of the difference in curriculum between New Zealand and Australia.  On the one hand the class work was quite boring for them, on the other they could spend more time being social and still get good grades.

Whether or not all subjects are available in the school is especially important if any of the children are in higher levels and doing specialist subjects because they are looking at admission into specific international Universities further down the track.  In such cases, I always think its a good idea to talk to the school and the teacher of the subject, to make sure what you're getting is exactly what is required.

The cost of the school fees is important to know up front for your budgeting purposes because, contrary to popular opinion not everybody who comes here is on a megabuck contract and schooling, especially at international schools, can be expensive.  Make sure to ask the school about additional costs like uniform, textbooks and extra-curricular activities as well.   Some companies are happy to make school registration a part of your employment package.  It always pays to ask if your company is one of those.

What sort of after school activities are offered is a question parents often don't think to ask.  If your kids like to keep themselves busy and active with sports or chess clubs they may be disappointed with what is available here.  Unlike western countries, Saudi Arabia doesn't have a lot of out of school clubs for children to join - this is especially the case for girls.  So, if your daughter is a budding waterpolo player she may have to find some other recreational activity while here - unless she starts her own girls waterpolo competition.

Another consideration is location of the school from where you live.  The traffic in Riyadh at busy times can be horrendous.  Having to get your child up in the wee small hours just so they get to school on time is stressful for everybody.   If you live in a compound, especially one that is a fair distance from the school, compound management may not be happy to provide a bus run to your school of choice across town.  In this case you will have to sort out transportation yourself.  As women can't drive that job is left to Dad or a driver.

The larger international schools offer education from Pre-school through to Grade 12.  Having your younger children attend the same institution as the older ones can be an issue if you live a fair distance away.  A number of families on our compound found that the mothers were constantly in the compound vehicle taking children to, and retrieving them from, school.  This is because school hours for younger children end a few hours earlier than for their older siblings.  The parents made the decision, and I can understand why, not to leave the collection of any of the children solely to the driver.  So mothers, who are not allowed to drive in Riyadh, and tired youngsters would make the trek each afternoon back to school to pick up the older children.

Those are just a few of the things parents have to consider when it comes to the schooling issue for children in Saudi Arabia.  If you want to know more about your school of choice I suggest you contact the school directly as early as possible to ask all your questions.

As there are a large number of expats here, demand for the more popular schools is high, so I also think you should apply to register your child as soon as possible.  I understand the registration fee is non-refundable in most cases.  Best of luck in your search for schools in Saudi Arabia.




Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Education Reforms in Saudi Arabia.

Reading articles about education reforms in Saudi Arabia is a bit of a hobby of mine.  Having grown up with parents very involved in education, and then having participated in a number of education related projects myself over the years, I just can't help being drawn to reports on the subject.

A number of recent articles have been quite interesting and, if you're the least bit interested in teaching as a profession in this country, you might find the unfolding saga of improving Saudi's education system as intriguing as I do.  Let's start with this editorial in the Arab News - Streamlining the educational system (Mar 2014) -  which basically looks at whether spending the huge education budget (somewhere in the vicinity of 200 billion SAR) on teacher training and happiness, including accommodation, is preferable to spending most of the budget on better looking schools.  It's almost a chicken and egg situation - What should come first, good quality structures or good quality teachers and how does one strike the right balance of both of these factors effectively?

This article in Al Arabya News, 'Saudi Arabia's education system in the spotlight again', (Feb 2014) touches on a number of reasons for the failure of the Saudi Education system to turn out well educated citizens, though the main thrust is lack of quality, not just in the curriculum but also the teachers, two obvious reasons for failing education anywhere.
But how to fix these problems, that is the question.
Reform is always the answer.
Implementation of said reforms is another story.

It appears issues with the curriculum are being addressed if this 'Saudi education catching up world's best' article (Nov 2013) is anything to go by, where the introduction of a 'revamped national curriculum' allows students to 'acquire skills such as conception, practice, critical thinking, innovation and creativity' through 'discovery, practice, experience and collaboration' as opposed to the rote learning methods currently used.

Having an improved curriculum is a good start to Saudi's education issues.  However, in order for the new curriculum to be implemented successfully, teachers need professional development in its delivery.  Teaching teachers who are the product of a public school system that discouraged critical thinking, creativity or any form of debate how to teach outside the only square they know is a bit of a challenge in itself.  And, unfortunately, training teachers and changing attitudes and behaviors (both of teachers and students) doesn't happen overnight.

(Did a Panteen ad just pop into your head?  It popped into mine - "It won't happen overnight, but it will happen".  I think I ought to wrap this post up and go to bed!)  

Probably the best and quickest way for Saudi teachers to begin to grasp the Constructivism Learning Theory that current policy is asking them to comprehend is to send them overseas to western schools already utilizing the model to get a feel for it, to see the theory in action in the classroom, to ask questions about it and to try it out themselves.  I'm sure many a teacher trainee would jump at the chance of an overseas training  jaunt exercise.  But, in lieu of the government funding teacher training trips to the wicked west, the next best thing is to have the west come to Saudi.

Goodness knows there are umpteen international organisations chomping at the bit to come to Saudi Arabia and help them out with their education woes, while enjoying a slice of the multi-billion dollar budget set aside for education reform, and if you'd visited the recent Education Exhibition you would have met representatives from more than a few of them.

This is the second time I've been to a Saudi Education Exhibition and what was refreshingly obvious was the number of young Saudi presenting products and systems, as opposed to foreigners.  Though, there again is a problem.  The bright and beautiful of Saudi don't want to teach in classrooms...they prefer to be at the top, tech savvy or managerial end of the education sector.

I also got a sense that Saudi parents and students were looking at the educational programs on display as shortcuts to success.  Meaning, they believe if they plug a program into their TV or computer and sit their child in front of it he, or she, will get brainy.  The Saudi psyche, generally speaking, doesn't yet consider learning through communication, questioning, actively searching for answers, discussion and interaction to be 'education'.   One day they will.  That day is not yet here.

Of course, reforms in curriculum, teacher training methods and educational attitudes aren't the only problems with Saudi education.  The mess seems to start from the top in the Ministry (and if I'm reading the signs correctly that means someone is helping themselves to the cream off the budget pie while slices are being handed out willy nilly to keep the loudest children quiet), so it too is going through a shake up.  Hopes are being pinned on the newly appointed Minister of Education, Khalid al-Faisal to sort things out.  Best of luck to him fixing the Saudi Arabian education system and implementing any reforms.  And that, folks is my round up on Saudi Arabia and education.  Chur :)


Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Introducing Critical Thinking to Saudi Arabia

Critical thinking has, of recent times, been widely discouraged in Saudi Arabia.  Largely, of course, by a certain control freakish sector of the society scared by the prospect of change.  Keeping people ignorant has always been the power ploy of tyrants.  However, the Regal Ones, or someone up the regal chain, are attempting to change the general lackadaisical nature of the Saudi grey matter. Why?  I have no idea.  Not having a Regal One on my Christmas Card List to whom I can direct my question, I can only guess at the reasons for the change of mind (if anyone reading this blog knows the King personally and can get him to grant me an audience so we can discuss the issue I'd be ever so grateful - just it putting it out there!)

Expats, especially the non-working women, can find themselves falling into the role of 'the ignorant' unless they take steps to keep their intellects engaged.  Not surprisingly, numerous expat women use their time here as a chance to study online papers.  The brain can very quickly forget how to think when it doesn't have to take responsibility for anything because that's the mans job.

Mr UK asked me the other day if the Saudi lady I had introduced him to was intelligent. (We were at a function - no seedy late night meetings in the desert here folks).   I almost choked on my spoonful of dessert!  Lord only knows what possessed him to ask such a question in the first place.  Granted, earlier in the evening we had been discussing the quality of work produced by Saudi ladies in projects at various workplaces which, if current circulating stories are anything to go by, isn't great.  Spitting my food back into my plate, he presumed my answer to his query would be less than positive.

The young lady in question is not, to be honest, academically gifted.  Being a female born and bred in Saudi Arabia outside the higher stratum of the Regally Rich, where your only scholastic option is the Saudi public school system, is a bit of a road block to substantial academic achievement as we know it in the west.  Can you imagine how hard it is to kick start the thinking process when you've been raised not to ask questions, not to have an opinion or not to think critically?  She does, however, have enthusiasm in abundance, a positive attitude and, when the goal excites her, she's extremely motivated.  So yes, she is intelligent.

It's a pity the reforms in Saudi education being trialed in various schools around the country are a decade too late for her.  With such great personal attributes she would flourish in a system that encourages 'education though discovery, practice, experience and collaboration' (that's according to the blurb in this Arab News article Saudi education catching up with the world's best.)

I'm a little skeptical about the whole 'Saudi education reform' news each time it hits the headlines.  Apparently reforms have been tried before and fallen on their face because of conservative backlash.  According to the history lesson delivered to me over a coffee table one evening, the conservatives wheedled themselves into a great deal after the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure, taking control of two rather important areas of Saudi life - education and justice.  Of course, from there things went downhill fast.

I shouldn't be too critical about Saudi education, after all, New Zealand education performance has been slipping lately, and the Big Wigs back home have just realized that it takes quality teachers and teaching methods to create higher achieving students.  (Really!  Ya Think!).  And it took a study to come to the conclusion recently that the current penchant for wrapping kids in cotton wool at play time isn't actually good for them.  (Duh, Ya Don't Say!).  And I know a few rellies whose grey matter doesn't like to kick itself into high gear ever, though that's usually due to brains being fried by drug fueled lifestyle choices. 

Anyway, the Regals in Saudi had to implement a plan to deal with conservative control of education and they did.  It was called patience.  Basically they figured that, as their countrymen took advantage of the Scholarships to Study Abroad and opportunities to travel, they would, eventually, learn that the west wasn't as evil as conservatives liked to say.  At some point in the modernization of the country, there would come a time where the young up and comings would tip out the old and tired.  In 2009, that tipping point must have arrived because King Abdullah axed some of the dead wood from a few important government positions - namely justice, education, information, health, the Shoura Council and the religious police.  Changes have been coming thick and fast since then (though some would say not fast enough).

But just because dead wood has been axed doesn't mean they've gone away.  And 1979 isn't that far back that it can be forgotten.  So the Regals must tread carefully and slowly with their sweeping change.  Though things are looking positive.  I mean, now they are even experimenting with photo's of Saudi women in some educational books, something that has previously been unheard of.  Yes, here's hoping the proposed education reforms and the introduction of critical thinking to the Saudi education system doesn't run into any untoward snags




Ka Kite,
Kiwi

Cheating Is Normal In Saudi

Cheating is normal in Saudi Arabia.  I'm talking about cheating on university or college exams.  (Men cheating on their wives is another story though also very common.) 

It's the end of term in Riyadh and teachers who aren't staying over for summer school are heading out to destinations with good wine and cold beer - well, the teachers I know are.  Whilst chillaxin they will no doubt tell the truck load of stories they have gathered over the previous term, some of which I get to hear before they wave goodbye at the airport, many of them having something to do with the recent round of cheating on exams.

I'm guessing every school in every in country has those who will cheat but Saudi, as in all things, has its own spin on the activity. Here's a normal cheating story told to me recently by our pool:

After the exams have been marked and the marks given to the students, one student calls in on the teacher.
You only gave me 45 out of 46.
Yes.
You should have given me 46.
Why
Because you gave my friend 46 and I copied off  him.

The teacher comtemplates his response then says
Perhaps you copied something wrong.

It turns out he did copy something wrong, hence the loss of a mark but unconcerned that he has admitted to cheating the student then asks the teacher,
Can you give me the 46 anyway so I can show my parents how hard I've been working in class.

The kids, by all accounts, know the western teachers aren't happy about the note passing, the texting (if they happen to sneak in phones) or the blatant copying but as one friend says reporting them is oft times pointless as the heirarchy of the school will usually cave in to a storming relative blaming the school for the childs poor results so the kids get away with it anyway. 

And besides, I get the feeling most Saudi students don't really consider turning round to look at the answers of their fellow exam takers as cheating. It's getting help. It's ensuring a good mark no matter what and if caught asking the bro in the chair next door for answers there is usually a weak excuse accompanied by a mischievious twinkle in the eye.

I sometimes wonder if perhaps teachers in Saudi should change their views on students giving themselves success advantages and schools should develop a system that embraces the culturally influenced practice of students helping each other out with test answers. Whose to say the western method of examinations is the best way?

The Ministry of Education has made no secret that it intends to improve education in Saudi and they build nice schools and develop relationships with some of the best education organisations in the world, but Ministry efforts mean sqaut diddly when the attitude of the student masses to being educated is somewhat different from the western model.

Ask any teacher and they will tell you that the majority of Saudi, male and female, consider school and university more of a social outing than education.

Attending school is also a fabulous venue for sussing out suitable potential marriage material for your brothers/sisters/cousins as the ever decreasing gene pool from families inter-marrying is becoming a bit of a concern.

Saudization, the latest move to employ Saudi's, is not yet helping education. Saudi teachers, I've heard, tend to teach as they were once taught.  Mostly by rote learning. Mostly without appreciating a questioning mind.   That is not really promoting learning.  Perhaps as well as building schools the Ministry could look at teaching local teachers how to teach, how to encourage and support learning, how to embrace and inquiring mind.

The students themselves have an uphill battle - I have no idea why all university subjects are currently taught in English. If you have not spent a lot of time exposed to English, being expected to pass your diploma or degree in it after a few months of Preparatory Year study is asking a bit much.  This, I gather, is a large contributing factor to why students at Uni cheat.

The pressure to look successful

 + a language they are unfamiliar with

 =  find someone else to do this for me

Last years decision to introduce English language into public schools at an earlier grade as this story in Gulf News outlines, might help tackle the language problem, though I have to wonder if that is the right answer. 

However, the expectation is that you will pass a course delivered in English and expectations in Saudi must be met by any means possible.  Cheating in that case is not a problem.  Cheating (or borrowing someone else's answer with his/her complete approval) is a means to an end. 

The western trained expat teachers I know that work here want to teach. They want students with inquiring minds. They want students to love learning. When a gem of a student is come across 'oh', says one of my friends, 'it is so refreshing'. And there are gems. And they are so different to the norm you cannot help but wonder, 'How the hell did that happen?'

But gems are rare when the progressive part of the Ministry has to answer to the conservative half who find inquiring minds just a lot too threatening. Gems are like needles in the haystack of students subjected to years of rote learning and discouragement of anything remotely inquiring.   And then, of course, there is the culture of having no clue what it means to give 100% effort.

The majority of students here could be bright enough to pass if they tried - they just find trying is quite, well.., hard.   Is this their fault?   Not if this story is as common as we're told.  Cheating habits start, it seems, in nursery school.

Nursery teachers tell us about parents who demand their toddler be given more stars than the other kids. WTF! Their request has little to do with the child learning the ABC's and more to do with not losing face by having a 'non-succeeding' child. Not losing face is big in KSA.  Lying, cheating and bribing are top of the list of accepted behaviors to prevent such loss of face. 

Yep, reward for honest effort in education starts taking a dive at a very young age in Saudi. If the Ministry could nip that bud maybe cheating would not be the norm in KSA.



Ka Kite,
Kiwi