JEDDAH, 30 November 2007 — There is clearly a need for native English speakers to teach in Saudi Arabia, but the qualifications to teach are often overlooked by schools, according to educators interviewed by Arab News recently.
“Although there are many universities and private institutes that are careful to recruit highly qualified English teachers, others don’t bother,” said Muhammad Altaweel, general manager of Al-Faisal International Academy. “Some English teachers who are employed in Saudi Arabia, while sound of body and fluent in English, may be unfit to do the job they were hired to do.”
Altaweel points out that native fluency is not the only qualification that teachers should have to teach. Teachers from the UK, US and Canada are valued, but educators (and students enrolling in these programs) should be aware that these teachers are better off if they have degrees in education, or widely accepted ESL-teaching qualifications, such as the TOEFL certification that shows they have been taught proper methods for teaching English as a second language. Simply being an English native speaker doesn’t entitle one to teach English.
Abdulhady Alshukaihy, an Education Ministry official involved in overseeing private and foreign schools in the Kingdom, points out that the Kingdom has a mechanism in place to screen teachers applying to work in Saudi Arabia, at least for the Kingdom’s public educational institutions. “Resumes and qualifications are submitted and then vetted as part of the visa process,” he said.
However, private schools, which include international schools, vet potential teachers through a different system, called the International Academic Accreditation Center.
This tendency to hire English native speakers regardless of qualifications is, in Altaweel’s view, encouraged by Saudi employers. These employers, as well as students and their parents, are usually more impressed by nationality and accent than by qualifications and experience.
“Saudi parents would like their children to attend an institution where they can be exposed to native English-speakers,” he added. “Saudi students tend to be more interested in learning English when they can spend time with native speakers as there are lots of aspects of Western culture which are of interest to them.”
Altaweel said that his academy would increase its English native speaking employees to 30 percent by 2008. And he says that they are actively searching for qualified Arab teachers.
“It’s not true to say that in order to be a credible English teacher you must be a native speaker. Fifteen of our English teachers of Arabic origin have successfully completed the SILTA test, which entitles them to teach English language; excellence is not associated with a specific nationality.”
Tom Kline, vice principal of the King Faisal School, said that 15 percent of his school’s staff consists of native English speakers.
“Although getting qualified teachers costs a lot more and requires a great deal more effort and expertise, it is the only way to provide students with a better education and, of course, to attract more children to our school,” he said.
Kline believes that being taught by well-qualified English native speakers is important to students in a variety of ways. “They provide more of a personal insight into the nature of English language, society and culture,” he said.
On the other hand, he pointed out that unqualified teachers of any nationality “won’t be able to know how to build core English skills effectively, leaving huge gaps in a student’s education.”
But the question arises as to why some schools and institutions accept teachers with sketchy one-month teaching certificates, unrelated degrees or certificates from unaccredited academic institutions abroad.
“It is the great demand for native English-speaking teachers,” said Kline. “All across Asia and the Middle East people want to learn English and the industry that has sprung up to accommodate this desire cannot thrive on the limited number of teaching professionals available. English is the international language of business, science, air-traffic, computers, and diplomacy. It is vital that Saudi youngsters have the ability to use English well and compete internationally in all these areas. Saudi Arabia is expanding its industrial and commercial base which requires providing high-quality English language education for the next generation.”
Adam Bourret, an English teacher from King Faisal Primary School, said that some private schools and institutions in the Kingdom don’t consider paying the price for qualified teachers. In his opinion, English native speakers receive salary offers from many schools, which would only be desirable by people without sufficient qualifications to teach. In this case, it’s a matter of “you get what you pay for.”
