Development, Nature and Organization of a New Independent School in the Middle East - Case Study Example

An analysis and evaluation of the development, nature and organization of a New Independent School in the Middle East The Study Private schools haveto walk a fine line in order to meet the complex demands which are placed upon them. They have to be widely appealing while offering something unique, they have to prepare children for life within their own culture while also teaching them about different cultures and the wider world and they have to welcome diversity while also respecting local traditions and identities and allowing young people to appreciate their own cultural heritage. They also need to teach pupils to respect human rights and be respectful to all people while these same pupils are perhaps separated from members of the opposite sex or other religious groups. In fact, due to the well established nature of some of these divisions, it is sometimes difficult to approach the subject at all or to debate its merits and problems. Private schools need to position themselves to meet these sometimes conflicting demands. It is therefore essential that principals have an excellent understanding of the social dynamics in the region in order know how to best strike this difficult balance. They have to be informed about the political and cultural divisions within the society the school serves and they have know how best to teach issues relating to diversity and difference without upsetting the social customs of the place. Bearing these issues in mind, the purpose of this research is to examine the reasons for the establishment of NIS (New Independent School), a real and existing education institution, in the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Middle East and to investigate how the school has managed to meet the demands it faces. A comparison will be drawn between the reasons for the establishment of this specific educational facility and the reasons for the development of other independent schools within the Kingdom of Bahrain, as well as for the establishment of similar schools in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In order to structure my thesis I will take the NIS International School in Bahrain as my case study. By examining the development and organization of this school in relation to other schools in the area I will be able to explore the effects of religious extremity and tolerance, co-educational issues, and the amalgamation of extremely diverse cultures, along with several peripheral yet pertinent issues such as the nature and personality of the school parent body. My special interest in this area is two-fold: firstly, I have been the director of one such international school since its inception in 1993 to its present state of over 4000 students, including 38 different nationalities. This is also staffed by an equally culturally diverse group of teachers. Secondly, in this position, I have documented, as accurately as possible, all the issues and incidents over the years that have influenced and shaped our present thinking and philosophy. Although there are obviously gaps in this data, there are significant themes, as mentioned above, that are relevant to this field which would have an important bearing on such research. The field is wide open and enthusiastically debated amongst heads and school boards. Using this data, reference will be made to the original aims and objectives that were set when the project was launched in 1993 and the changes that were necessitated over a fifteen year period as the result of the societal and organizational demands of a rapidly expanding educational facility. I will therefore undertake an investigation into the aims and objectives of my case study school. I will map any changes or modifications to the objectives of my school during its development and examine the reasons for and impact of these changes. I will then undertake a comparative study with other, similar schools in the Middle East to ascertain how closely my case study mirrors developments in other parts of the region. This study will be carried out mainly through reference to existing academic literature but also through information gained from electronic communication with other school in the form of questionnaires and general information requests. Once this is completed I will then set my research within the theoretical context by examining whether these development patterns can be fitted into any existing model of educational provision or if, as I predict will be the case, the Middle Eastern situation is unique in the challenges it faces and the conditions under which it has developed. In order to examine the modifications to the aims and objectives of my case study school, I will need to consider impact factors both from within the school organizational structure and from external influences. Internally I will examine the requirements of the school with regard to its student and parent body and the problems that were encountered as a result of their cultural and religious diversity. I will also examine the curriculum, and the difficulty in identifying an appropriate curriculum (or, as it emerged, more than one curriculum) will be discussed. I will then explore the organizational operation and structure of the school and in particular the changes to these structures which have resulted from a rapid increase in enrolment over the fifteen year period. The effectiveness of the organizational structure that was established will also be analyzed. This will include an indication of the financial implications and requirements for funding a rapidly growing school. An additional internal impact factor to be considered is the problems encountered when planning physical structures to accommodate an ever growing student population. These will be scrutinized, as well as the emotional adjustments required of the students when moving from one block of buildings to another as they progress through the school system. The funding of a transport system to convey students between home and school and the accompanying problems of regularly operating such a system will also be considered. The type of security system introduced to cope with the requirements of a Middle East environment will also be discussed as well as the essential task of implementing a disciplinary code to contend with the discipline problems encountered in a school with four thousand five hundred students. Finally, a look will be taken at the administrative system required to operate a large independent school. These internal factors are necessarily impacted by complex external factors in the area. An analysis will therefore be done of the impact of religion, gender, culture, and the political situation in Bahrain as well as the key stakeholders in the school’s growth and development. The effects of these factors on the aims and objectives of the school, as well as the importance of finding a market niche, will be examined and the way in which the school has endeavored to deal with the impact of these factors will be discussed. It is intended that a close study of these factors within the case study school’s context will contribute to a broader understanding of these issues in education in the region more broadly. By investigating these factors conclusions can be drawn as to the difficulties that teachers face in the classroom. The difficult task of uniting teachers from different cultural, religious and educational backgrounds into a united team with a common focus will be discussed, as well as the problem of fostering a cordial relationship between the teaching staff and citizen parents. Further, the nature and effectiveness of ongoing in-service training programs for teachers arriving in this environment will be mentioned and analyzed. The major adjustments required of expatriate teachers on their arrival in the Middle East will be examined. Finally, an analysis will be done of the problems that independent schools in the Middle East will need to address to ensure their popularity and existence. These will be based on the previously mentioned internal and external impact factors on the school. A forecast will be made of future plans to ensure the existence and further development of NIS in a Middle Eastern context. Context and Background. To explain why this has become such an interest of mine, I will provide some background information. I am originally from India, but have spent most of my life in the Middle East. I am married and have raised my family here in Bahrain. The school is privately owned, and run, under the unavoidable influence and supervision of the Ministry, like all private schools in Bahrain. Bahrain is a relatively small country, but like others in this part of the world, one with a very rapid, oil-assisted economy-growth. It is also one of the leading countries in the Middle East to have moved dramatically in the last few years towards establishing its own concept of democracy. The first democratically constituted parliament was established three years ago. The transition from a relatively nomadic lifestyle to one dominated by western influence has been short and the consequences confusing for many of those living here. Not least has been the move from a strongly secular, traditional form of education to one trying to make sense of western values and research. The changing ethos has been felt most within the schools where administrators have had to reconcile the traditional values with those offered by international centers of learning. International schools throughout the world are struggling for some identity that will make them more attractive to the cosmopolitan markets that they serve. Nowhere is this truer and yet more complex than in the Middle East, where a mass of international schools are emerging to cope with the vast increase in foreigners who have moved here with families to become part of the ever-increasing local work force. This becomes all the more significant where international schools, providing this sort of service to ex-patriot workers, are now becoming increasingly attractive to the vast supply of locals, who see this education as an important and necessary passport to the global university markets the and international qualifications which will increase the marketability of their children. My case study school has consequently evolved rapidly within the past 9 years from the humble beginnings of a mere handful of students in the first year to well over 4000 students currently. I am fascinated by the mighty gap which it spans between those who dream of their own traditional educational experience and that which they desperately want for their children because it holds the promise of a future in the global community. I feel the pressure of a position at the cutting edge of this transitional system and the community it serves, trying to reconcile these two concepts. Religious beliefs in Bahrain play an important role in the upbringing and education of children – it is important to note that not only is diversity prevalent in the various religions, but more importantly extremism plays an immense role in the differences between the governmentally recognized Muslim Sunni sect, and the popular majority of the Muslim Shi’ite sect. There are intricate issues that entwine themselves in the daily curriculum development that sometimes reach points of dilemma, yet must be addressed strategically and often diplomatically. Gender is also a key factor for consideration. Although Western influence is rife in Bahraini society, religious and cultural norms of separate schooling for genders remains an issue to be examined closely; this is already an issue discussed and researched in many arenas of educational development, yet the additional factor of cultural and religious trends add a twist to this already controversial issue. This is an area that should be scrutinized with care within the case study and in comparative studies with other school in the region. It is also relevant that this dissertation look closely at the parent body and the extent to which it could influence the ethos and educational process of the school. It will examine their participation and the school authority’s response to their observations. Much has emerged that has already changed the direction and atmosphere of the school but it was also observed that further research should be carried out into the international ethos of the school media and materials, and a supportive school and classroom atmosphere, amongst others. Theoretical Background It is important to note that there is not a vast amount of research available that examines the issues affecting private international schools in the Middle East, although in the past few years, there has been an extreme emergence of such schools in the Arab parts of the world. There is extensive research on multicultural education in a variety of locations around the world, and therefore much to be collated in forming some basis for the examination of this vital topic in the Middle East. Key works in this area include Banks & Banks’ Handbook of Research in Multicultural Education. It goes without saying that much of what has already been written is relevant, but equally, emerging private, international schools in this region are unique in their cultural composition, and hopefully such a study would form a significant base for further activity in all areas of Middle Eastern communities. One recently published work which pertains to the Bahrain case is Abdullah Y. Al-Hawaj’s Higher Education in the Twentieth Century. This will play a key role because, among other things, it deals with the challenges facing the privatization of Higher Education in the Arab world. Many of the articles focus, at least in part, on Bahrain. May Al-Arrayed Shirawi’s Education in Bahrain: Problems and Progress may also prove a useful starting point, although this is not an up-to-date work. Further, while there has been much research applied in the area of multiculturalism, it is difficult to obtain articles, studies, or papers addressing the unique blend of issues applicable in private, independent, multicultural schools where “East meets West” in a manner previously unseen and uncharted. It will therefore be necessary to use existing work applicable to other contexts as a basis for the development of a theoretical approach relevant to this context. Studies located in the Western setting may provide a useful starting point for an examination of multiculturalism in the Middle East and I therefore believe that my study will enable an expansion of multicultural theory into a geographical region which only recently has become more open for outside study and about which, consequently, little research has taken place. Such studies to be referenced might include Bursztyn & Korn’s Rethinking Multicultural Education. Although this focuses on the Western perspective, by looking at issues such as preparing teachers for the multi-cultural classroom and the relationship between school and parents, it focuses on many of the concerns which my research paper will explore. However it is also necessary to keep in mind theorists such as Bruckner and Cliteur who deny the benefits of multiculturalism, claiming that it can actually act against people’s democratic freedoms. This argument is worth bearing in mind when examining the effects of multiculturalism in schools in Bahrain. Racial and gender issues are also seen to have been addressed by several authors, yet have not been examined in the “Eastern” setting, as much as the “Western” one. Authors such as Christine Clark and Paul Gorski have looked at multicultural perspectives with a focus on race, class, gender, and language, all areas that require intensive examination and whose works should therefore greatly enhance the clarity of the picture attempting to be unfolded through this topic. Articles and research on different perspectives related to the above mentioned focuses, i.e. race, class, gender, language and additionally religious beliefs, in differing communities throughout the world would inevitably assist in the clarification of these same issues pertinent to the case study school being explored here. Scholars of note who have delved into many of these issues include Sonia Nieto, whose research and articles focus on multicultural education and on the education of Latinos, immigrants, and students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and Patricia Enciso, who has developed research and teaching related to multicultural literature in education, socio-cultural landscapes of childrens relationships, reading, and cultural knowledge. It will also be necessary to work from a theoretical basis for analyzing success within the case study school. To decide whether an organization is successful we must first define what success is, through enlisting success criteria. Though the idea is borrowed from the industry the term itself is viewed with suspicion by many educationalists. Those who hold this view argue that this kind of language implies an emphasis on formal accountability, on a product-centered view of the task at hand, and a preoccupation with quantifiable findings, whereas educational organizations deal not with a product but with the complex process of educating and developing people which cannot be represented in such relatively simple ways. In my opinion, performance indicators are an integral part of any development plan, particularly in an environment like ours where development is so rapid and success so important. West has proposed a developmental model to achieve a minimal quality of teaching and learning. It is based on a few simple but effective management principles: - Achieve conceptual clarity prior to action in any proposed task. - Keep things as simple as possible. -Wherever possible allow one single task to become multi-faceted. - Empower others. - Keep documentation action-oriented and avoid essay writing. - Ensure that everyone understands how the actions of individuals and the work of groups relate to the whole (hence the value of an over arching framework). - Assure that learning within the staff group is at least equal to, or greater than, the changes you are trying to bring about. This model suggested by West can be partially applied to our school but at large this model cannot reflect adequately on the financial aspects and other resource mobilization required by NIS. I will therefore incorporate other theorists into my study. Marzano, Waters, & McNulty’s School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results is extremely useful for the extensive research which they have carried out on leadership and success. They, uniquely, employ a meta-analysis research approach in their study and then engage in a discussion of how the findings of their research can realistically be applied in the school setting. O’Shea’s From Standards to Success: A Guide for School Leaders will also be important to my research. This focuses on standards setting as a tool for ensuring the success of a school. It deals with planning a standards based curriculum and how to implement it as well as how to assess whether these standards were achieved. Kyriacou & Thornes’ Effective teaching in schools:Theory and Practice focuses on teaching issues in the classroom. It deals with aspects such as race and gender in the classroom and teacher-student relationships. This will provide a useful basis for an investigation of such teaching issues in my case study school. Finally Fullan’s Whats Worth Fighting for in the Principalship? This is a guide to help principals implement changes which they believe necessary rather than being passively guided by outside factors. It aims to help principals focus on the key changes needed in their school. In Bahrain, where the educational environment is changing rapidly and schools need to keep pace, such an approach is fundamental to ensure the success of the school’s development. Fullan’s ideas of successful educational leadership are based on the ideas of constructivism. This means that in order to improve, a school must have excellent relationships between all levels and that all the members of the school must work together. There should not be rules imposed by the principal on the rest of the school but rather a working together to allow the individuals within the school and the organisation itself to work more successfully. Ultimately the school becomes a democratic unit. Rather than a linear system of change, Fullan promotes change based on the principles of coherence, synergy and alignment of the various individuals within the school. Change of this nature, believes Fullan, starts with the principals who until now have been a block to such a system. Methods Numerous methods have been used to discover information, apply ideas, and research areas of investigation, and many of the techniques Rosalind Hurworth discusses and explains are worth putting in to place, such as focus groups, be they face to face, by telephonic interview, or through electronic mail/video conferencing methods. She focuses particularly on how far visual data can be useful to researchers. Methods such as written questionnaires can also be utilized for the first process of gathering data, including both qualitative and quantitative methods to encompass as much as possible of the research topic covered. Of course, planning and designing the data gathering tools for this complex and intricate topic must initially occur, with in-depth probing into the types of questions to be raised, and the directions in which they should follow. Cohen et al in Research Methods in Education outline ways in which questionnaires can be effectively designed and observations can be carried out. They also provide a very useful discussion about the degree to which results obtained from interviews, questionnaires and observations are valid and reliable. Their work varies from that of Hurworth since it does not focus on the visual but rather the written feedback of data. It also stresses the difficulty of designing questionnaires and how to promote as honest a response as possible. One of the most influential of case study methodologies is Stake’s, which uses a post-positivist framework, allowing us to accept that the world is not completely knowable, but can be interpreted to a certain extent. This will provide a useful structure to my case study methodology. Cousin provides an excellent overview to methods in educational research in her 2008 book Researching Higher Education. Ethical Issues (359) Whilst examining the data for this research topic, it is important to understand the issues that could arise from an ethical point of view. I would see myself addressing the following issues: • The nature of historically marginalized groups within the Muslim community, notably the Sunni/Shiite relationship which threatens to split nearly every classroom in the country. This is enormously complex and would require sensitive handling, but is essential to the fuller picture. The issue of religious worship would also play no less of a major role since it relates very closely to the multicultural and unilateral trends of various religious sects within the Muslim community. • A close investigation/survey of student views on the multiculturalism which they experience in the school…..how they view this cultural diversity, especially how they see themselves and the school protecting their own cultural identity. • Parental views on schooling within the cultural, religious, gender, and socioeconomic realms, and the methods by which they interpret curricula concepts within this community. • Values involving the relationship between boys and girls within the school environment, hugely controversial at the moment in changing Middle Eastern communities. This is very closely related to diverse religious affiliations. • Adjusting the curriculum to address the problems of a multi-cultural classroom. Curricula should be studied for accuracy and completeness and should address the diversity of backgrounds and learning styles in every classroom. • Strong consideration, related to curriculum appropriateness, should be given to the extent to which any curriculum adjustment may meet diverse cultural backgrounds and therefore strongly enhance or deteriorate the mood and richness of the classroom activities. • The preparedness of all teachers to participate in the teaching of students within the ideals thus established. This would obviously involve a re-examination of present educational practices and how they affect the learning of students, including testing methods, teaching approaches, evaluation and assessment, counseling, textbooks, discipline, etc. The intricate area of how to prepare teachers better to foster a positive classroom climate for all students must also be delicately examined. Traditional teaching approaches should be deconstructed to examine how they are contributing to and supporting oppressive institutional systems, if so found. • It is also extremely important to ensure the anonymity of any participants in the research. This can be assured by taking the information anonymously in the first place so that no opinions are associated with a particular name and no names appear on transcripts or questionnaires. It is also necessary to store the data securely to prevent a breech of privacy. Given that the information taken from the interviewees will be incorporated into my research it is also necessary to be completely transparent and inform participants that this is how the data will be used, whilst also assuring them of complete confidentiality and anonymity. Program of study It is obvious that a detailed review of the literature and research covering the issues raised in the topic and a summary of the main interpretations and points already posed, should initially occur, prior to any application of research methods, to form a solid foundation for the analysis of the data to be gathered subsequently. In this section of the research it will be essential to pin down which academic works will be of most use, which I do not agree with and which hypotheses and theories I wish to test with data from my case study school. I will have to build a strong theoretical framework for each stage of my research which I can refer back to once I have collected my data. Data should then be gathered and collated from the NIS and other schools in the region. This will involve outlining key information to be gathered and setting up the necessary focus groups, observing the dynamics in the school and tailoring the questionnaires to obtain the necessary data. I will then need to visit the NIS and contact other similar schools in the area in order to apply these research tools. It will be important to note not only information from the feedback obtained but also any difficulties in carrying out the research. It could be that people are unwilling to participate in focus groups for social reasons or other schools are unwilling to complete questionnaires. All this information will help to be build up a picture of the social context in which the NIS operates and the problems that it faces. Logical organization and analysis of the data gathered should then be implemented, providing clear and definite sets and subsets of the topics involved, including data handling, and qualitative and quantitative reduction through summarization, and notation of patterns, similarities, and differences in the data. Ultimately, interpretation of this data should occur, with inferences and implication threads followed to their utmost conclusions. The raw data should then be compared closely with the pre-established theoretical framework in order to see whether the region fits pre-determined patterns and how far the existing academic literature is appropriate for the unique social dynamics at work on the case study. Read More