Fewer Local Male Teachers: Result of Emiratization - Research Paper Example

FEWER LOCAL MALE TEACHERS: RESULT OF EMIRATIZATION? Abstract The schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are gender-segregated. And the UAE government strives to Emiratize its schools. This has so far resulted to having a very limited number of Emirati male teachers particularly in the public schools. This paper tries to contribute to the existing attempts to understand this phenomenon more fully so that proposals may eventually be made on how the trend may be reverse and, ultimately, improve further the country’s quality of education. The very little research literature on the issue and the popular media suggest that the primary reason for very few Emirati male teachers is institutional in nature. What they mean is that being a teacher especially in the public schools in UAE is not attractive to the young UAE citizens because it pays very little, practically gives no benefits, offers limited promotion possibilities, and does not offer much social recognition. This is very significant point to make since these reasons have bearing with the professional choices of Emirati men who, when they decide for their career options, are not freed from their cultural conditionings. Being a teacher would not make a man in UAE a breadwinner for his family, which his culture expects him to be. For this reason, Emirati men do not prefer to do school related works. The impact of culture on Emirati’s professional choice is validated by the experience of the Emirati women. Emirati women teachers actually share the same professional plight with their male counterparts. But, their general culture supports their career decision to stick it out with their teaching job. This paper finally points out that there seems to be no other way to address the phenomenon of having very few Emirati men teachers except through some meaningful structural adjustments – e.g., adjustment of salaries for teachers, provision of professional trainings, etc. Content Since its formation as a nation in 1971, UAE has always regarded education as indispensable element for long-term economic growth (Scott 2009; Education in UAE 2009). At present, however, being in its early stage of development, education in UAE is beset with a lot of issues. For one, the country’s educational system is said to have failed to prepare the Emiratis for job market. This is because the local workers are perceived to have underdeveloped critical competencies; and this is said to be the result of lax curricula, spoon-feeding pedagogical method, and the exclusion of leadership skills in classroom lessons. The government funding is likewise reportedly lacking (Scott 2009; see Dubai School of Government 2007, pp. 2-3; Starr 2009). In addition, Emiratization among the rank of teachers brings about another issue. Statistics from the Ministry of Education reveal that Emirati male teachers comprise only 11% of teachers in government schools countrywide (see Poor Salaries 2008). The reasons for this and, at the same time, the motivations by the women-teachers to settle to teaching profession are thus studied by this paper. This task entails, among others, dwelling on the Emirati’s working environment, remuneration and benefit packages, distribution of teaching loads and – unavoidably – cross-sectoral comparisons. Problem/Background/Issue Emiratization is the nationalization of the workplace (Dubai School of Government 2007, pp. 5) in UAE, or the maximization of local employment and reduction of the country’s dependence on expatriate labor (see Employment and Social Security, n.d.). It is also a program to ensure that Islamic principles of the country are maintained (see UAE Education: General Information, n.d.). According to the schedule drawn by the UAE government, Emiratization across the different sectors of services in the country would have reached 90% mark by 2020. But, with Emiratizaton, an issue that ensues is the obvious gap between the numbers of male- and female-teachers. The male teachers constitute more or less 11% and the latter up to 89% of the total public school workforce in the country. This is accounted for by the low interest by men in teaching jobs and the high turnover rate among men-teachers in the sector of education. This issue greatly affects the six hundred fifty thousand (650,000) UAE students who are attending public schools (Education in UAE 2009, citing 2006 to 2007 statistical figures), where they are segregated by gender. Now, that UAE’s educational institution is gender-segregated. Male and female students are together only during preschool and kindergarten; but beginning from Grade 1, UAE boys and girls are attending separate schools. Women-teachers mainly teach both genders through elementary, while men teachers begin to take charge over the education of their male students from the middle through the high school levels (Sills-Briegel, Bryant & Al Hashimi 2009, pp. 67). This kind of arrangement explains why the fact that male teachers are less in number assumes significance (see The Educational System 2009). It is significant to cite here that in UAE the female students are edging out the male students in, among other things, number (UNESCO 2008). At the preparatory level and secondary education levels, there are more female than male enrollees. At the tertiary level, only 12% of males are attending school while 40% of females are in the school. If the figures would be limited only to Emiratis, the difference between genders is even more pronounced. There is 27% of Emirati male students who attend college, and 70% of Emirati female students who do likewise (Ridge [The Hidden Gender Gap] 2009). Nonetheless, that there is less number of Emirati male students (which is an altogether distinct issue to deal with [see Pound 2009 and Roberts 2008]) cannot offset the need for more Emirati men-teachers. It is because there is always essentially a need by the schools for male teachers. To be more precise, there is no hard evidence from pure academic perspective that there must be a balance representation by the genders in the teaching profession. However, for purposes of modeling, educators are seeing the need for women and men teachers in the schools (Bolch 2006; Ismail 2008). This is particularly true since education is not just about academic performance, but also about preparation for adulthood. As such, schools need to provide the students with experience involving mix of role models. Men- and women-teachers are actually bringing different yet complementary approaches to classes. Having male teachers provides the students a role model to look up to, since students normally would have an experience of having a male mentor in their life only with their fathers and/or coaches (Solochek 2007; Ismail 2008). In the absence of these real life models, the students would idolize athletes or television personalities – who are reel life models and, hence, not helpful in the final analysis (Bolch 2006). In addition, male teachers are needed to instill discipline and to boost the student’s confidence. Some educators point out that an absence of male teachers may be the reason for poor academic performance especially by boys or young men students (see Burley 2009). Similarly, according to the Training and Development Agency for Schools (2008; see also Wood 2008), almost one out of two men (or 48%) reveal that male primary school teachers have acted as fundamental role models to them. Also, 35% of men felt that having male primary teachers made them worked harder at school and around 22% believed that male primary teachers helped them build their self-confidence in their formative years. 50% reported that they were likely to approach a male teacher on matters like bullying; 29% said they would go to a male teacher on family matters or problems; and 24% confide to male mentor on issue of puberty (Clark 2009). Ridge ([The Hidden Gender Gap] 2009) takes note that the scarcity of men teachers has been prompting the UAE government to heavily rely on rather poorly trained Arab expatriate (male) teachers. Also, together with what is called adjunct professors (Naidoo 2009), retired military and police officers are being targeted by the UAE government for retraining to be teachers (Sills-Briegel, Bryant & Al Hashimi 2009, pp. 67). Literature review Emiratization has originally been intended as an affirmative action program to satisfy the employment and career aspirations of the UAE citizens (see Godwin 2007, pp. 1). However, the Emiratization of UAE schools is now held to be the impetus behind several developments that are specifically pertinent to the education of the country (Godwin 2007, pp. 8-9, 11). One of these developments is the perceived poor quality of education in the UAE, which according to Ridge ([The Search for Solution] 2009) is mainly caused by the poor quality of male teachers that the country has. And, UAE has inferior quality of male teachers because the country lacks male national teachers and, to compensate for this, depends heavily on poorly trained and poorly paid expatriate male teachers. Figures have it that in 2006 there were only 48 Emirati male teachers in government boys’ school (of 724 male teachers), amounting to measly 6.6%. In the same year, the country had only 11% male Emirati teachers (Bardsley 2009). In 2008, of the approximately 22,000 teachers in UAE, around 45% are Emirati women, 4.5% are Emirati men, and the rest are either foreign male or female teachers. Also, there were only 14 young local men who studied for teaching or school administration in Emirates College for Advance Education (ECAD) (see Anzar 2008). Now, the male foreign teachers that UAE is able to attract do not seem to be as effective. In fact, data from the MoE hold that female local teachers are performing better than their male foreign counterparts. This is among the reasons that are used to explain the observable educational quality imbalance between boys’ and girls’ schools with the latter performing much better than the former (Anzar 2008). Along this line, one may ask the question as regards what actually drives the Emirati men from working in the schools. Note that, to date, there is little published literature on the issue (Abdullah 2007, pp. 75). Hence, in this paper, the reasons that popular press provide will be relied on. Firstly, one notes that there are less Emirati male – i.e., compared to their female counterpart – who pursue college education. It is because more and more Emirati men are dropping out of secondary school (Naidoo 2009). This is so because the incentives for Emirati men to pursue higher education are scarce because there are many attractive and well-paying jobs that await them even when they do not even have educational degrees. And this is even more reinforced by the UAE culture that makes the Emirati families to depend on their sons as breadwinners. For this reason, young men are encouraged to go out to work at the earliest possible age (Lewis 2009). Statistics from the National Admittance and Placement Office in 2005 pointed out that 33% of males who did not go to university joined the armed forces or police force of UAE, while 30% stayed home or were looking for work. The armed forces and the police are very attractive career choice for most Emirati men because of minimal educational requirements that these institutions demand from their recruits and members (Lewis 2009). Those who pursue tertiary education, teaching profession or school work is very rarely considered as career option. Over-all, experts hold that the main reasons for this are low pay, lack of benefits and the perceived inferior status of the teachers (Bardsley 2009). In state schools, according to 2006 figures, salaries ranged from Dh3,225 (US$880) a month to Dh9,375 (US$2,643.44) a month (see Bardsley 2009; Ferris-Lay 2009). With this rate, Emirati men knew that, as teachers in public schools, they cannot realize their fancy over cars and have big savings (see Bardsley 2009). The situation never changed in 2008. While teachers who have spent years in their profession were paid a maximum of Dh20,000 (US$5,464.48) per month, the newly appointed employees in other government departments draw the same salaries besides other perk (Poor Salaries 2008). The fact is Emirati teachers are given one of the lowest salaries in the country, while teachers worldwide are being compensated very well. In addition, local teachers in public schools in UAE are not provided with health insurance despite the fact that they should be the first category to be considered for such because of the amount of physical, psychological and emotional energy that they exert in fulfilling their tasks (Ismail 2008). It is important that the side of the Emirati female teachers be considered here, too. As said in the preceding section of this paper, Emirati female teachers number more than their male counterpart. However, it does not mean that they are neither paid more nor regarded better or revered more highly than their male counterparts. So, one may ask: what holds them to teaching profession? Abdullah (2007) cites as one possible reason the fact that women can actually avoid all contact with men in gender-segregated schools (pp. 83). This is related to the social conditions among UAE women who need to observe the code of modesty, which is adhered to in the country. In effect, it requires that women be confined to seek work in predominantly female work environments. In such environment as schools, women are not exposed to men and hence their refutation is not threatened (see Gallant & Pounder 2008, pp. 30). Another perspective that may explain the fact that Emirati female teachers in public schools are prominent in number is related to an observation that Emirati women are actually desiring to be independent (see Erogul & McCrohan 2008, pp. 177). The Islamic society of UAE is both traditional and patriarchal. In such kind of society, women are restricted to follow pre-designed life patterns. When women seek their independence, they try to gain control over both their personal and working lives. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the number of women who are joining the national workforce is increasing – and, particularly in schools, where they are outnumbering the men. The Emirati women’s desire to be independent must have been inspired, if not conditioned, by the shift in UAE’s attitudes towards women. This shift in attitude is personified by the late President of the UAE, HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who once said: The means to develop a country and modernize its infrastructure is a magnificent burden that should not be taken up by men only. The loss would be huge, for women will be paralyzed without any participation and productivity. It would lead to an unbalanced rhythm of life. Hence women’s participation in public life is required and we must be prepared for it… Nothing could delight me more than to see woman taking up her distinctive position in society. Nothing should hinder her progress. Like men, women deserve to occupy high positions, according to their capabilities and qualifications (Randeree 2009, pp. 79). Given the preceding discussion as our backdrop of this issue, Ridge’s policy recommendations (see [The Hidden Gender Gap] 2009) become understandable as they also appear very realistic. She holds that addressing the issue would begin right from the selection process itself, which needs to be based on academic credentials. According to Ridge, this would make the UAE government get the cream of the crop among college graduates of the country year after year. Once they are in, she notes too that teachers – be they male or female – be compensated appropriately and competitively and trained adequately. These steps are believed to cause the teachers’ retention in their profession and would make teaching profession appear alluring to the future degree graduates and influence the vocational decisions of younger generation of Emirati people. Data collection The gathering of information for this paper required a qualitative approach, particularly the use of use of interview method. The interviews were conducted with a human resource department officer of the Ministry of Education (MoE), a principal of a school for boys, a principal of a technical school, and one woman-teacher. Despite the differences in the manner the questions were framed for each interviewee, the interviews maintained its singular focus – that is, the men-teachers being outnumbered by women-teachers. The questions posed to the interviewees were generally about the realities of education in UAE. Specifically, these were about a number of interrelated questions such as (1) why women teachers comprise around 95% of school workforce as they engage in teaching and the management or administrative works in schools, (2) the prospects for promotion for school workers, i.e., how one becomes a school principal, (3) the turnover rate among teachers, and, finally, (4) the officer’s suggestions in view of how the trend of having very few teachers could be addressed. Sketchily, the MoE HR officer reasoned out that men-teachers are very few because salary for teachers is very low in comparison to any low skill jobs in other sectors. Besides getting a salary that may sometimes be fifty per cent (50%) lower than an equally-leveled job in other sectors, teachers are having too much of a load. Teachers in Grades 1 to 5 are doing twenty-four (24) classes per week; Grades 6 to 9 teachers twenty (20) classes weekly; and Grades 10 to 12 fifteen (15) classes per week. Professional and economic securities are, similarly, issues to contend with. One may teach for ten (10) years and still does not get salary increase or is given promotion. Women, accordingly, prefer to work in schools principally because it is the only sector in UAE that provides a male-female segregated work environment. In fact, merely five vacancies in the schools would normally gather hundred of applicants; and, for ten (10) years, schools for girls wouldn’t need any more women teachers. The HR officer, however, clarified that ninety-five per cent (95%) of the women-teachers in UAE are local women, and the rest being expatriates. UAE schools would still need to hire teachers from other countries because at present UAE universities do not offer music, arts and physical education specializations. Promotion to principal-ship of school requires that one spends at least eight (8) years in the teaching professions, with the last two (2) years of excellent performance appraisal and ICDL and TOFEL. Besides, principals pass through the position of deputyship – during which there is no salary increase (as the deputy principal is on similar level). Given these realities, it is not surprising to note that schools are living with high turnover of workers – mostly from among women – on account of work stress and, for some, illness. To deal with these issues, the HR officer readily shared the following suggestions: that load of classes for teachers be reduced; retirement (with full pension benefits) may be made on the 15th year – not on the 20th year – of service to give room for the infusion of new blood and fresher legs; overhaul of the systems of positions and degrees, and review of the salary grades. The answers from the principal of a school for boys are essentially not different from the points that were raised by the first interviewee. Accordingly, the number of UAE local men-teachers (in the interviewee’s school) is just six (6) out of the school’s forty (40) teachers. Emirati men do not prefer teaching job mainly on a couple of accounts: firstly, the salary is low; and, secondly, prospect for promotions do not exist, as one would at times need to spend twenty (20) years of teaching before he/she gets promoted one step or level higher in the hierarchy of the educational workforce. However, the school principal similarly observed that UAE nationals are taking the teaching job as just an interim job. That is, the moment they get a better job in another sector, they quickly resign from their teaching jobs. On the question of whether the teachers are having excessive working loads, the principal thought otherwise. The principal even posited that, with twenty (20) classes per week, teachers are actually having much spare time for themselves. Emphatically, Emirati men-teachers do not find teaching work to be enticing because of the low salary that they receive. The principal of a technical school volunteered the information that he has thirty seven (37) teachers, and none of them is Emirati. He was quite sure of the reason – that is, to be a teacher in a technical school, one should hold an engineering degree. However, an engineer-teacher only gets around fifteen thousand (15,000) dirhams while an engineer that is employed in other sector – for instance, as a city employee – receives from thirty thousand (30,000) to forty-five thousand (45,000) dirhams. The local teacher who was interviewed for this paper actually has spent sixteen (16) years, and is already considering opting to retire early. She gave her reasons for her early retirement decision the heavy teaching load that she has, especially since she’s doing other responsibilities besides teaching in classes. Teachers, according to her, are responsible for a class’ coordination and order. Too, teachers regularly write reports on the students’ academic performance as well as their behavior in the class. These reports on students’ class performance are over and above the weekly and semi-annual lesson plans that they are supposed to published on time. And these lesson plans are prepared for distinct students of different levels of intelligence quotient. That is, class preparations are different for the intelligent and weak students. This is determined following a regular assessment that MoE has ordered to be done by teachers – that is, in effect, taking a lot of time. In addition, teachers need to correct and mark workbooks and examination papers by the students. Besides these paper works, teachers are tasked to do other auxiliary responsibilities. They look after students on break times, meal times, and even in embarking to and disembarking from the school buses. Finally, spare times are occasions designated by the school authorities as times for training programs. Research method There is not much published literature on what explains the very little presence of Emirati male teachers in government schools. And, this leaves researches to rely heavily – at least, for now – on what the popular press says concerning the issue at hand. As per academic standard, thus, the readily available information needs to be either validated or supplemented by data culled through the use of other research methodology. Given this, this paper has decided to adapt qualitative approach in mapping out the method of collecting data. Particularly, this paper made use of interviews as its main tool for data collection. Since the issue that this paper tackles is a social phenomenon, qualitative research suits the purpose of this research paper. For, essentially, with its use of induction as its process, qualitative approach would result to a deeper understanding of why Emirati male teachers shun away from teaching profession. From the particular answers of the interviewees, this paper is able to generalize and, hence, able to paint in broad strokes the realities on the ground pertinent to the issue that is being addressed. This general picture, then, is going to be placed side-by-side with what is handily available from popular sources of information. The resultant effect of this process is twofold: one, it either complements or supplements the previously existing data, or repudiate or complete the prior data by providing other perspective by which the issue may be grasped; and, two, it may establish the reliability and validity of the culled information. Further, because qualitative research is not rigid in the formulation and use of its instrumentation, it afforded the researcher a certain degree of flexibility particularly in the line of questioning depending on the individual interviewees and their response. It did not amount just for the comfort of the researcher; it similarly gave the researcher the instance to change the constraints of the study and still extract essential contextual information about the respondents’ experience. Note that, in data collection for this paper, the interview questions were adapted to who the individual interviewees were. The subject matter of this research is mired in or connected with other issues relative to two distinct issues of education and nationalization of schools in UAE. At least, the popular media would maintain that the currently overriding problem of education in UAE is its low level of performance that results to eventually unmarketable Emirati workers. But the closest to the subject matter is the issue of the gender discrepancy among Emirati students as regards their attendance to schools and performance in classes and examinations. And, among the factors that researchers and UAE education officials put the blame on is the fact that there is less number of local male teachers than female teachers. In the past, the UAE government has recruited male teachers from other Arab countries; but, such measures simply did not work out. Emirati students in gender-segregated schools need Emirati male students for their education. Completely aware of this rather complex context within which the issue is going to be discussed, this paper then delineates its proper focus of study from the other variables that may have a true impact but are actually only on the periphery of the research. Data analysis That Emirati male teachers comprise merely 11% of the total workforce in public schools in UAE is accounted for by numerous factors. The popular media holds that the Emirati male teachers do not like to teach because of low pay, lack of benefits and low social regard for teachers. More Emirati men are opting to become military or police – a career that do not require high educational qualification but, at the same time, pays more handsomely. This sociological variable is seen to be reinforced – if not, occasioned – by the culture of UAE families that depend on men to bring home the bacon, so to speak. Hence, Emirate men do see incentives to become teachers particularly in the public schools. Now, the interviews that were done for the purpose of this paper have culled data that run parallel to what the popular media holds. The first reason that accounts for less number of Emirati men teachers is low pay. While different interviewees provide different figures, the common denominator is that teaching post in UAE is affording a salary that is definitely less than what its parallel positions in other industries do actually offer. In addition to meager salary that teachers receive, they also are not given insurance or other benefits. In particular, despite the intense physical, emotion and/or psychological demands of the profession, teachers do not have health insurance. As if an insult were added to injury, as it were, to be a teacher in UAE is, first, requiring at least tertiary education degree and, second, entails a lot of work. One of the interviewee narrates that schoolwork is actually not limited to classroom instruction. Teachers have to prepare for their lessons, devise their classroom instruction materials, formulate their examination questions, and prepare marks for their students. Also, a teacher in UAE actually does mind the students at almost all times (while they are in the school premises), keeping the mentor busy and having practically no spare time. The prospect of career advancement in schools is similarly almost nil. Teachers may qualify as principal only after 8 years of service in schools. In addition to this requisite length of years of employment, the performance and credentials of any candidate for principal-ship are meticulously evaluated. Likewise, a position that goes between the position of teachers and principal – which, in effect, further cuts the possibility for anyone’s promotion and limits the number of potential teachers for promotion – adds up another factor that turns Emirati men off from teaching profession. Now, that majority of school workforce is comprised by female Emirati does not mean that they get paid more and get better treatment than Emirati male school workers. The reasons, as the literature review of this paper supports, point to some cultural considerations. For one, school is very helpful for Emirati women’s observance of modesty. Schools are gender-segregated; hence, women are spared from occasions of mingling or working with men. In the same token, as Emirati females find their professional niche – as it were – they view it as an instance of liberation in terms of their being able to break the cultural shackles that relegate them to the traditional roles of child rearing and home/housekeeping. Conclusion What comes to the surface as an explanation on the phenomenon of less number of Emirati male teachers in public schools is an interesting interfacing of the factors of institutional flaws and cultural conditionings. Simply said, the UAE government and its MoE are to blame for the country’s issue on the number of Emirati male teachers. Financially, teaching post in public schools is not enticing. Professionally, it is similarly not promising since prospect for promotion or advancement is quite bleak. This observation is shared by the popular media and the published studies of researches such as those of Ridge (2009). Hence, experts who have devoted time and resources to study this issue all begin their prognosis with recommendations that deal with the institutional font of the problem – e.g. review and improve the very process of selection itself so as to get the best and the brightest local graduates to teach; offer the teachers appropriate compensation, which in effect means revise the salary scheme for the teachers making it as attractive as what the other industries or government agencies offer; provide trainings, which would harness the teachers’ professional competence and boost their confidence; and open up future advancement or avenues for promotions that are primarily based on competence and skills. Accordingly, when these steps are taken, teaching profession will be seen by male Emirati as possible career option for life. Actually, these institutional limitations to attract and retain male Emirati teachers feed on and/or are reinforced by the culture of the Emirati that designates the men in the families as the breadwinners. When an Emirati male reaches the educational stage and the legal age that would allow him to work and earn for the family, he would drop out of the school and apply as either for military or police training. (This is another institutional factor that also needs to be studied – that is, that military and police training courses are ready to take in Emirati men even with minimal education and grant them a monthly pay that is higher than what a teacher actually gets is in effect contributing to the depletion – as it were – of the supply of Emirati male teachers in the public schools). We may see the significance of this cultural factor when we look at what appears now as feminization of public teaching posts in UAE. Definitely, women Emirati teachers do not get higher pay, more benefits and/or more social recognition for their profession. But, they do not leave the job. What this paper infers is that Emirati women teachers do not have the cultural pressure that men counterparts have to contend with. In fact, working in schools even facilitates their fulfillment of the cultural responsibility to be modest. Finally, this paper posits that over all this issue cannot be settled by not making institutional adjustments so as to get more Emirati teachers in the public schools. The solutions that UAE employs, among them the recruitment of male teachers from other Arab countries, prove to be not adequately effective. For education is not simply about learning literacy and numeracy. It ultimately involves the forging of personal and collective identities among the students. And, teachers are effective models for this end. References: Abdulla, F. (2007). 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