Educational System in Saudi Arabia - Assignment Example

Reflections Name: University: Date: Reflections Question One In Saudi Arabia, the teachers in our educational system are used to the outdated and traditional education’s teacher-centric system whereby the instructor or teacher is seen as crucial important while the students are supposed to listen attentively. I was amused by the fact that the teacher-student interaction is not encouraged. I recall that the teachers in Saudi education system were unfriendly and very strict. They gave us orders that we had to follow regardless of any circumstances. This way of teaching in my view limits the student’s ability to think outside the box; instead, they only memorise what they learn in the classroom. For this reason, the students’ minds have limited ideas and their creativity is destroyed. When I take a look at the thriving educational system models across the globe, I note that their educational practices are completely from that of Saudi Arabia. The Finnish school-going children, for instance, are allowed to relax when they get to their schools by removing their shoes. On the other hand, the Saudi children they are made to stand in lines daily during the morning assemblies. For this reason, it becomes hard for the Saudi students to be attentive like their counterparts in Finland. International evidence as cited by Stoll, Agnes, McMahon, Wallace, and Thomas (2006) indicates that the progress of educational reform lies squarely with the collective as well as the individual capacity of the teachers and also its relation to school-wide ability to promote students’ learning. In view of this, I believe that it is critical for Saudi schools to build capacity. Capacity, according to Stoll, Agnes, McMahon, Wallace, and Thomas (2006), is a multifaceted combination of positive learning, skill, motivation, organisational culture and conditions, as well as support infrastructure. I believe that this capacity would offer Saudi’s school systems and school communities the power to participate in as well as sustain learning in the fullness of time. Therefore, professional learning communities (PLCs) development seems holding the pledge significantly for sustainable improvement through capacity building. As mentioned by Wang (2015), many countries are facing one major educational challenge, which is achieving higher learning levels for every student. In Saudi Arabia, we considered teaching as the most influential factor in the achievement of students, but there are no serious efforts to improve teaching quality in the country. Wang (2015) asserts that governments, education systems, and schools are placing more emphasis on PLCs concept because they perceive it as a promising vehicle for securing teaching quality improvements and improving the learning outcomes of the students. A lot of studies as cited by Wang (2015) have established that there is a significant and positive relationship between improvement of teachers’ practices as well as student achievement and PLCs. I think that if Saudi Arabia could create PLCs-supportive structures, the school systems would be able to sustain activities which are fundamental elements of school professionalisation. I have learned that a trusting and open professional culture is the main feature attributed to successful schools, and it highly relies on leadership and encouragement from the executive staff as well as the principal. Question Two With the view to the lecture and unit readings, I have learned that teachers’ collaboration has much value since it is associated with instructional practices and strategies that focus on the students’ needs. I have also noted that school leaders play an important part in developing collaboration cultures since in most cases they facilitate the collaboration. Professional learning communities have a number of benefits; for instance, it facilitates the development of productive relationships which is needed for collaboration, partnering, and performing improvement in schools. I have discerned that PLCs facilitate engagement of educators at every level in context, consistent and collective-specific learning. PLCs also addresses inequities in learning as well as teaching opportunities by offering support to teachers working with learners that need more assistance. The PLCs fundamentals in my view have to be present for the Saudi communities to function effectively as well as to become sustained. To facilitate professional development in Saudi schools, I believe that the school leaders should facilitate the professional development. I have learned that PLCs work efficiently when they are school-based, sustained, as well as included in the teachers’ day-to-day work. The PLCs effectiveness relies on educators’ collaboration ability. In Saudi Arabia, I noted that efforts to promote collaboration amongst the teachers unavoidably crashed into the teacher isolation tradition. Insignificant collaboration between educators has made it challenging to determine the best practices for the students. PLC has been defined by Harris (2013), as groups of school leaders or teachers, which are also referred as networked learning communities or learning networks. Clearly, this definition is not only expansive, but also inclusive since it facilitates varied involvement as well as wide participation. A number of studies as cited by Harris (2013) consider PLCs as merely a shorthand approach of unfolding the learning organisation’s cultural attributes, values, and norms. All in all, PLC is a way of transforming the professional practice with the objective of improving the learning community. Therefore, PLCs mainly consists of support staff, administrators, and teachers in a number of schools. I concur with Harris (2013) that PLCs provide a platform for not only learning but also mutual inquiry. Furthermore, they enable teachers to inquire about their practice. The focus of PLC, in my view, is associated with sustaining teacher as well as student learning. Therefore, the Saudi professional educators must work purposefully and collectively in order to generate as well as sustain a learning culture for every student. According to Hipp and Huffman (2010), the increasing accountability expectations in the schools has forced the school leaders to look for other ways to address issues such as teacher retention and morale as well as the growing challenge of addressing the diverse needs of the marginalised students. I agree with Hipp and Huffman (2010) that maintaining PLCs is the most suitable way towards school reform. Evidently, we have to learn and work together in order to get rid of the failure, distrust, apathy, as well as fear in schools threatening not only to the administrators and teachers but also the students. Question Three I think that supportive and shared leadership have helped in the identified dimensions considering that the PLC defining characteristics is that decision-making, as well as authority, are shared. I have come to realise that shared leadership entails the sharing authority and power amongst the school administrators; thus, allowing for decision-making input as well as nurturing leadership between staffs. I understand that when community members and teachers share leadership, they start feeling committed to actions and ownership of decisions. In Saudi Arabia context, principals hardly communicate their belief into professional learning communities to every stakeholder; thus, it becomes impossible to create structures that promote shared decision-making and leadership. I think that it is imperative for the Saudi principals to share leadership by allowing the teachers to take different leadership roles associated with learning and teaching. According to Huffman (2011), as schools’ accountability increase and issues regarding teacher and administrator retention and morale grow, meeting the diverse needs of the marginalised students has become challenging. As a result, school leaders have been forced to look for changes in order to address such challenges. For change to be successful, Huffman (2011) posits that the leaders must utilise the student data to examine the context of their school. I consider that leaders should allow for shared decision making or implementation of the best practices will be held up. Scores of educators, as observed by Huffman (2011), believe the PLC model could drum up change efforts with the aim of addressing such critical issues. Therefore, the PLC process needs planning implementation that is thoughtful, coordinated and creativity to persistently press forward student achievement. The objective of engaging in the PLC process is improving education results; for that reason, DuFour and DuFour (2013) assert that it is inappropriate to maintain that the PLC process should not concentrate on results. In Saudi Arabia, schools often concentrate on inputs and processes; therefore, they have been assuming that selecting the right curriculum guarantees improved learning if a suitable teaching strategy is used. I noted that the suitable teaching strategy for Saudis is buying the right textbook, having a suitable schedule, improving the requirements for graduation, and so on. In view of DuFour and DuFour (2013) study, it is clear that this assumption is undoubtedly incorrect. I agree that continuous improvement in schools can be achieved if schools stop focusing on inputs and activities and start concentrating on outcomes and results. The district leaders and school leaders, according to DuFour and DuFour (2013), should support teams culturally as well as logistically. In my knowledge, supporting the teams logistically connotes that the leaders have to make sure that the teachers get the student learning evidence in a user-friendly and timely manner. In Saudi Arabia, professional development programs have to be established in order to prepare school staff such as teachers for teaching practices. Question Four Effective education practices can be achieved by creating supportive dialogue conditions as well as developing a collaborative culture in the schools. I have realised that PLCs play a crucial role in engaging school staff at every level in processes which together search for new knowledge as well as means of knowledge application to their work. Without a doubt, collaboration is an important PLC component, and it is widely utilised as critical for developing schools as professional learning communities. I believe that collaborative work is based on reflective inquiry or dialogue, where members of the staff carry out conversations regarding students as well as learning and teaching, recognising associated problems and issues. Collectively and collaboratively, teachers participate in reflective dialogue regarding the data with the objective of changing, modifying, and improving the instructional program. Without a doubt, when educators or instructors share information as well as develop processes that allow them to work collaboratively, it becomes easier to apply strategies that work effectively for students. I understand that supportive conditions establish where and when as well as how the staff often unite as a unit to perform the creative work, decision making, learning, and problem-solving characterising the PLC. Establishing an environment that allows staff to share continuously, it becomes possible to establish and sustain supportive conditions. According to Timperley (2008), professional learning is shaped strongly by the environment where the teacher practises such as a classroom. Consequently, this is influenced strongly by the broader the community, school culture as well as society where the school is located. The day-to-day experiences in the context of their practice shape their understandings. I have noted that many teachers have higher expectations of their students, which according to Timperley (2008), is attributed to professional learning experiences focussing on connections between certain teaching-related activities. As mentioned by Jensen (2012), some of the high-performing education systems’ characteristics include taking notice of what is and is not working and focusing on measuring success. Collaborative and supportive culture can be achieved by understanding the needs as well as the state of the education system. More importantly, the teachers should be valued, and their profession must be considered as complex. Jensen (2012) mention that in-school support and teacher professional development are crucial to the implementation of cultural and behavioural change in classrooms and schools. Therefore, I think that a supportive dialogue conditions and collaborative culture can be created in Saudi Arabia by allowing teachers to embark on professional development in order to facilitate the development of competencies. In so doing, it would become easier to implement reform through professional development model. Additionally, the programs for in-school support would offer the teachers’ expert support in reforms implementation. Jensen (2012) posits that the support consists of collaborative research and development projects as well as lesson planning. Besides that, professional development consists of sharing sessions, study groups, workshops as well as consultancy services for pedagogy and curriculum issues. Collaborative culture can also be achieved by changing the working and teaching time. Question Five In their study, Lomos, Hofman, and Bosker (2011) try to examine the professional community concept with the objective of clarifying its connection to student achievement. This was achieved through literature review and meta-analysis. While reviewing the literature, they observed that the main goal of all changes and processes in education is to positively influence the performance of the students. A number of studies as cited by Lomos, Hofman, and Bosker (2011) have highlighted the idea that the professional community significance is associated ultimately with the student achievement, improvements. The authors bring forth an all-inclusive synthesis of existing theories as well as their significance for professional community concept operationalisation as well as conceptualization. Their meta-analysis reports a significant summary effect, which shows that in the professional community in the school environment has to improve student achievement. They observed that professional community effect was relatively small but clear and can be explicated by the happening of probable facilitators and mediators in the educational effects framework. The authors observed that scores of quantitative studies had analysed professional community relationship with other characteristics of teacher or school. The findings of these quantitative studies demonstrated that professional community is as well associated with increased number of student achievement predictors, which based on the pathway or multilevel perspective may be seen as generating indirect effects. Some of the previous studies proposed and examined the same comprehensive model of reciprocal or mediated effects regarding professional community. I have noted that the authors’ study findings demonstrate that that the relationship between student achievement as well as professional community lacks a strong direct causality. However, this does not connote that student achievement would be enhanced if professional community exists in the schools. Lomos, Hofman, and Bosker (2011) meta-analysis proves that student achievement is positively and significantly affected by the professional community. In Vescio, Ross, and Adams (2008) study, they note that 70% of the studies they reviewed were noteworthy since the researchers were independent of those facilitating the PLC work. The authors emphasise that the research conducted by the facilitators irrespective of how the methodology used is rigorous, the study will always have some bias. The studies that the authors reviewed offered a basis for providing improvements. They observed that learning communities provide a basis for building a momentum of the changing paradigm in teachers’ professional development as well as the students learning. The authors provide a review of one English study as well as 10 American studies with regard to the PLCs effect on student learning and teaching practices. I found it interesting that there are only a few numbers of empirical studies that examine the PLCs effect on student learning and teaching practice. Most of the studies reviewed by Vescio, Ross, and Adams (2008) established that strong PLCs positively influence student achievement as well as teaching practice. With the view to both studies, I have observed that PLCs play a crucial role not only to the collective inquiry, but also student achievement and teaching practice. It allows the teachers and students to develop new capabilities and skills, which consequently result in new awareness and experiences. In my view, the PLC members in Saudi Arabia should work and learn collaboratively so as to improve teaching practice and student achievement. Question Six I have learned that leadership plays an important part in PLCs; for instance, leaders oversee staff cooperation. After establishing core values such as honesty, trust, loyalty, cohesion and participation, collaboration begins to develop in the school’s culture. As mentioned by Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008), the principal’s ultimate goal is becoming the ‘leader of leaders’. While reviewing the instructional leadership impact on student outcomes, Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008) noted that the effects size contributed indirectly by principals towards the student learning is somehow small, but statistically significant. Almost half of the studies cited by Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008) established that impact of transformational leadership on social or academic student outcomes was small and indirect. Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008) observed that the instructional leadership effect on student outcomes was fourfold that of transformational leadership. They observed that leadership involves some dimensions or practices such as resourcing strategically; establishing expectations and goals; curriculum planning, evaluation, and coordination; taking part in teacher development and learning; as well as making sure that the school environment is supportive and orderly. While comparing instructional and transformational leadership and the above-mentioned dimensions, Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008) observed that the more leaders emphasise their learning, their work, and their relationships on the teaching and learning core business, their impact on student outcomes is greater. I find it remarkable that leadership is closely related to effective teacher learning and teaching. In this regard, I believe that aligning leadership with the teaching practices in Saudi Arabia can lead to improved student outcomes. Louis, Dretzke, and Wahlstrom (2010) observed that shared leadership is crucially important for the creation of learning organisation whereby efforts directed towards means of improving instructional capacity could have an effect on student learning. The authors established that there were numerous critical dissimilarities between secondary and elementary schools which are specifically crucial in creating effective school leadership theory. Leadership exercise as emphasised by the authors for student achievement seems is simple in elementary as compared to secondary settings. Furthermore, the authors observed that instructional leadership have indirect effects, which are equally significant. Personally, I have noted that a principal who often visits classrooms and model effective teaching through collaborating with the teachers, individual interventions becomes less significant. Proponents of instructional leadership stress that maintaining a singular emphasis on the classroom is very important since it helps in improving student achievement but the school leader should be the model. On the other hand, the advocates of teacher leadership, as well as shared leadership, emphasise the significance of developing a learning organisation where everyone is concentrating on leadership for learning. In my view, I think that improving the student's outcomes can be achieved by combining instructional as well as transformational leadership. Still, teacher leadership and shared leadership play an important role in improving the student achievement. References DuFour, R., & DuFour, R. (2013). Using Relevant, Information to Improve Result. In Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work TM (pp. 181-201). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. Harris, A. (2013). Distributed Leadership: Professional Learning Communities. In Distributed Leadership Matters (pp. 89-113). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. Hipp, K. K., & Huffman, J. B. (2010). Demystifying Professional Learning Communities: School Leadership at Its Best. Lanham, Maryland: R&L Education. Huffman, J. B. (2011). Professional Learning Communities in the USA: Demystyfying, Creating, and Sustaining. The International Journal of Learning, 17(11), 321-336. Jensen, B. (2012). Catching up: Learning from the best school systems in East Asia. Summary Report, Grattan Institute, Carlton VIC . Lomos, C., Hofman, R. H., & Bosker, R. J. (2011). Professional communities and student achievement – a meta-analysis. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 22(2), 121-148. Louis, K. S., Dretzke, B., & Wahlstrom, K. (2010). How does leadership affect student achievement? Results from a national US survey. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 21(3), 315–336. Robinson, V. M., Lloyd, C. A., & Rowe, K. J. (2008). The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes: An Analysis of the Differential Effects of Leadership Types. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(5), 635-674. Stoll, L., Agnes, R. B., McMahon, Wallace, M., & Thomas, S. (2006). Professional Learning Communities: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Educational Change, 7(4), 221–258. Timperley, H. (2008). Teacher professional learning and development. International Academy of Education. Belley, France: Imprimerie Nouvelle Gonnet. Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 80–91. Wang, T. (2015). Contrived collegiality versus genuine collegiality: demystifying professional learning communities in Chinese schools. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 45(6), 908–930. Read More