The future of 'teaching profession' in Qatar?

hello oryx,

from your writing, it gives me an impression that you must be a female NOT male as what is stated on your profile.anyways, i really appreciate your advice to me. thanks yea oryx.

its true that perhaps i am sweet, but i'm also a very firm girl, its not that easy for people to step on my head! its true, and you are right that i am very innocent and lack of exposure to the ill of world, but my personal experiences has taught me to be mature in my journey of life oryx.

i was born and grew up in Asian country, personally i am a bit 'soft' because i am not really exposed to the 'harsh' way of dealing with people. i often use that as a last resort. i may be kind to all people, but i know when is the right time to say "you are too much!"

i have experienced facing all those nasty people, who appear to be 'kind of nice' or something! and in most cases, they are the one who get annoyed by me in the end! because these kind of people need to be dealed 'intellectually' instead of letting them to affect us 'emotionally'. because their motif is just to make us annoyed, so if we can easily get annoyed, so we are actually giving them a chance to win! but if we are just "cool" (neutral) with their nasty behaviour, its like we are not giving them a chance to 'give a kick' on us! that nasty behaviour will soon extinct because it doesnt leads to their desired outcome. yeah, thats the words: "no fun at all, so lets chow!".

anyways, i am happy to know all of you and all of you are very friendly here, you tend to help eachother regardless of their background or whatsoever. hehehe...( you can add it if you want). but seriously speaking, i am not acting to be a 'cool' lady here, but i believe in being good to people will make them embarrase to 'bite hand that feeds them' (if they do have dignity).

because i believe:

darkness cannot overcome darkness,

only light can do that,

hatred cannot overcome hatred,

only love can do that.....

take care guys,

byebye:)

hello guys,

thank you very much for your all precious respondings! i really appreciate them! eventhough some of the information given were a bit 'negative' but i really admire the sense of 'originality' in that negative information.

based on your information, i came to a conclusion that there is a little hope (at least) for me to work there. i agree with all of you that 'experience' is very important for it can supply a smooth performance in our profession. and thus mean, there is a need for me to equip myself with experience before i go there and do the hunting job. this is not a big matter to me, because after i graduate i have 3-5 years contract to work here before i actually leave.

secondly the 'Qualification'. its really sad to hear that some teachers there are not well qualified and yet being given the authority to teach. perhaps, this happens to a private schools or tuition classes in which the owners tend to look more on profits than the quality of their services. because normally the unqualified or less qualified teachers are lowly paid, so there is less expenses spend on teacher's salary, and more income receive by stocking many students in one small classroom.

however, as far a as i know, Qatar is one of the countries that is trying to stand in lines with other countries that called themselves as developed nations. Qatar has started to realized how much important it is to equip their nations with knowledge. because the nations is the asset of the country. only the knowledgeable and educated nations can promote to productive economy to the country, for ignorance nations will eventually erode the resources of the country. so i am very sure the time is nearly to come when Qatar will invest a lot of finance in their education, for they know it is a profitable invesment to the future of Qatar!

and i also agree with all of you that a better qualified (master and PHD holders) will erode my chances of getting the job due to competition. but i am hoping that Qatari people are professional in viewing the field of teaching profession. Qualification sloely doesnt tell us anything! the maximum level of talents and potentials of someone cannot be measured merely on a piece of certificate! i am hoping that Qatari nations are already exposed to the 'multiple intelligences' and 'learning style' that possess by individual. we all have not one, but many talents and abilities, our potentials are varied. we all have strengths and weaknesses among all those multiple intelligences that we possess. we may be weak in one area but advance in other arears, vice verca. it is wrong therefore to label someone as 'unqualified' just because they are weak in one area when there are still many other skills that they are capable in doing so! i claim this to be a bias judgement for this kind judgement tend to point the defects and neglect all that is shining and glittering!

regarding the 'undisiplined' thing. yeah, i agree with that. infect i had read about it before. but this kind of problems happen in most schools and in all countries, even here. but there are many reasons for that to happen, sometimes its more of being influenced by their family background (so we cant do much with it, because we are just a teacher, our priority is to teach. even if we are responsible for it, then parents should hold the responsiblity 'double' than us, because its their own children, they spend more time with them, they gave birth to them, so isnt it also their responsibilty to educate their children???)

viewing through educational field, the way students(individual) behave is affected by many factors. sometimes the environment and clasroom atmosphere will give a great infleunce in the students behaviour. (this is often simply being taken into granted by most teachers-which is a big mistake). a hot, crampy and small classroom with 40 stuednts in a class is NOT motivating at all! so i am not suprised if they are reluctant to go to school and prefer to escape. infect, i would be very suprise if they do the other way around. i am very interested to know regarding the "way of teaching" of Qatari tecahers? do they use 'chalk and talk'?

if thats the only technique being used, then its also another mistake of the teachers themselves. teachers need to be aware that children are not empty vessel waiting to be refill, they come up with prior knowledge and concepts in their mind. therefore, its very important for teachers to acknowledge this in their teaching for it can breed an 'engagement' between the students and the lesson being taught. successful teachings can only be achieved through student's active participations- letting them to learn through investigation and exploration, and discovery learning.(they need to construct their own knowledge insted of being spoon feed! )

furthurmore, most teachers are not aware with the 'learning style' of their students. every student have different prefered learning style, some learn better through vision, hearing, involvement or experiencing. (audio, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic). and how much the students can grab the concept (learn) will depend on how the teaching strategy 'matches' with the students preferred learning style. pls tell me, how much of this 'students' needs' are being catered by the teachers and the schools there?

however, i am very happy because Qatar has just started the programme of 'inclusion and mainstreaming' (letting the 'special kids'-handdicap children flow in the majority by letting them to join the ordinary schools). last time, my lecturer was invited there to give a speech. so i heard from him, there is a demand for special education teachers. here, actually i am specialised in many courses including special education and inclusive education too- education related to handdicap. so i am hoping it can back me up in gaining the chances to get a job there.

personally, its very sad to hear that some of the qatari nations are not yet civilized in viewing the 'special kids' children. i wonder, what defects could people see in them? we will be suprised to discover that actually: someone who loses his eyesight, his hearing will become sharper. and someone who loses his hearing, his vision will become sharper which often lead to a very accurate analysis. thats why we are very sensitive to sound when we sleep, because the lose of sight is being compensated in the level of our hearings. and people like to close their eyes when they kiss because the lose of eyesight is being compensated in the sense of touch. so i really dont see any defects in that 'speecial kids' because their lost of something is being compensated in the perfect mastery of sth else. so one point for them. not like us, we have both eyesight and hearings, but not even one that we really master! infect we are like really deaf and blind when we actually have ears and eyes! we deserve NO points!

i dont know, i think the time has came for us to change our view of thinking and way of looking this life if we really want to promote success in our journey of life. everyone is unique and require special needs, if we keep on pointing the differences of others, we wont reach to the meeting point that can bring us together. i think Qatari society should be together due to our similarities rather than focusing to our differences, when infect 'mainstreaming and inclusion' are all about "UNITY" itself.

wake up Qatariiii... how many more decades for us to be alert?? heheheh.... well i am so sorry to bore you guys with all these. others are the one who are guilty and yet you all here are the one who are being lectured....! its very unfair, isnt it? :)

but anyways, thanks a lot for the respondings, and i love to welcome more precious educational responds from all of you. my educational view of Qatar is getting clear now...

in short, yeah, i am coming to Qatar..... i really love arabic nations and i am born to help them! :)

take care

bye bye:)

jauntie...you tease...I hope...otherwise if Oryx, then scary pink lady is beautiful vision in pink!..

Freedom Fries. And for your information I can pronounce Suffolk.

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. Mahatma Gandhi

well he was the only gay in the village till you moved in.

bloody americans taking over our traditional way of life with their french fries and mispronounced suffixes. tut tut

he is the ONLY gay in the village!

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary. Mahatma Gandhi

apologies for quoting you here:

"Definitely change your name to an anonymous one and change avatar to cutey flowery one like mine or scary pink lady like Oryx."

your avatar is pretty, the scary pink lady IS Oryx ! lol

would love to read the article - i have just been reading the rand report. have you got a web link to it.

if you think qatar is bad dont ever work in Manchester.

Houri, it seems that because there are different standards of schools in Qatar, as a newly qualified and inexperienced teacher, you *may* be able to secure a position in a school in Qatar. And you may think that this is the confirmation that you are looking for. And you may be pleased with this information.

However, the more well-established and reputable schools in Qatar are massively oversubscribed (in terms of school pupils), because of the rapid growth of population, there simply aren't enough school places -- use the search facility on this site for information about "school places", there are frequent posts from parents who complain about waiting lists and not being able to secure a school place for their child.

Because of this, because of the gap in the market, it seems that some schools with lower standards are filling the void, and they may employ teachers who aren't particularly well qualified, or even qualified at all.

In summary, I think the consensus of opinion is that the kind of school that would employ you isn't necessarily the kind of school where you would ideally want to work for if you intend to make teaching your professional career.

Hahaha! Oryx, you're very funny!

"It is so unlike any other country eh? where all the children skip joyfully to school and arrive early to their lessons in wondered anticipation of that day's learning. happens all over Manchester."

One of my friends is a teacher here in Manchester (well a handful of my friends are teachers/lecturers), but one in particular is being given a hard time at the moment by nine year olds in a primary school!

A couple of weeks ago, he'd had a hard day at work, and we were talking about it on the tram on the way to the theatre when a bunch of youths (13-14 years) got on, behaving in a 'lively' manner, swinging from the ceiling height hand rails like they were monkey bars.

Until they noticed my friend, who had previously been "Sir" at their school on a supply teaching assignment. They stopped swinging and larking about, half of them promptly sat down, and the other half continued standing up, but just chatted to him a bit instead.

It was very amusing to see their change in behaviour once they'd spotted "Sir"!

Total back up!

Definitely change your name to an anonymous one and change avatar to cutey flowery one like mine or scary pink lady like Oryx.

Watch out for the sleazo guys. They tend to PM lots of women hoping for one to bite.

Anonymity (sp?) is the way to go.

Thanks Oryx...little angel has fever and tummyache...doc came and said cool compresses and lots of fluids...insha'Allah it will pass.

Unfortunately I was a teacher at an American School and when I look back I regret working there, not because of the teachers but because of the undisciplined students and their parents.

Oryx I suggest you read the article "Think independent: Qatar's education reforms"

by Aylin Erman in

"Harvard International Review"

Volume 28, Issue 4, Pages 11-12

gypsy gal I had an interview at an oil and gas company in Qatar and got rejected because of my citizenship and now I am rethinking my strategy

hope the angel gets better :)

back me up on getting her to change her avatar... and tread carefully b4 being someone's online friend.

Don't get me wrong... I have made some good friends here...but proceed with caution!

Oh yes Oryx, having the correct qualification and experience is absolutely the way to go and that too is what I think this young woman should do.

It was an alert to the scary side of some schools here.

Back you up on what? Not quite with you. Maybe not reading properly...have sick little angel at my side to take care of today.

Vrey true there are a lot of unqualified teachers in many schools here in Doha, those who were teaching in primary schools in their home courty are teaching in higher classes here..there are some teachers even without any qualification in Education. But there are many new schools and lots of oppurtunity for the qualified and experienced teachers.

The inside story of a school by an ex-techer.

http://www.qatarliving.com/node/9674

Kamran - where have you been? you just went missing after your first few days postings.

We having a Qatar bashing day again?

Big tedious sigh.

I am very much in a position to comment: the inside story is that there are good and bad students....ehhhhhhhh just as there are anywhere.

having taught on three continents I don't find Qataris any more or less motivated than there peers anywhere else.

It is so unlike any other country eh? where all the children skip joyfully to school and arrive early to their lessons in wondered anticipation of that day's learning. happens all over Manchester.

yeah right la la land...teaching in Qatar has a lot of merits.

Diamond Girl

She sounds like a bright young lady and so I assumed she would want to follow a more professional career path.

But yes... in Qatar there should be no tin pot organisations with unqualified semi-illiterate adolescents teaching. It should be illegal as with other professions when you give yourself the title without having the qualifications.

Nouri - you pm'd me which is confidential. However I am older than you and I have a lot more experience of men and the world than you - so I am going to pull rank and hope Diamond Girl backs me up.

You are very sweet - but naive to the ills of the world...

Sadly that means goodness can get you taken advantage of - so you must filtre out those who can cause you harm:

change the picture

don't invite people openly to be your friend.

This isn't being rude this is called being prudent and discerning.

You don't leave your house door open for anyone to walk in - you check first to see if it is safe. Do the same for yourself.

There are many things out there you havent' been exposed to and

I surely hope you never will. Look after yourself. Idealism is wonderful but don't let that slip to foolishness.

Well frankly the future of teachers is very bright and prosperous in Qatar as new schools and universities are opening up in Qatar.

Unfortunately I cant say the same about the future of the students stuyding in Qatar as most of them have no desire and are being forced to study. If you dont believe me go to Doha College or go to the American School of Doha and talk to the teachers "off the record". They will tell you the inside story

Oryx is right, you should remove your pic right away and change to an anonymous name. Silly saddos roaming around this site will send you 'friendly' messages which is annoying at best.

Oryx explained the correct and most appropriate path to choose to have a chance at weorking at a 'bona fide' school here in doha.

However there are several if not many schools which will employ people without any teaching qualification or experience whatsoever. To me this is scary but this is the reality in Doha.

Oryx, have you heard about some of these schools? I for one would not want my child to be taught by someone who does not have the requisite qualification. I think this is an issue for the Ministry of Education.

first of all - i would change your avatar to a cartoon or something as you will get some creepy guys pming you and seem a really nice person and i dont want you to get any hassle - if you do - pm me.

also don't use your real name so freely.

now to work here you will need an internationally recognised teaching qualification such as a PGCE.

try and get about 3 years experience at a good international school in Brunei... maybe one working to the British curriculum.

qatar isn't the place for people with no experience but a few years of proven track record in a good international school will do fine.

the best website to look for jobs and see what employees look for is: www.tes.co.uk there is a huge demand for primary school teachers and you have a bright future :) best wishes oryx