Identity Loss in the Strict Religious Context of Saudi Arabian Schools (Published)
Saudi Arabia is experiencing an era of policy reform across different government departments, including the education system. However, these plans have attracted criticism from those who see these new educational paradigms as a threat to the vitality of the Islamic identity that characterizes conservative members of Saudi society. Adopting a descriptive discursive approach, this paper sheds light on the objections raised to the changes and considers whether fears that such reforms constitute attempts to reconstruct the religious ident, ity of the younger generation via the public-school curriculum are justified. The analysis shows that these reconstructive attempts can be seen as a way of exposing children to an unfamiliar culture by supplying teaching materials laden with ideological content, allowing a new policy of mixed-sex education, and reintroducing the teaching of previously banned subjects.
Citation: Khalid Hudhayri (2021) Identity Loss in the Strict Religious Context of Saudi Arabian Schools, British Journal of Education, Vol. 9, Issue 11, pp.16-22
Keywords: English Language, Identity, Islam, Music, Saudi Arabia, gender-mixed education
Saudi Arabian Educational Reforms: A Road from Traditionalism to Modernization (Published)
People are the true wealth of any nation. Adequately prepared and well educated, they can push a country towards development and prosperity. With this in mind, the Saudi Arabian government has always believed that developing the nation’s citizens is not only an investment but a sacred duty too. Yet, it has faced social resistance in implementing change for fear of losing national identity to globalization, which is felt through the current debates in the media and official arenas. But the country is working hard to reach a platform of modernized ideas and beliefs that the majority can agree on. Then Saudi Arabia will be able to rise to the level of the developed countries without losing its culture nor identity. In this Study, the author utilized a descriptive method in order to provide a brief description of the country’s demographic characteristics, trends in education before and after 1953, and indicated the Saudi philosophy of education upon which everything else in the educational system is built through presenting the structure of the educational system including policies. Issues related to general education, special education and post-school education are presented. Major developments in the Saudi educational system after 1953 in general, and 1990 in specific will be discussed. Finally, government efforts to overcome current educational issues will be delineated to demonstrate how the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be able to move forward towards modernization without jeopardizing its religion, language, culture, or identity.
Keywords: Educational Reforms, Modernization, Saudi Arabia, Traditionalism
How Can In-Service Development Take a Part in Saudi English Teacher Development? (Published)
This paper presents a solution to how in-service development in Saudi Arabia can enhance the lack of English language proficiency of Saudi Arabian EFL teachers. The paper examines the problem and mentioned that a lack of English language proficiency and development was an issue that needed to be addressed. In the literature review particular theories were reviewed, which helped to explain the issues that the KSA is currently facing with a solution suggested.
Keywords: Education, English as Foreign Language, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia Educational Map- From Sand Dunes towards Western Skyscrapers Platforms (Published)
This paper explores the emergence of the concept of education and its ideological roots vis-s-vis Islamic principles and pedagogy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Hence, a general description of the Saudi Arabian educational system and a general account of how and when education was first introduced into the KSA is a necessary step to provide a complete picture the system of education and its rapid developments towards E-learning and/or distance learning status. In fact, all legal decisions within the Kingdom; however, are based on the Sharia Law-Islamic law as set forth by the Holy Qur’an, as stated in the Education Policy document. Therefore, according to Islamic studies constitute a major portion of the curriculum at the educational levels, and even science textbooks emphasize Islamic notions. This, in turn, may propose some obstacles in learning and teaching distance education from a Western ideological perspective. Therefore, the paper will lay out some of these hindrances and pedagogical implication in how to transition from traditional towards a more modern pedagogical education paradigm within the KSA.
Keywords: Education, Ideology, Islamic, Pedagogy, Policy Documents, Saudi Arabia, Western
Relationship between Teachers’ Effective Communication and Students’ Academic Achievement at the Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia (Published)
Effective Communication between faculty members and students is one of the concerns of the educational stakeholders at the Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia. This study investigates the relationship between teachers’ effective communication and students’ academic achievement at the Northern Border University. The survey questionnaire containing 26 items was administered on 100 students, 50 males and 50 females to ask about their perception towards the effective communication of the faculty members and their academic achievement at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Northern Border University in the City of Arar, Saudi Arabia. The results of the Descriptive statistics method showed that, almost more than half of the students agreed that, the friendly and understanding position maintained by their faculty members had helped them to highly achieve academically. The results of the independent sample T-test found no statistically significant differences between the students ‘academic achievement and their faculty members’ verbal communication across the respondents’ gender and year of study. The study recommended for the Northern Border Authority as well as the Saudi Government looking into other areas that might bring about the effective communication of the staff and the students’ academic achievement in the University.
Keywords: Academic Achievement, Effective Communication, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia
Relationship between Teachers’ Effective Communication and Students’ Academic Achievement at the Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia (Published)
Effective Communication between faculty members and students is one of the concerns of the educational stakeholders at the Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia. This study investigates the relationship between teachers’ effective communication and students’ academic achievement at the Northern Border University. The survey questionnaire containing 26 items was administered on 100 students, 50 males and 50 females to ask about their perception towards the effective communication of the faculty members and their academic achievement at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Northern Border University in the City of Arar, Saudi Arabia. The results of the Descriptive statistics method showed that, almost more than half of the students agreed that, the friendly and understanding position maintained by their faculty members had helped them to highly achieve academically. The results of the independent sample T-test found no statistically significant differences between the students ‘academic achievement and their faculty members’ verbal communication across the respondents’ gender and year of study. The study recommended for the Northern Border Authority as well as the Saudi Government looking into other areas that might bring about the effective communication of the staff and the students’ academic achievement in the University.
Keywords: Academic Achievement, Effective Communication, Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia