Teachers, Teacher Education, and Professional Development
Teacher Education Specific to Reading
In the first cycle of basic education (Grades 1 to 3), there is a single classroom teacher for all subjects except for English language. These teachers are required to hold a bachelor’s degree in Education. In the second and third cycles (Grades 4 to 9), Arabic language is taught by subject specialists who are required to hold a bachelor’s degree in Arabic literature and a postgraduate diploma in education.
Requirements for Ongoing Professional Development in Reading for Teachers
Teachers are offered in-service training on how to conduct the national curriculum, and they are selected to be trained based on evaluation reports written by subject senior teachers, the school principal, and educational supervisors during their regular visits to Arabic classes. Some sustainable professional development obligatory courses, such as Teaching for Learning Academy, are additionally offered to all subject teachers under the umbrella of the Training and Development Directorate in the Ministry of Education. This yearly course, usually carried out by supervisors from the Directorate of Educational Supervision, is mainly concerned with methodologies for teaching, evaluation, and classroom management. After completing the course, teachers are awarded with accredited hours leading to their promotion.
In 2015, the Ministry of Education launched the Literacy Strategy and adopted some programs that target teachersʼ performance development. Examples of training topics include using only classical Arabic in the classroom during Arabic lessons and other subjects taught in Arabic (e.g., mathematics, science, geography, citizenship, history), employing processes and strategies for shared reading, experiencing different approaches in reading classes (e.g., reading for the student, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading), and designing activities and instructional materials for teaching Arabic.