We have been asked about the Royal decrees that have recently been issued in Saudi Arabia and whether it will impact on International ESL teacher demand.
The decrees have instructed education officials to find short and long term solutions for the increasing number of graduates with teaching degrees and diplomas and to use these in preference to teachers from outside the kingdom.
According to information from Okaz/Saudi Gazette, over 22,004 teachers have applied for teaching jobs at the Ministry of Civil Service, of which 16,729 are female teachers. There are 17,936 jobs occupied by non-Saudi teachers, 3,515 by women.
The Royal Decrees also ordered the ministries of Education and Higher Education to improve the academic level of students and inspect the plans of educational institutions to ensure they are appropriate for students.
Officials have also been asked to set up a commission to assess public and private education, choose competent teachers, give school principals more incentives, implement programs to enhance the partnership with the private sector and train male and female teachers.
The Ministry of Education has instructed its administrations to provide accurate statistics on the number and nationality of students, teachers, principals and staff at private schools.
It also wants information about academic qualifications and monthly salaries of all teachers and administrative staff.
Therefore on the face of it the plans would appear to dampen the overall demand but having taken soundings from within Saudi Arabia we believe in the near term that the impact might actually increase demand. Why?
- There is a current shortfall not being supplied at present.
- The move from the private sector to the public sector has seen up to 1 in 4 teachers leave their private sector post.
- The Saudi "teachers" may not be to the standard to teach ESL at higher levels so the University sector is unlikely to be effected.
- The teachers themselves may need to be trained.
As one experienced international educator put it to us " This is a bit of KSA sabre rattling we get from time to time, in my opinion the next 5-10 years look like boom time for the educational sector. As a supplier we are much more concerned with the supply side of the equation than the demand side which we expect to remain robust not just within KSA but throughout the Middle East"
We wouldn't argue with this judgment and continue to recruit strongly in the sector and interested ESL teachers can register by going here
Author: Chris Slay
European Recruitment Agency will allow our articles/quotes to be reproduced on other formats as long as full accreditation is given.
