Teacher Leadership and Educational Reforms (Research Paper Sample)

59182048387000Global Journal of Management and Business Research
Volume 12 Issue 22 Version 1.0 Year 2012
Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA)
Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853
Teacher Leadership and Educational Reforms in UAE
By Syed Nadeem Abbas
Mohammad Ali Jinnah University Islamabad
-5962652476500
Abstract - This paper is an attempt to highlight operational deficiencies in the execution of educational reforms in UAE with relation to academic leadership. However, this study concluded that UAE is not ready for the change of this magnitude because of its rigid culture.
GJMBR Classification : JEL Code : A29
Teacher Leadership and Educational Reforms in UAE
Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of :
545084023812500
© 2012. Syed Nadeem Abbas. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Teacher Leadership and Educational Reforms in
UAE
Syed Nadeem Abbas
-1270018605500
Abstract - This paper is an attempt to highlight operational deficiencies in the execution of educational reforms in UAE with relation to academic leadership. However, this study concluded that UAE is not ready for the change of this magnitude because of its rigid culture.
* Introduction
3164205-12446000T eacher is a leader because; he has the responsibility to change the perception of his students in order to transform them into better
future citizens of a society. However, professors are the ones who have the most permanent impact on the lives
of their students, pertaining to this fact teachers often have to foresee the future demands of their respective fields. So that they can train their students according to the changing demands of the market therefore, it can be assumed that leadership is one of the prime duties of a teacher.
The cultural and contextual outlook of UAE does not provide an environment that is ideal for the propagation of academic leadership because, teaching is considered as an inferior profession in Arab world thus, preventing teachers from exercising leadership. In this kind of scenario, million-dollar investment in educational sector is a waste because; it will be unable to change the prehistoric mindset of Arabs towards education.
II. Problem Statement and Methodology
The major problem that this study wants to analyze stems from the impact of introduction of educational reforms in UAE educational system upon the due ability of teachers to demonstrate effective leadership. However, to analyze the problem, this paper will review the existing literature on the topic and register findings in coming stages.
* Purpose of The Study
The fundamental purpose of this study is to provide a firm theoretical base for a detailed future empirical study that will quantify "the impact of educational reforms UAE on teachers’ capacity for leadership”.
1270026987500
Author : Mohammad Ali Jinnah University Islamabad.
E-mail : ndhaider2000@yahoo.com
IV.Literature Review
At the same time, teacher also posses the duty to bless his students with confidence but, for the accomplishment of this responsibility teacher should be given job autonomy, so that he can plan his lectures and other related activities in a meaningful way. It is believed by management scholars that leadership can only be practiced in a decentralized chain of command. However, in Muslim countries, indigenous collectivist culture has made educational innovation a dream because; parents want a preplanned future for their children. In this fashion, hindering the teachers’ ability to differentiate them in an international environment, where creativity is a premium skill, which is deliberately abolished by elders in Muslim countries.
Nevertheless, UAE educational ministry has taken some notable steps recently in order to bring educational industry of the country in accordance with international standards. However, UAE and other Muslim nations are far away from true educational development because, in these societies, individuals have not been permitted to achieve their personal goals, rather than they are supposed to follow the obsolete social mechanism of collectivism thus, killing the creativity of individuals, so that they can be assimilated in the society.
In above-mentioned societies, teachers cannot innovate with their teaching methodologies because of rigid cultural aspects, which do not permit people to think differently. Additionally, when people do think differently they are considered as mentally ill. So nobody listens to them, due to this ruthless societal behavior people fear from thinking differently, therefore creativity always come from enlightened nations of west.
However, in developed nations, it is a well-preserved tradition to train teachers in art of advanced leadership, so that they can exercise it during practicing their profession (Coombe, 2009). These institutions are providing able teaching staff for world-renowned universities and institutions for number of centuries. Arab communities are turning towards educational activities and developed culture of collective learning in order to build up their viable human capital in educational sector for the future (Al-Taneiji, 2010). Nevertheless, these steps are proving ineffective in terms of achieving their objectives due to a rigid macro culture of the Arab communities that is not ideally conducive towards intellectual endeavors. Incompetent
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politicians rule Arab and other Muslim nations due to this reason, they do not support intellectual growth of the nation because, they consider enlightened people as a threat to their reign therefore, suppressing educated and open-minded people in order to save their ruling, consequently devastating the intellectual
capital of the nation (Larrabee & Morehead, 2010). In the light of this observation, Arab nations are more committed towards wealth accumulation than strategic national planning. Along with this, they are also loyal to preserve outdated way of life, which clearly does not belong to the modern era of 21st century.
In addition to all else, nationalism is also playing its due role in restricting youth from educating in modern forms of knowledge because, this concept motivates the people of Arab to consider themselves as divine race, which causes a significant cultural hindrance in terms of accepting a foreigner as a teacher. Thus, fresh knowledge is not pumping into the Arabian society.
On the other hand, religious outfit of Islam is believed to be against the education of females and middle class, which obstruct the mental growth of these fundamental factions of Arab society (Kirk, 2009). Nevertheless, in reality Islamic teachings are explicitly supportive towards education of Muslims. Therefore, it is logical to assume that modern Islamic scholars are incapable of understanding and translating Islamic teaching in accordance with the norms of 21st century.
Nonetheless, Arab countries need educationists who should dedicate themselves towards their profession in order to develop massive intellectual base for their countries. However, this objective cannot be achieved without heightened emotional intelligence, so that professors can withstand raw hatred from majority of the people around them (Gallagher, 2011). Therefore, training female staff in teaching is imperative for the educational development of Arab states because, females are used to handle hatred due to their ability to control their emotions effectively. On the other hand, finding and training lefthanders in educating others is also very important because, research considers these individuals with abnormal power of creativity and persuasion, which make them ideal to become effective leaders.
Another important facet of Arab nations is their dying out middle economical class that is responsible to execute the ideas of innovation (Khondker, 2011). But, the phenomenon of unequal distribution of wealth slimmed the middle class of these nations thus, depleting the ability to innovate in Arabians; therefore, they are importing human talent from other countries.
However, these foreigners are not committed towards developing Emirates because; they have their personal agendas to fulfill. These individuals are working in giant oil companies that are extracting oil from Arab world for considerable time. Thus, this observation implied the
presence of foreigner professionals that are leaning onto natural resources of Arab. Thus, this paper foresaw the economical destruction of Arab because of unqualified local population.
In parallel, teacher educational programs are not designed to empower them, but these are designed to make teachers realize their limitations, under this perception, trainers subliminally attempt to discourage their student teachers with creativity because they consider them as a threat to their own positions (Aubrey & Coombe, 2010). This trend amplified another demon of Arabian culture, which is professional jealousy that influenced authoritative individuals to suppressing able youngsters in ...