Decision-Making and the Power of Teachers in the KSA

A common theme that emerged from the interviews with the head teachers related to how teachers are viewed in Saudi Arabian culture. Many of the participants’ comments portrayed KSA teachers as powerful figures in making decisions in the classroom. The head teachers of participating schools clearly felt that the classroom teacher was the key authority in the process of deciding who was a gifted learner (in English or any other subject). For example, when participants were asked about the strategies they use to identify GELLs in their school (e.g., IQ tests, teacher nominations and/or students’ behaviour in class), they replied as follows:

Not sure. You can ask the teachers. I am here doing office work only and not teaching.

(HTs1/004)

Teachers’ nomination is enough. (HTs10/004)

When asked about the support that their schools provided once learners had been identified as a GELLs, HTs9 responded;

As a head teacher, there is nothing I can help them [gifted learners] with. That is something that should come from the teachers, the Ministry or their family. (HTs9/007)

When asked who identifies learners as a GELLs in her school, HTs3 replied their EFL teachers were responsible for GELL identification, and when she was asked if she agreed with this identification method, she replied:

It is the only way we can decide whether the student is gifted or not. (HTs3/005)

Head teachers clearly asserted that EFL teachers were best placed to know the characteristics and features of GELLs. Head teachers also suggest that the EFL teacher was the only person who was responsible for monitoring and identifying gifted learners. This theme was common among many of the head teachers who participated in the study. In fact, many head teachers confirmed that they do not have to know about the identification strategies for gifted learners (including GELLs) applied in their schools as this was the teacher’s role. Head teachers might not know how to apply these strategies themselves, or they might not have been taught

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how to deal with these strategies. These findings are consistent with the fact that the General Administration for Gifted Students in Saudi Arabia considers teacher identification as an important factor in identifying gifted learners, even if previous research indicates that teachers have no official strategies in place to identify gifted learners or support them within regular classrooms (Al Qarni, 2010).

The data collected from the field of the current study portrays certain contradictions in the process of identifying GELLs in the KSA. Normally, the strategies used in the KSA schools are based on the Ministry of Education’s definition; learners are required to meet at least three of the above criteria to be labelled as “gifted.” Those who fit these criteria are supposed to be enrolled into centres administered by the MAWHIBA Gifted Programmes (Aljughaiman and Grigorenko, 2013). In practice, the findings of the current study indicate that the identification process within these Saudi schools varies from school to school. Some schools use achievement test scores while others use learners’ general ability tests or the WISC-R. While many schools rely on teacher identification as the only method to identify gifted learners. Therefore, it was important to investigate whether head teachers accepted the identification strategies used by their EFL teachers. In this study, many of the head teachers who were interviewed agreed with the strategies that their EFL teachers used to identify GELLs:

Observing and recording how children deal with challenges and creative tasks given by the teacher is an important criterion and is fair enough to follow in identification.

(HTs7/005)

I think the teacher can use the best strategies, as it is their responsibility. (HTs1/005)

The students’ behaviours recognised by their teachers are sufficient to identify them.

(HTs2/005)

The teacher deals with them and knows best the strengths and weaknesses of the students. So, teachers are able to identify them successfully. (HTs5/005)

When it comes to deciding which learners are gifted and which are not, for the most part, head teachers in the current study accepted their EFL teachers’ identification strategies

within their schools. Presumably, this authority of the EFL teacher to decide issues of giftedness is the result of the huge responsibility given to KSA teachers. Oyaid (2009) points out that major responsibilities are given to teachers in Saudi schools as providers of knowledge to learners and as educators of both moral and human values. Further, in the Islamic culture teachers are normally respected. Khan (2014) claims that teachers and prophets have the same respectful state in Islam. It is unclear however whether head teachers’ acceptance of teachers’ decisions regarding gifted learners can be regarded as trust, respect or avoidance of responsibility as head teachers in being a part of identification process. This finding parallels the findings of Hanoreh (2003), who suggests that some head teachers in Saudi schools did not fill their role of identifying and supporting gifted learners or promoting teachers to deal with the gifted learners adequately.

Considering all these factors, the coordination between EFL teachers and the participating head teachers concerning gifted learner identification strategies could be described as limited because of the head teachers’ low conception of the identification strategies used in their schools. Vialle et al. (2001) argue that every school needs to have a clear understanding of the identification strategies that are used to identify gifted learners in their schools. In the same line, there were slightly different opinions from some of the head teachers regarding the effectiveness of these strategies. The head teachers interviewed in this study argued that an EFL teacher’s strategies had to be accepted even if the strategies were questionable, and the teachers’ position and role in the school had to be acknowledged:

Even I feel that the teachers are uncomfortable with their nomination sometimes, but we have to do so as we have no other choice because we are sometimes asked by the Ministry to upload a list of gifted students’ names. (HTs10/005)

Anyway, we have to follow what the teachers think about them [gifted learners]

because the teacher practices and deals with the students and has good insight into their real academic levels. (HTs8/005)

Not totally, as some of the teachers identify different students to a previous class teacher so if the students identify from teacher last year, the new teacher will believe on that without any efforts from her to see where are the abilities in these students.

(HTs6/005)

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These head teachers stated that EFL teachers’ identification strategies seemed to be working and were accepted by the school administrators regardless of whether the administrators completely trusted the validity of these strategies. One possible reason for their acceptance of EFL teachers’ strategies could be their need to fulfil their role as school administrators.

Administrators may have to accept EFL teachers’ strategies because they are required to submit a list of gifted learners to the Ministry of Education. However, even if teachers are considered a valuable source of information in Saudi schools, these head teachers felt that EFL teachers may have challenges preventing them from accurately identifying GELLs such as the rigidity of the curriculum, lack of knowledge and teacher education in general as asserted by Kanevsky and Keighley (2003) and Brown et al. (2005).

There were a few head teachers that expressed their dissatisfaction with current GELL identification. Unsurprisingly, some head teachers requested training for their EFL teachers to reduce variations in the giftedness of those who were identified as GELL:

We need to have good training for teachers to deal with gifted learners, English language learners and then with gifted English learners. (HTs4/008)

We need trainings for teachers to identify gifted learners appropriately, then try to help gifted learners according to their ability’s needs. (HTs7/008)

I think the lack of a training programme for the teachers is a big barrier. Teachers do not receive any training at all for gifted English language learners, while we have them for math and science, especially with the MAWHIBA Programme. (HTs5/008)

These head teachers asserted that EFL teachers need training to know how to deal with GELLs effectively. This suggests that relying on a teacher’s evaluation has been taken for granted in the sense that every EFL teacher has been given the right to identify GELLs, even those who have not been trained to work with gifted learners. Head teachers confirmed that teachers have some training for dealing with gifted learners for math and science teachers only, which was also asserted by Al-Makhalid (2012). These head teachers suggest that some type of training for EFL teachers was required in order to improve their ability to deal with gifted learners in the English language learning context. These head teachers might believe that EFL teachers themselves could have low levels of English language proficiency and limited experience with teaching practices, which are needed to meet the requirements of

their learners’ abilities, as asserted by Alfahadi (2014) and Elyas (2008). According to Elyas (2008), even if EFL teachers in the KSA have a degree in English, no experience or previous teacher training is required by the Ministry of Education to be a teacher in their schools. A number of Saudi researchers (see, for example, Al kaldi, 2002; Al Qarni, 2010) have claimed that many Saudi teachers are not prepared to care for or identify, recognise and support gifted learners across all learning subjects (including English) before being employed as teachers or during in-service training. Thus, some of Saudi EFL teachers may have little experience with the features and characteristics of GELLs, which is necessary in order to recognise GELLs within regular EFL classrooms. In relation to this, EFL teachers need training that covers some of the important areas that could effectively help support GELLs once they are identified.

Generally, the data suggests that an EFL teacher is an authoritative figure with the power to make decisions on various issues in EFL classes. Two main factors seem to have contributed to this authority. The first factor is the huge emphasis on EFL teachers’ duties in Saudi schools (Bin Salamah, 2001; Oyaid, 2009). The second factor is the respect accorded to teachers in Islam. Khan (2014) argues that Prophet Mohammad asked all learners to be honoured attentive to their teacher’s words and never raise their voice above the teacher’s voice. Indeed, the Prophet Muhammad is quoted as advising learners to “seek knowledge and train to be dignified and calm while seeking knowledge, and humble yourselves with those whom you learn from” (Tabaraani).