Preschool education

Preschool education in Saudi Arabia includes day care, nurseries and preschool centres. It was mentioned above that attending preschool education is still not compulsory in Saudi Arabia. Preschools serve children aged three to six from both genders where they attend three levels (KG1, KG2, and KG3) based on their age. It is worth noting that public preschools in Saudi Arabia prioritise admission to the children of working mothers (Gahwaji, 2013).

In the Saudi educational system, the private sector has the lead in establishing preschool centres. The first private preschool was established in Jeddah in 1965. In 1975, the MOE (Ministry of Knowledge previously) established the first public preschool centre. After that, the provision of preschool education has been developed and expanded all over the country (Al-Hariri, 2002). In the academic year 2014-2015, the number of preschools in all sectors reached 2559, of which 1632 are public and 927 are private. In Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia and where the current study took place, there are 579 preschools; 132 are affiliated to the public sector and 319 are affiliated to the private sector (Ministry of Education, 2016).

As the number of working women grew dramatically from 5.4% in 1992 to 14.6% in 2011, the need for preschool services increased in Saudi society (Ministry of Economy and Planning, 2012). In response to the social and economic needs of the society, and the international call for early childhood care and education, a royal decree 7/ B/ 5388 was issued in 2002 that states the desire to

develop a plan and a time schedule to be adopted by the development plan of the state for gradual expansion in establishing kindergarten throughout the kingdom benefiting from efforts of the private sector to achieve this goal, and develop an effective educational curriculum for kindergartens (Ministry of Economy and Planning, 2010, p. 386).

Since 1980 the MOE has been responsible for supervising all preschool centres in Saudi Arabia. In 2003, an independent administration called the General Administration for Preschool was established by the MOE to manage the preschool stage separately from other general education stages. In particular, preschool education in Saudi Arabia is under girls’ education. Furthermore, the MOE has established the Saudi National Commission for Childhood that aims to coordinate the efforts of several institutions regarding children’s affairs. The Education Policy Document states the general goals for preschool education as follows (General Presidency for Girls’ Education, 1999; cited in Al-Jadidi, 2012, pp. 39-40):

1. Protecting the innocence of children, looking after their moral, mental and physical growth in a natural environment similar to their family environment, and responsive to the requirements of Islam.

2. Composition of the child’s religious direction based on belief in the oneness of God; this conforms to the child’s instincts.

3. Teaching children good behaviour and helping them to acquire the virtues and expected behaviours of Islam by providing a good example for them at school.

4. Familiarising children with the school atmosphere, preparing them for school life, and transferring them gently from self-centredness to a social life shared with peers.

5. Providing children with a wealth of correct expressions and appropriate information that is suited to their growth and environment.

6. Training children in terms of physical skills and senses, and how to use them appropriately.

7. Developing children’s creative skills; giving them the opportunity to enjoy their vitality under guidance.

8. Fulfilling children’s needs, pleasing them, and educating them without spoiling or overstraining.

9. Protecting children from risks, treating early signs of negative behaviour, and addressing childhood problems in an adequate way.

In Saudi Arabian private preschools, a number of early childhood curricula have been implemented such as the Self-Learning Curriculum, the Montessori approach and the High Scope. The following section sheds light on the Self- Learning Curriculum, the official curriculum in preschool education in Saudi Arabia.

2.3.2.1 The Self-Learning Curriculum (SLC)

In 1991 the first official early childhood education curriculum was implemented in preschool education in Saudi Arabia. The first edition of this curriculum was called “ The Developed Kindergarten Curriculum” with a sub- title “ the self-learning”. This curriculum was developed through a cooperative project between The General Presidency for Girls’ Education, The Arab Gulf Programme for the United Nations Development Organization (AGFUND), and The United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization

establish four in-service training centres in different regions in Saudi Arabia (Ministry of Education, 2005).

The second edition of this curriculum was developed in 2005 and the name was changed to “The Self-Learning Curriculum” (SLC) (in this study I will use this name to refer to the official preschool curriculum in Saudi Arabia). Although all preschools - both public and private - are obliged to apply the Self-Learning Curriculum, private preschools are afforded more flexibility in implementing this curriculum. For instance, some private preschools offer additional reading and writing activities to satisfy children’s parents (Bahatheg, 2010).

The Self-Learning Curriculum was developed in the light of several Western educational theories, Islamic values and research findings in the area of early childhood education (Gahwaji, 2006). The concept of “self learning” refers to children’s own self-initiated activities that are driven by their needs. Although this concept is similar to the Western concept of “child-initiated activities”, Al- Jadidi (2012) argued that in the context of self learning there is more focus on the role of adults in guiding children’s learning and development. As described by its authors, the Self-Learning Curriculum adopts the play-based pedagogy, developmentally appropriate practices, and the child-centred approach (Al- Ameel, 2002). In addition, the curriculum emphasises the following principles; flexibility, play, freedom, interaction, respect, child identity and culture, knowledge, skills, and relationships with parents (Ministry of Education, 2005).

The Self-Learning Curriculum consists of seven books; a teacher guidebook, five detailed learning (thematic) books in the form of units, and one book with

dwellings, hands, friends, and health and safety. Each unit takes from two to four weeks to complete, and is divided into several concepts (Ministry of Education, 2005). According to the teaching guides of this curriculum, teaching activities need to be planned in the light of the available teaching materials, and children’s needs and interests. In this sense, teachers are not obliged to adhere to the activities that are mentioned in the teaching manuals (Al-Jadidi, 2012).

Based on the Self-Learning Curriculum, the classroom is divided into a variety of interest areas which are equipped with a range of activities intended to develop children’s skills and to support the learning units. These areas are: Library area, Construction area, Dramatic play area, Table-toy area, Discovery area, Art area, and Reading and Writing area. In addition to these basic areas, there is an additional area that varies depending on the learning unit (Ministry of Education, 2005).

The programme in public preschools takes between three and four hours; whereas in some private preschools the programme might extend to seven hours. The daily routine consists of circle time, free playtime, recess, meal and last meeting. Private preschools are allowed to add additional periods such as English language, physical education, computers and Qur’an memorising circles.

The Self-Learning Curriculum views the role of the teacher as a guide for children’s learning and development. The curriculum also emphasises the important role that teachers play in preparing the classroom environment. In Saudi Arabia, a number of universities have established colleges of education

addition, the MOE has provided professional development programmes for preschool practitioners through a number of training centres that were established in different regions in the country (Gahwaji, 2013).

A considerable number of studies have investigated different aspects of the Self-Learning Curriculum. With regard to the theoretical principles of the curriculum, Khomais (2007) reported that the concept of child-centred activities, which emerged from the seminal works of Piaget (1972), has focused solely on children’s development and has overlooked the impact of the socio-cultural context on children’s development and learning. Thus, Saudi practitioners in preschool education still view children’s learning from this developmental perspective. In this respect, Gahwaji (2006) also claimed that some tensions exist in applying the Self-Learning Curriculum such as the conflict between teacher-directed activities and free play.

Zamzamy’s (2000) study demonstrated a lack of educational activities in reading and writing areas. In addition, Al-Ameel (2002) examined the effects of different approaches to the Self-Learning Curriculum according to some aspects of child growth. Al-Ameel’s study yielded that preschools that have applied the Self-Learning Curriculum lack educational activities in mathematics, language and science. The study also pointed out that there is no clear assessment system in the Self-Learning Curriculum.

Another study that was done by Abdulkarim (2003) has shown that the Self- Learning Curriculum has contributed significantly to emotional, social development and thinking competencies. In contrast, the study found that numeracy and literacy skills have not been emphasised in the curriculum. In

lack of developmentally appropriate Arabic literature, and a lack of emergent writing activities. The study called for the application of the emergent literacy approach instead of the reading readiness approach.

In 2009, Al-Ameel and colleagues explored the reality of Saudi Arabian preschool programmes. Their study revealed several interesting results emerging from the Self-Learning Curriculum, one of which is the suitability of the learning units to children’s environment, needs and their previous experiences, albeit not keeping pace with the recent global and national needs. The study also indicated that considerable attention has been given to the spoken language and using language as a communication tool. In addition, the study showed that the curriculum provides activities that help children to develop positive self-esteem. The results also revealed that listening and speaking skills have been given more attention than reading and writing skills. Furthermore, in spite of the availability of reading, writing, the library area and reading story’s activities, these skills have not yet attained a satisfactory level (Al-Ameel et al., 2009).

2.3.2.2 Early literacy in the Self-Learning Curriculum

The above section has shown that a number of studies concurred over the fact that little attention has been given to literacy learning in the Self-Learning Curriculum. Thus, in the second edition of the curriculum, more focus has been given to literacy activities by adding a particular interest area for reading and writing in the classroom environment, and providing more literacy activities and worksheets within the content of learning units (Khomais, 2007). According to the conceptual framework of the Self-Learning Curriculum, early literacy learning principles are as follows (Abdulkarim, 2003, pp. 275-276):

§ children in this developmental stage need to verbally express their feelings and thoughts,

§ children need to perform a variety of individual and group activities that develop their social and communication skills,

§ children need to hear their own voices, so their language awareness can be raised,

§ children need to see their words written, not only to be exposed regularly to the printed word, but also to recognise the relationship between spoken and written language,

§ children need to strengthen their relationship with language, by exposing them to a variety of activities; both spoken and written,

§ children should be provided with different writing materials to encourage them to trace, copy and write.

Abdulkarim (2003) indicated that the literacy component in the Self-Learning Curriculum can be classified under two categories, one is the development of verbal skills, and the second is the development of fine motor skills. The verbal skills are (a) memorisation and recitation (verses from Qur’an, songs, stories); (b) verbal communications (learn new words, use appropriate sentences, use correct grammar); (c) knowledge of sounds (pronouncing words clearly, identifying initial/last sound of words, discriminating words based on the initial/last sound); (d) reading and dictation (dictating word/sentence/story, reading some selected words); and (e) comprehension (recalling characters/ideas/plot of a story). On the other hand, the development of fine motor skills focuses on the acquisition of two skills. The first one is tracing (lines, shapes, letters, words, using sand/clay/unlined paper and lined paper).

2.3.2.3 King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz’s Public Education Development Project

In 2007, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz’s Public Education Development Project “Tatweer” was established to reform and develop the general education in Saudi Arabia. “Tatweer” is an Arabic word that means development. The project was assigned to a government-owned holding education development company (Tatweer) to achieve the vision of the project in cooperation with the MOE (Tatweer, 2012; Alyami, 2014). The following quotation shows Tatweer’s vision in relation to curricula development and the Arabic language (Tatweer, 2010, p.1, cited in Elyas, 2014, p. 36):

Tatweer’s curriculum program starts from basic principles that are based on Islam and its moral, ethical and cultural system is an essential point for development, prompts for positions and an entrance to a conscious interaction with diverse cultures in openness era and global village. It is a shared responsibility to preserve the learner’s identity, emphasize active citizenship, national belongings, and positive values of society and to ensure its connection, development, and maintenance. The curriculum is the most important affect to achieve. Arabic is the language of Qu’ran, it is conveyed to our society’s cultural heritage, to maintain our culture and identity we have to maintain it.

It can be deduced from the above quotation that, in its vision of educational reform, Tatweer has emphasised the importance of Islamic principles, social values, cultural identity, and citizenship. Besides this, the above vision also reflects a consideration of interaction with other cultures in the contemporary global era, and it also emphasises the crucial role of maintaining the Arabic language as a vital cultural tool.

One of the achievements of the Tatweer project in the area of early childhood education is developing national standards for the early childhood education. A document, “Saudi Early Learning Standards” was developed in collaboration between Tatweer in Saudi Arabia and The National Association for the

consists of seven dimensions; approaches to learning, social-emotional development, language and literacy development, cognition and general knowledge, patriotism and social studies, Islamic education, and health and physical development (Ministry of Education et al., 2015).

In 2012, the Comprehensive Project to Develop Preschool Education was launched. This project aims to adopt early childhood curricula in accordance with global educational standards. The project also seeks to raise the professional development of the practitioners and leaders in the field of preschool education through in-service training programmes. In order to achieve the objectives of this project, a partnership was built between Tatweer and a number of Saudi educational companies in the area of early childhood education (Tatweer, 2012).

In 2013, three proposed preschool curricula were applied in a number of public preschools in different provinces of the country. The following section presents two of the implemented curricula, Montessori and Bawakeer, while the third one, the Creative Curriculum, which was investigated in this study is discussed in detail in Chapter 5.

Bawakeer Curriculum

In 2010, the International Childhood Company was established in Riyadh to provide integrated care to children aged 3-14 years in three areas: teaching, training and entertainment. The company generated its own curriculum, Bawakeer (an Arabic word that means early stages), from the endeavours of a team of expert educators from Saudi Arabia, Arab and Western countries (Altofola, 2016).

In order to achieve the company’s goals, a series of private schools has been established in Riyadh under the supervision of the MOE. The schools offer education for children aged 3 to 9 years. The Bawakeer curriculum has been implemented in the preschool stage; whereas in the first three primary stages the national primary curriculum continues to be applied with additional learning units from the Bawakeer curriculum. According to the curriculum authors, a number of educational theories such as the Gardner theory of multiple intelligences and brain research have been considered. In addition, the curriculum adopts the following philosophy: developmentally appropriate practices, comprehensive balanced development, and pleasure as a necessity and not a luxury (Altofola, 2016).

The Bawakeer curriculum for preschoolers consists of a number of learning units designed to comply with the Saudi culture. In each unit, children work on a project that incorporating a variety of educational activities. The curriculum aims are to develop the growth of the child in social, emotional, spiritual, cognitive, motor and language development aspects. In January 2013, the International Childhood Company participated in the pilot implementation of three preschool curricula as a part of the Comprehensive Project to Develop Preschool Education. The Bawakeer curriculum was introduced to 10 public preschools in Riyadh (Tatweer, 2012).

The Montessori Curriculum

The Montessori approach was applied in a number of private preschools before the launch of Tatweer’s project. As part of the Comprehensive Project to Develop Preschool Education, the Montessori curriculum has been applied in 10 public preschools in two cities; Qassim and Jeddah. The Montessori

Curriculum has been implemented by a partnership between the Academic Company for Educational Services and Tatweer (Tatweer, 2012).

The Montessori approach is widely known as an educational approach that focuses highly on the importance of a well-organised environment. Maria Montessori emphasised that children learn through play using their senses. Thus, the Montessori classroom is divided into a number of interest areas; each area is enriched with several tools, and each tool is designed to promote a certain skill (Soundy, 2003).

In the Montessori classroom, language is a fundamental component. From a Montessori perspective, language is considered as a process and reading and writing are viewed as tools of communication. The language arts area and the library area are enriched with a variety of activities that promote language and literacy skills. In order to develop children’s skills in language and literacy, teachers apply different teaching strategies; for example, language games, reading stories, singing songs and individual reading and writing lessons. It can be said that the Montessori approach underscores the relationship between language, literacy and motor development (Soundy, 2003).

The above section discussed the Saudi educational system with a particular focus on preschool education. It has been shown that the Saudi government has made several attempts to improve the educational services. It can be deduced from the above sections that there is a tendency among the policymakers in the Saudi educational system towards importing educational curricula as part of educational reforms; for instance, employing Western-oriented curricula such as McGraw-Hill Math and Science curricula in the secondary stage, and the

preschool education. In addition, although the Self-Learning Curriculum was designed for preschool education in Saudi Arabia, it was built on a number of Western educational theories. Hence, this educational context stresses the need to investigate early literacy practices in the Creative Curriculum, which was generated and developed in a different cultural context (United States) and was implemented in a very different context in terms of language (Arabic) and culture (Saudi Arabian Islamic).