Teachers of the English language in Libya still need more effort to be as committed as the other parts of the Libyan educational system. One of the obstacles since formal education began in Libya the educational system has faced is that there has been an extreme lack of qualified Libyan teachers (Libyan National Commission for Education, Culture and Science, 2004). The Libyan government, hence, recruited non-Libyan teachers from neighboring countries such as Egypt and a number of teacher education institutions were established to replace non-Libyan teachers with Libyan citizens. However, Orafi and Borg (2119) pointed out that “English language teachers in Libya typically graduate from university with undeveloped spoken communication skills in English” (Orafi & Borg, 2009: 251). English teachers at secondary schools have a typical teaching load of three classes; each class comprising an average 25-30 students.
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The universities and teacher training institutions now provide English Language teachers. However, there are some differences in the qualifications of English teachers graduating from different institutions in Libya. In particular, some teachers of English graduating from colleges had no teaching methodology unit in their syllabus, and therefore know little about how to teach English. Conversely, teaching methods are included subject in their syllabuses of some universities and their graduates therefore know how to base their teaching methodology.
Richards and Rogers (2001: 91) argue that EFL teachers "found the new materials difficult to teach because they required a high level of oral fluency in English and an English-only methodology that was difficult to implement in large classes". The problem in Libya is that the education authorities did not take into consideration the fact that differences in teachers qualifications will have an affect on student achievements in schools. Part of the reason for this is that the acute shortage of qualified teachers in Libya. As a result, a large percentage of teachers employed in schools are untrained and/or temporary.
2.5.1. Teachers’ Duties
Teachers in Libyan secondary schools must carry out certain general duties which are required by the policies of the education authority as stated below: First, teachers distribute a subject syllabus for each day of the year from its beginning to the end, and they have a preparation book for each class in which the method of teaching is explained. They should always bring those books with them during working hours. The second important requirement is that secondary school teachers will teach for twenty-four periods. The final important duty is that teachers should keep a record of their students’ marks for coursework and homework, their practice in class and their examination results as part of their assessment. Naturally, they will attend school committee meetings to discuss any internal school issues.
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These duties are all aimed at improving student achievement, while the education authority ignores the importance of improving the performance of teachers. Teachers need additional training regularly, and they should attend such sessions in order to improve their knowledge of teaching English. Libya is a good area for investigation, because little research has been undertaken so far about teachers in schools or universities. One possible reason for this was mentioned by Tantani (2005) that people in Libya assume that teachers will not make mistakes, or at least not often; and when failure arises they will always blame the students.
2.5.2. Teachers’ Experiences
Researchers in education consider experience to be important in developing the teaching skill because it helps teachers to master the subject matter they teach. Tsui (2003) argues that this type of experience involves the techniques used in teaching such as in planning lessons and managing classrooms. Wiseman et al. (2002: 17) stated that experienced teachers “refine and perfect teaching strategies and may become ‘experts’ in a particular strategy, approach, or philosophy”. Furthermore, it can be argued that teachers’ experience is developed over years of practice which reinforces their teaching style over time. Munro (2001) claims that experience is a valuable aspect which guides successive teaching actions. Teaching experience is used to refer to the period of time teachers engaged in actual teaching (Gray et al., 2000). It can also be argued that experience in teaching can be gained by teaching different levels in different times.
Correspondingly, experience teaching knowledge helps teachers to take decisions in situations which are similar to the ones they have worked in the past. Turner (2001) stated that the understanding of the classroom context promotes the best possible learning. Burgess (2001: 335) contends that "professional learning experience this teacher gains, comes from dealing with the situation in practice and thinking through afterwards what happened". In other words, teachers learn from their experience and develop their methods of teaching.
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Crookes (2003) claims that experienced teachers often know their role better than newly trained teachers do. The reason for this is that because experienced teachers transfer parts of their experience such as problems or difficulties which they faced before (Ben-Peretz, 2002). In general, teachers learn a lot about teaching through their prior teaching and learning experiences (Borg, 2003).
Regarding the distinction between more or less experienced teachers, it can be argued that teachers who are exposed to different situations and have taught different textbooks should be considered more experienced teachers. Such teachers may be more aware of their students' needs and requirements. Moreover, Harkin et al. (2111: 81) argue that “teachers with less experience (under 11 years) are often less strong on leadership and more uncertain and dissatisfied than their more experienced colleagues”.
The meaning of the term “experienced” as used in the Libyan context is similar. The education authority considers teachers who have taught using different textbooks over the years to be as more experienced, whereas recent graduates who have only used the current textbook are seen less experienced. More experienced teachers are more appreciated and respected among their colleagues and students who consider this kind of teacher to be more professional.