The Most Important Challenges Facing Teacher Training Programmes

One of the most important challenges, which represents an obstacle to raising the output of the teacher training programs in Kuwait (the College of Basic Education in Kuwait - National Institute of Education, 2013), is the quality of the input for these programmes, where the College of Basic Education has attracted students from low academic performance categories of graduates of secondary education. In addition, the responsibility of educating students in a rapid and continuous change era is not an easy process. For this reason, teachers have to demonstrate their performance against high standards and possess the desire and motivation to learn. Increasingly, the quality of the inputs to the College of Basic Education in Kuwait naturally lacks the necessary skills required to raise the level of performance, such as skills in dealing with modern technology and scientific research skills, in addition to the existence of a considerable difficulty in acquiring them. Moreover, there is a remarkable weakness between a large segment of female college students in the use of ICT in a way that serves the educational process, even in the use of simple basic programmes, which is one of the fundamentals of university education today, such as, for example, Microsoft Office software, or simply sending an e- mail. In the area of education, the use of ICT will enhance teaching and learning processes, which is a basic reason for teachers to have full knowledge in this area (The College of Basic Education in Kuwait - National Institute of Education, 2013).

The limited and insufficient duration of field training in schools is also a concern, and its limitation to only one semester, through which the male or female student spends in training in a school during the first year of graduation. This is considered another challenge that limits the quality of teacher training, as this period is not enough for a good preparation or for gaining a sufficient experience to practice the profession. In contrast, countries with outstanding

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performance in PISA "Programme for International Student Assessment", have shifted their initial teacher-training programmes from an academic-based model to a more professional model, which depend on preparing professionals in the field of clinical settings, where teachers start early in schools and spend a longer time in training there, and obtain greater and better support in this process (OECD, 2011, p. 237).

In contrast, a study conducted by the National Institute of Singapore, confirmed that for a large number of teachers, teaching is not necessarily the first choice for the job they desire and may not have a passion for teaching (NIE, 2013). In this regard, it was found that the quality of students affects the quality of the outcomes of the teachers after completing their studies. These findings demonstrate the importance of developing a plan to strengthen the status of the teacher in the society and classroom, and put more stringent controls in the colleges of teachers to choose the best students and to attract the distinguished teacher educators, including transforming the profession of education to become the first choice for the career future. In this regard, Finland was able to make the teaching profession as the first desirable vocational choice among its youth through a combination of raising the ceiling for admission to the profession and granting autonomy to teachers in the management of their classrooms and working conditions, compared to their counterparts in other countries (OECD, 2011). This, in turn, enabled teacher training programmes to be selective about their intakes. As a result, the education profession in Finland became a highly selective profession, and consequently, highly professional teachers have contributed to the country’s educational performance.

Moreover, the skills of scientific research is one of the main factors that led to the independence of the teachers in Finland, as their training programmes are based primarily on the skills of scientific research, which is the reason for their independence and quality of their training (OECD, 2011); where students are expected not only to acquire educational knowledge and human development knowledge, but they are also asked to submit a dissertation, which is based on research skills, as a project to be a master's degree holder, which is a requirement for all Finnish teachers (Sahlberg, 2011). The rationale for this requirement is that teachers are expected to participate in disciplined

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investigations in the classroom throughout their professional career in teaching. In Singapore, after three years of teaching, scientific research skills are one of the three career paths, in which a teacher can specialise (OECD, 2011). In Finland, the study of teacher training takes a period of six years, including obtaining a university degree in addition to a master's degree, compared to only four years to only obtain a university degree in the majority of other countries (Sahlberg, 2011).

3.6 Early Childhood Education in Saudi Arabia

According to Nyland and Alfayez (2012), the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia was developed when the modern country was established. Education for girls was initiated in 1964 in the country. But before 1964, the idea of kindergarten education was never introduced. As a result, the requirement of programmes of early childhood was increased dramatically that resulted in the development of first kindergarten and pre-school classes in 1975 (Aljabreen & Lash, 2016). Because of the increased success of the kindergarten and pre- kindergarten programmes of Saudi government, which were established in Makkah with seventeen workers and ten classrooms in 1975, the Saudi government decided on improving the notion of a kindergarten school. In Saudi Arabia, the kindergartens, as well as pre-kindergarten schools, were opened in the year 1980, when two thousand children attended these schools. In addition to this, the number of both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten school going children was increased to 182,556 during 2013-2014, (King Khalid Database, 2015). The study of Alshehi (2014) showed that currently there are more than 1,000 kindergarten schools which are administered by the Saudi Ministry of Education. However; a greater proportion of these schools are administered by the private sector where these schools have higher enrolment and more provision than the government-funded sector.

On the other hand, the study of Keengwe (2010) stressed that the kindergarten education system in Saudi Arabia is known for lowering education costs. This is because the strategic plan of Saudi Arabia 2015-2020 aims to support the increased number of kindergarten schools with the goal of establishing 300 schools per year, while developing 1,500 schools in five years. The enrolment

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of children in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten is approximately 10 to 12%, which is considered low when compared to other regions of the world (Rabaah, Doaa and Asma, 2016). As a result, funds have been approved by Ministry of Budget for seeking to increase the total number of kindergarten schools yearly while offering funds and loans to the private sector without interest so as to develop more kindergarten schools in the country (Rabaah, Doaa and Asma, 2016). This process works hand in hand with the Ministry’s five-year plan of public education that also supports initiatives of the private sector, and underlines the importance of pre- and in-service training to improve the quality and quantity of provision in ways that will contribute to the Saudi Vision.

3.6.1 Development of Early Childhood Curriculum Aid Approaches in