education experts in ksa

education experts in ksa

Transforming Education in Saudi Arabia: Insights from Leading Experts

1. Introduction to the Education Landscape in Saudi Arabia

Education in Saudi Arabia is fundamentally structured around several located in the 13 provinces, each organized into a pyramid or line with a length of 3–4 years per section. Each school follows a curriculum determined by the MoE, with an increasing proportion of elective courses and extracurricular school activities through the years until a comprehensive national examination at the end of the final year. The ineffectiveness of traditional classroom education has been widely acknowledged, and the learners are not satisfactorily achieving the desired learning outcomes within the education system of the KSA. With the challenges faced by the current education, it is impaired to foster civic, social, communicative skills, and values essential for the personal development of the students in the country. The paradigm shift in the education system of the KSA is essential for providing a better socio-politico and economic awareness of the teens in the country that elevates the quality of learning and teaching. The transformation process in the education system is the need for revitalizing the society to sustain and adapt to the complex, rapidly changing environments. Suh and Wong claim that the purpose of education transformation is to expand education opportunities for all in consultation with the academics and industries.

With a population of over 33 million (as of 2022) and where 6 million students are in the K–12 system, the educational landscape of Saudi Arabia is vast and diverse. Historically, education was the sole responsibility of families and was carried out primarily in maktab—a schoolhouse for small groups of children in one of the locals’ houses or a mosque. The evolution of education in Saudi society as an institution available to all was a significant shift in mindset occurring at a national level. Today, in addition to the Ministry of Education (MoE), many organizations work in the field of education in the Kingdom. These may be general learning institutions focused on early childhood or adult, technical and skills-based training, English language programs, religious studies, special education for students with disabilities, and those presently or potentially meeting gifted and talented program criteria. At the college/university level, Saudi Arabia has dramatically increased investment in infrastructure, opening and developing higher education institutions in many parts of the country to welcome the tens of thousands of students that are now able to access university-level teaching and learning.

2. Key Challenges and Opportunities in the Saudi Education System

Some participants note that Saudi Arabia has high-quality facilities and infrastructure, although some of the available facilities are sometimes under-utilized or not being used optimally to support modern education and training requirements. Despite these points of positive reference, members also noted a variety of concerns, challenges, and pressures. Many of these are well-recognized, have been widely discussed in public, and which new initiatives by the current Saudi government aim to address. Members identified as around the following areas: – Significant remaining gaps in access to education, particularly for students living in remote areas or with physical or other disabilities and members of certain socio-economic groups – A national curriculum and teaching methods that have remained largely unchanged over a period in which the rest of the world has advanced quickly – creating concerns about its overall quality and relevance – A lack of flexibility in student assessment, meaning that some students who are potentially capable of completing a higher level of schooling or learning are unable to do so – A national teacher development framework and professional standards which are outdated, training teachers to adopt an outmoded authoritarian ‘transmission’ role in relation to students and classroom learning – A shortage of education professionals (particularly in leadership positions) with creativity, innovation, and adaptability in teaching and learning approaches – essential qualities for ensuring a next generation of students with the ‘whole of life’ learning skills they will need to grow and develop in the modern world – A range of challenges in maintaining and using learning infrastructure – in particular the appropriate and effective use of Information and Communication Technologies to help people learn (including disabled students or students living in remote regions) rather than simply as an adjunct to administrative management systems – A need to make comprehensive, system-wide improvements to the overall quality of higher education, research, and training available in the country to help build a 21st-century knowledge society.

Challenges in Saudi education. Section two of the report focuses on the critical challenges in the Saudi education system, illustrating the context setting. Participants noted several opportunities in the Saudi education system, including expanding access across wider geographic and population areas and the potential for a more modern educational curriculum. They also observed that the education system has several potential strengths, including the professional capabilities of many educators, the relatively high level of educational attainment of young people compared with many other countries, reference to and value placed on education by parents and the wider community. In international terms, public expenditure on education as a proportion of gross domestic product is relatively high. Besides official government education, there is also a well-financed system of religious and Arabic language education that is also considered an important part of the education system.

3. Innovations and Best Practices in Education: Case Studies and Success Stories

• The work of the Education Expert Group, through a series of workshops convened to discuss experiences, has allowed the group to identify a range of successful initiatives, programs, and strategies in education that have either been piloted, expanded, or developed from educational policy, to achieve transformative and long-lasting improvements. These successes are shared here to provide role models and examples of what has worked and why, to encourage the sharing of best practices, and to showcase what can be achieved through commitment and hard work. • This report includes a range of successful initiatives: from the implementation of a national qualifications framework to enhance the accessibility and quality of higher education, to national language training programs to ensure all students have the communication skills needed for success in and beyond education. From schools to higher education, from policy to practice, and from the sublime to the prosaic, these case studies illustrate the many ways initiatives towards ESD can be operationalized. • It was hoped that by presenting interventions on a manageable scale – from small pilots to the systematic integration of ESD approaches into national education and other policies – this report would allow a greater degree of detail on the strategies and structures operating at this level. Regardless of national resources, or the multitude of challenges, positive change is possible. The energies that drive our existing successes must be released and directed into the initiatives that will drive our shared futures.

4. The Role of Technology in Shaping the Future of Education in KSA

The National AI Strategy lays a special focus on the use of AI in education and e-learning. The Vision 2030 provides for the establishment of an open and collaborative global network of education experts. The Ministry of Education has crafted a promising strategy around AI in education and e-learning, effectively marrying the impetus to digitize with the imperatives of both the Vision and the AI Strategy. The vision, enunciated by the Ministry, is the use of AI and cutting-edge technology to enable the Kingdom’s barriers to be broken, for teachers to adopt more creative teaching methods, and for critical thinking, problem-solving, innovation, and entrepreneurship in students to be developed. The strategy aims to leverage AI in a number of administrative dimensions (e.g., AI-driven career guidance or learning analytics), as well as in novel pedagogical approaches (e.g., personalized competency-based learning).

Technology has been instrumental in driving the KSA’s leadership role in transforming the educational landscape. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kingdom was prepared from an edtech innovation infrastructure perspective and managed to rapidly adopt alternative modes of content delivery. Not only was KSA ready from a digital infrastructure perspective (86% of schools have internet access), but it also benefited from some of the top digital talents, platforms, content creation entities, and startups in the MENA region, such as Rubu, Benaa, and Noon Academy to name a few. Efforts to integrate technology in learning are more generally aligned with some pertinent national priorities and shifting toward a more learner-centered pedagogy. Technology aids and drives various new pedagogical approaches aimed at encouraging student-driven learning including, e.g. activity-based learning, curriculum that emphasizes problem-solving and critical thinking, language courses using pictures and concepts before engaging students in literacy and numeracy.

5. Policy Recommendations and Future Directions for Education Reform in Saudi Arabia

In this last section, we consider what needs to be done today to ensure a desired change in the future. We also outline a future direction that any education reform focused on real, substantial change in teaching and learning for the future should strive for. We believe they have the potential to positively disrupt decision-making on the transformation of the Saudi education system, including policy formation, system design, implementation at all levels, and comprehensive practice at the grassroots level. It is a source of uplift for us to be able to reimagine schools and communities where the teachers have experienced an invigorating, creative, and innovative pedagogy.

Based on our analysis of the current situation in the Saudi education system, we have prepared and will outline 14 policy recommendations that we believe, if implemented, will transform the system within a period of 10-15 years. Into these recommendations, we have infused the views and expectations expressed in our interviews with over 40 leading experts on the theme of transformative education in Saudi Arabia. These experts, from Saudi Arabia and across the world, have provided insights into the challenges faced by the Kingdom and possible strategies, frameworks, or initiatives to overcome them. These views were expressed in the context of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious social and economic drive embedded in Vision 2030.